ReMix: Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle 'The Great Tentacle Pianist'

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More from Mazedude's American Album project, this time from the LucasArts cult hit Day of the Tentacle, a sequel of sorts to the more widely-known Maniac Mansion. Intrepid cosplayers dressed as tentacles from this very game actually attended our panel at Otakon this year, one of whom won our impromptu contest to whistle three themes from Zelda 64 and thus got to hug judge and VGDJ co-host pixietricks. Chris writes:

"Well, in case you haven't noticed, I've released a "Special Edition" of my American Album. New tracks, new artwork, and other bonus features. In celebration, I hereby release my personal favorite of the new music to Overclocked Remix. The first "Day of the Tentacle" remix to grace the site, and Mazedude's first solo piano remix. I love the mental imagery of a tentacle playing the piano. :)"

Very Seussian imagery, imo. Getman's Special Edition of his American Album is well worth checking out - the original was excellent in both concept and execution, and in this case "Special Edition" doesn't mean adding in Jar-Jar Binks and making Han shoot second, but rather throwing in some tasty new tracks, artwork, and other bonuses. Perhaps more important than this being our first track from AA:SE, or even from DotT, this is indeed Chris's first solo piano mix. Mazedude's been mixing awhile, so it's great to see him still breaking new personal ground many years later. Andy writes:

"I can easily imagine that evil purple tentacle banging himself against the piano keys. It's just loads of fun, and needless to say, a great arrangement. Like your Earthbound "Battling Organs" mix, this might not appeal to everyone because some of the notes and rhythms seem off. However, I see that as a creative choice that works well - not a problem at all. Great stuff."

"Off" in this case translates to dissonance, which there's quite a bit of. Not sure if there's too much rhythmic anomaly going on, at least that I could detect, although it's certainly not a consistent, toe-tappable tempo. At just under two and a half minutes, it comes off as more of a soundtrack/sketch piece - the type of piece that would accompany the introduction of a quirky character in a Tim Burton film - than a full-fledged overture, but it's still substantive enough to say something, and develop while doing so. I don't usually harp on piano samples, but in this case something with a markedly different multisample on lower velocities would have helped, as the softer notes just sound like louder notes with the volume turned down; it's fairly loud playing throughout, so it would have been nice to get more contrast with the few quieter bits. Still, for a first stab at solo piano arrangement, it's original, memorable, it's from a previously unarranged game with a fanatically rabid cult fanbase, and it lives up to the high standard Chris has set with his previous efforts, so it's solid stuff with character to spare, any way you cut it.

― djpretzel