ReMix: Jade Cocoon: Story of the Tamamayu 'People Made of Stone'

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Mattias has become a very active member of OCR relatively recently, with multiple contributions to Voices of the Lifestream and participation in our forums. He subbed this track before the VotL madness ensued, and it represents our first coverage of the Nausicaa-esque Jade Cocoon. The ReMixer writes:

"This is really a soundtrack I respect. I played this game for half a year when I was about.. 11-12 and I never forgot the great music and atmosphere. I looked for the soundtrack for almost 3 years without success and then finally found it. Now I wanted to pay my respect to Kimitaka Matsumae's perfect soundtrack. I was trying to capture the feeling from the original game with the percussion and ethnic elements and then went overboard with loads of synths and som phat drums. Since I love to fit different styles into my remixes I went even more overboard by finishing off with a more slick general rock (no guitars though) version of the theme. Everything was, as always, done in Reason 3. I am really proud of this one and I hope everyone else will enjoy it too."

Reason 4 just came out, with a new synth and (perhaps more importantly, for me) an improved sequencer, but even with versions three and prior, it's always been possible to coax varied and professional results out of Propellerheads' baby. If, with version 5, they finally added VSTi host/instrument capability ala FruityLoops, so I could stop dealing with wonky "ReWire" (nice caps, though!) shizz, I'd be prepared to kneel down and worship at their altar. My main hangup with using Reason as a standalone package was always its sequencer, and it looks like v4 beefs this up big time, so while I could recommend it previously, now my endorsement is all the stronger - for those looking to start out in electronic music, Reason and FL are the two best options at the moment.

It's especially cool to hear Reason leveraged against non-electronica genres, which it is perfectly capable of handling, despite occasional pigeonholing to the contrary. Here, Mattias is blending tribal with rock, combining ethnic riddims with an acoustic kit, giving a monoglide synth lead melodic dominance. The overall feel has ambience but also momentum; it's open, but it's moving in a specific direction. Jesse says:

"Really nice remix. Hadn't heard the original before. The remix has strengths in its texture, dynamics, and layering. The harp + xylophone sounds great, and the backing synths and groove compliment nicely. Great escalation around 1:25."

With Shariq adding:

"I really like the tribal atmosphere in the beginning, and the evolution into the heavier electronic stuff works really nicely. This mix has a really cohesive feel to it, especially when you mix that tribal sound with the electronic stuff."

Jesse did add that he felt the ending was underwhelming, and Mr. Ansari didn't like the pan flute lead, but none of the judges had enough misgivings to prohibit their approval, and everyone seemed to agree that the mix was strong on both arrangement and texture. With a pseudonym like "Another Soundscape," this is an important criteria to be achieving, and Mattias has done so consistently with his first mixes. Hopefully he'll be around with the same enthusiasm for years to come. For those on the lookout for a Jade Cocoon mix, or just a cool ethnic/rock fusion piece in general, be sure to check this action out.

― djpretzel