ReMix: Earthworm Jim 'Acrophobia'

Download MP3
5,432,602 bytes, 3:46, 192kbps

• Trade-in your Games or Anime DVDs!
• OC ReMix Shirts & Merch
• Games:
  • DS | GBA | GC | PS2 | WII | XBOX | 360
  • Imports & Pre-owned
• Anime:
  • DVDs & Merchandise

Very cool resubmission from newcomer about:blank, and our first ReMix from the first Oligochaeta James (aka Earthworm Jim) game. Madonna popularized chopped/processed acoustic guitar licks to some extent with "Don’t Tell Me", and Chris Bouchard takes that ball and runs with it for this ReMix of Buttville: The Descent, which could easily have been the alternate title for the first Fantastic Four film. The panel was a little split on whether said stuttering effect was too gimmicky, or worked just fine, but it's certainly neat the first few times, I can tell you that much, and it's not applied haphazardly, either. The ReMixer writes:

"This is my first submission to OCR. Initially, I tried to go for an acoustic take on the source material, and ended up recording a small portion of the song live with an acoustic guitar and an electric bass. However, the pickup in my acoustic suddenly ceased to function, causing me to stop working on this for a couple weeks. Fortunately, I soon started working on this again, and ended up with something a bit different than my original intention. I put about two or three months into the making of this, and, at one point, had to completely start over from scratch. I've learned a lot in the process of making this, and also had a lot of fun."

I love happy accidents, and I also love seeing the iterative/feedback aspects of ReMix development turn out positive, so this is cool on multiple levels. Melodically, some of the material reminds me of the famous Requeim for a Dream soundtrack; repetitive, dramatic progressions that evoke a descent into madness. Or, in this case, "Buttville"... but can't they be the same?? Malcos specifically compared this newer version of a:b's track to the previous, rejected submission:

"Hmm didn't I yes this last time. Oh yeah, I did. Well this has improved even more over the last version. One gripe with this is the section in the middle, where the strings are kinda pushed to the side by the phat drums. This version is a lot fatter overall, and the transition into the piano section was excellently done imo. The one thing I would say for future subs is to try and get some more dynamics going in relation to volume, as I think the sections ie.piano section, should have been somewhat quiter to better contrast the 'soft' and 'hard' sections. More melodic elements have been added here, and this relies on the stutter much less than the previous version. Good resub!"

We've had some pretty innovative, different mixes lately, with varying styles that haven't particularly resembled anything prior, and I think that's a great development. This track certainly fits that description; it's got cinematic textures mixed with stuttering, chopped bits, and comes off as simultaneously atmospheric and playful - adjectives that accurately describe the source material as well.

― djpretzel