ReMix: Final Fantasy VIII 'Moontang'

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Karl Harmdierks, you naughty fellow. I'm quite sure that when he-who-bladiates christened this lovely arrangement, he was merely concatenating our celestial satellite and a well-known orange powdered beverage, and that any similarities with slang anatomical terms are strictly coincidental. Actually, see, it's "tang" for "Tango", and he just removed the "o" for... no particular reason, see... moving on, the culprit writes:

"I like to give new genres a shot, especially those that I see very little of on OCR. That doesn't always mean what I show up with will be good, but at least different. In this case, though, I really think I have something because it's damn catchy."

It is damn catchy, he's not just boastifying, either. For some reason, the genre seems at times to me to wander into more Slavic territory, and I found myself wanting some cheap vodka to drink and raise in celebratory upwards motions while shouting loud and unintelligble phrases; perhaps it'd just been a long day at work. Nevertheless, I applaud the adventurous genre selection, and the ReMixer's ability to pull it off pretty convincingly as well. You've got a melodramatic piano solo intro that even, after a nice chromatic run, does some softer stuffs, before jumping into the groove at 0'50". Minimal Latin percussions accentuate (shaker and RAD GUIRO LICKS) and solo violin takes over the lead melody, with accordion accompaniment. Very creative, reminding one somewhat of True Lies... alright, so the pieces really aren't that similar, other than being tangos, but whenever I hear a tango, now, the beginning and ending of that film invariably come to mind, regardless. Shnabubula was much bemused:

"Modal Transposition BUDDY! Solid arrangment.... humorous but not at the expense of quality. The acceleration starting at 2:23 makes me picture those guys from fiddler with the bottles on their heads. The interplay between the violin and accordian starting at 1:18 is masterful. Your multitrack writing has improved like nobody's business. Needless to say, the use of the source material is great! Some of the adjusted phrasing like at 2:49 done to fit the genre is hillarious. When I say that I mean it in the laughing with you sense.... it makes me laugh cause it's hysterical how campy it is while still sounding so good. I'm DONE!"

I love to see this combination of risk-taking and sheer fun, personally, and when it's combined with a level of musicality that can pull it off and produce something that's listenable and enjoyable, all the better. Samples aren't absolute top tier, but production never detracts from the arrangement, which is saying something, since this sort of track exposes instruments more than a more elaborate setting would. So, without further adieu, with the blessing of the judges panel and Karl himself, I invite everyone to (had to know it was coming...) thoroughly enjoy this Moontang.

― djpretzel