ReMix: Final Fantasy V 'Dark Butz'

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Unfortunate mix title? You bet. Unfortunate mix? Not by a long shot... AeroZ delivers on the promise his initial ReMix showed, and then some, with this mashup arrangement of FF5 and Zelda 3. Sebastian writes:

"Well... I don't know where I got the idea from in the first place. Was just playing around with the "Dark World" chords and had just been listening to some FF5 tracks and I just went: "Wait a minute... what if.." and the result is this."

I heartily embrace the accidental arrangement methodology - a goodly percentage of my own stuff was birthed in the kiln of what I'd call "messing around"... although, given the quality of what Mr. Freij came up with, he might have deliberated a bit more on the title. Whatever... this mix probably should have bypassed the judges panel, if the brief and overwhelmingly positive votes were any indication. Jill writes:

"Wow, very interesting arrangement! The two themes mesh quite well the way you present them here, and the ending kicks major ass. I like this mix even better than Too Hot for Heatman. Your production skills have noticeably improved since then. Getting the chiptune style to sound fresh and cutting edge can't be an easy task, but you have officially joined the Mazedude/Shnabubula ranks in that respect. I'd be interested in hearing some more organic percussion in your next track– a little mixture of old and new– but that's just a side comment. Definitely doesn't take away from what you've created here. Awesome, awesome."

Jon T, of Jiggin fame, adds:

"This is great. Great sequencing, plenty of rhythmic/harmonic/melodic witticisms, all delivered with slick production. Very impressive. If the length of these 4 votes is any indication, this shouldn't be on the panel in the first place."

Personally, I think we could combine this mix title and Jon's handle and come up with an equally compelling hybrid: "Jiggin Jon Butz"... destined for greatness. Whether you like dark or light meat, you'll probably dig Sebastian's Butz; he's put a lot of work into making the chiptunish synth textures come alive, employing ample pitch bend, LFO, variable verb, chopping, and other tricked-out processing to great effect. Percussion is laced with comparably mangled retro FX but has a modern, hip-hoppish back beat, and all of this works well with the peculiar but catchy minor/major chromaticism of the compositional mashup. Very brief ending, not a lot of fanfare, just a quick turntablish synth effect and cut out, but when the whole thing's laced with the type of detail and creative interpolation that this piece is, perhaps exiting quickly and definitively is the best approach. I really think Jill hit the mark with the comparison to Chris and Sam; the piece has similar sonic characteristics to the subtle mangling that Mazedude employs, and to a lesser extent favors some unusual intonations of the variety Sam often wields. Sebastian's definitely his own man, though, and the end result is something that creatively blends themes that few would have thought to enjoin, does so in well-conceived + executed fashion, and as previously stated is a wonderful follow-up to his first mix. While "Ebony Posteriors" or "Midnight Fannies" might have been more clever, anyway you cut it, you can't afford to miss Butz.

― djpretzel