ReMix: Max Payne 'Tragedy of a Bullet'

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And now for something completely different... Neil Benjamin, whose last mix was back in September of '04, returns with something that's unique on multiple levels. Honestly, I'm *really* not just saying that - this one's peculiar, artistic, and haunting. It surely won't be everyone's cup of tea, but if you're into vocalizing stuff with perhaps a bit of Radiohead influence, or have a love of all things Max Payne, you're in for a treat. I'm really glad Neil resubmitted this based on panel feedback, cleaning up the production a bit, because it's not only our first coverage of Max Payne, which was rather a landmark PC title, but it's also just compositionally intriguing. It's the type of ReMix I would put on a compilation CD illustrating the breadth and depth ReMixes can cover - nothing else on the site sounds like it, that's for sure. Mr. Benjamin wrote in his original submission email:

"i figured i couldn't do a better remix in the same style as my previous submission, 'to far away memories', so i decided to try a totally different style with this one. i tried an acoustic version of this ( with the same cheap-ass guitar :) ), but didn't like the result. though there are some sparse instrumentation, and sound effects here and there, most of the song is just my voice. it's got a bit of influence from 'radiohead', 'the black heart procession' and 'elliott smith'. the focus of the song is on max's grief. in a game where people are killed by the hundreds, i wanted to concentrate the emotion on the consequences of just a single gunshot. hence the name, 'tragedy of a bullet.'"

Pretty cool conceptually as well. Malcos writes:

"This is quite an original sub and will bring some diversity to the site. I'm in agreement with the comments already made, namely that the sparse background lends itself to the style of this piece. The mostly accapella style is quite gutsy and is pulled off well. It doesn't sound too polished, and that actually makes the piece more effective imo."

zircon and bgc represented the dissenting votes; they seemed to take more issue with the intonation and minimalist approach than others. If you've got perfect pitch and hate anything that's not 100% spot-on, yeah, you might take some umbrage on the vocal, but honestly, if you fit that description, there's literally tons of great music you'll never be able to appreciate, so I pity you. As for the minimalist approach - this type of arrangement isn't going to work for most pieces, isn't something I'd particularly want to hear zillions of permutations of, and is more suited to meditation or focus than background applications, but... I personally think it works. At times it achieves a spine-tingling effect not unlike some of the recent soundtrack work by ex-Dead Can Dance front woman Lisa Gerard. Interesting, different, expressive, and exploratory.

― djpretzel