ReMix: Top Gear 2 'Rolling Start'

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Last but never least, our official "Old Man River" award goes to Hayden Petrie, alias Rayza. Of course technically I can't laugh because I've been here even longer, but Rayza's been around OCR long enough to be entitled to some sort of badge or trophy or perhaps just free Rogaine and Depends samples - I'm there, too, so I can make these comments with impunity :) Hayden's covered an admirable variety of games in his years, from mainstream stuff like Sonic to the depths of obscurity with Tinhead, but one thing that's been consistent is his quality and thoughtful arrangement. He also has a track record of nothing but direct posts, with many of his mixes coming before the establishment of the judges panel and the rest being direct posted. This mix from Top Gear 2 (he also covered the first game) was originally going to be part of an entire project/album for the SNES racing sequel, but apparently that's fallen through so Rayza's just going ahead with posting it.

This mix starts off with an electronica emphasis that makes it sound like there won't be the types of breaks and melodic bits that follow, using a strong kick and fading attack strings to create a heavy dance atmosphere. Hayden takes things in a different direction, though, going for a more melodic push with piano, cross-panned synths, and a soaring mono-glide synth lead. He also incorporates presumably in-game announcer vocal fx, triggering them straight but also stuttering them later on. There's also a cool high-pass filter effect that's applied to the whole piece right before the beat drops back in; slick. The melody here is really catchy; I'm not sure how many of you out there have played Top Gear 2, but my strong suspicion is that those of you haven't will still be able to dig this piece big time due to its approachable and memorable source tune. It's one of Rayza's catchiest to date, and all of his stuff is very accessible and toe-tappin'-friendly.

This mix concludes our Old School Mini-Flood; hopefully those of you not familiar with these artists due to their not having anything posted recently will see the light and go back and check some of their older stuff, and hopefully those of you who are already fans have gotten the same rush of excitement I did upon seeing these familiar names pop-up with shiny new ReMixes next to them. Four mixes, five mixers, many years of hiatus and legacy, but - most importantly - some great music!

― djpretzel