ReMix:Wild Guns "With the Gold Comes the Curse" 4:26

By ilp0

Arranging the music of one song...

"Gold Mine"

Primary Game: Wild Guns (Natsume , 1994, SNES), music by Haruo Ohashi, Hiroyuki Iwatsuki

Posted 2011-01-05, evaluated by the judges panel


'Bout freakin' time, right? 2011 has gotten off to something of a slow start as logistics and coordination hath delayed our first mixpost for the new year, but now that silence is pumped full o' lead by our first Wild Guns mix, courtesy ilp0. I thought a little (at least 2-3 minutes!) about how to start off the year and what mix to post first from the available queue, without breaking chronological order too much.

If there's one theme I'd like to personally endorse for 2011, it's ReMixing unmixed games. We all love us some Final Fantasy, and Chrono Trigger, and Sonic, and Mega Man, and Zelda, but there are tons of great games out there with beautiful & amazing soundtracks that deserve some attention. Heck, even some of those mega-franchises have games that haven't been mixed yet, and there are tons of other popular, mainstream games that don't have mixes, in addition to more obscure X68000 or MSX games. Wanna be the first ReMixer with an arrangement of a hentai PC98 game? Wanna have the first mix from ANY Lynx game? These aren't just arbitrary goals, there's a lot of legitimately great music that's going unattended, and my personal mission for this year is to encourage source diversification not just for the sake of variety - though that's valuable enough - but for the sake of continuing our mission: the appreciation and promotion of video game music as an art form.

That's the end of my little sermon, but I'll just add that it's aimed at both ReMixers AND listeners - the latter group can help the former by providing feedback & support for mixes that may not be of the most popular games in the world, and letting them know their work is appreciated! And what better time to start than right now, with ilp0's year-opening track. He writes:

"I made this remix for the Hiroyuki Iwatsuki tribute compilation called IWADON, but I failed to finish this on time so it's not on the compilation. It's finished now so I'll try to post it here... It's got some James Bond theme song influences and some western moods too.."

Dusty, downbeat spaghetti rock with trip-hop elements, this mix has a lot of moods going on and is fairly liberal with the source material, which split the panel a bit. Vinnie chimed in w/ his two cents:

"Count those rests! This is a very spare melody and I think the whole section should be counted even if the notes aren't held. I'd also count the B-section usage at 3:05-3:23 because of how distinctive the chord progression is. Don't get me wrong, the song is still on the liberal side, but with counting rests in both sections and 3:05-3:23, it's firmly over 50% and A-OK in my book."

Shariq adds:

"Love the take on the source tune. This is a really well produced track with a really interesting soundscape. I love the chippy stuff underneath the processed organic elements; it really fills in the space in an interesting way. Guitar work sounds wonderful. This makes me thing of some crazy, Matrix-stylized Western. Awesome"

It reminds me of 'Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots' at times, with the blend of acoustic guitars and synth bass, but it diverges more than once and changes things up quite a bit. Ilari consistently accomplishes that magic formula of combining smart arrangement with production that oozes with atmosphere, often favoring electro-acoustic textures, and this mix is no exception. Great stuff from ilp0; welcome to 2011!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 13 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Crulex
on 2012-10-10 13:52:22

So starting off with some western sounding strumming backed by slightly trippy beats, huh? Not bad at all. Gives a cowboy theme a bit of a different direction and it works here. I do like how it pulls itself together the longer the ReMix goes, and then picks up around two minutes in. From then on, it was an interesting blend of sounds and I thought it was cool myself. Certainly filled to the brim with things I wouldn't have expected from this game, which isn't a bad thing at all.

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Bahamut
on 2012-07-26 13:28:56

Is that some chiptunage I'm hearing in the background? A nice usage of it to help fill in the sound!

I like ilp0's work in general since she adds to the feel of progress with her music, in addition to having a great western feel being an overall well done package. I do have a gripe with the ending, but this song is enjoyable otherwise.

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Rexy
on 2011-12-02 10:29:26

It took me a while over the years, but I've become quite a fan of ilp0's low-fi-influenced material. And so I'm glad to see he kept his game up over the years.

Translating the source to 6/8 for the first 2 minutes and back for nearer to the end got a huge plus for me in regards to the writing process, and with the instrument choices and steady progressions I'm with djp on the comparisons to the Flaming Lips's "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" in regards to the details in place.

I really dug the transition to the trip-hop-like movement past the 2 minute mark as well - these kind of changes in regards to rhythm are to me a strong highlight of ilp0's personality throughout the whole thing.

One thing that I might've suggested is to try and give more punch to the snare throughout; to me it kind of felt very thin and too much 'airy' through the whole thing. But for me that may be a minor nitpick for an otherwise very creative piece of work. Not only that, but in a similar fashion to his first posted work "Stupid Damn Vehicle", endings are not his strongest point either; was hoping for something more dynamic leading to the end, but I'll ride along with the substance leading it nevertheless.

Either way, be sure to keep representing the European remixers! And here's to hoping for more sweet ilp0 coverage in 2012 and beyond :)

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halc
on 2011-01-27 03:01:31

awesome low-bit stuff! i love the way it blends with the guitars. crazy visionary arrangement as usual too.. you're an inspiration. keep churning out amazing remixes please. :nicework:

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LuigiFan
on 2011-01-10 19:05:01

I'm not going to lie, I haven't been a huge fan of ilp0. Not to say that his stuff isn't good, it's just never "struck a chord" with me as it were. That being said, I want to say that I absolutely love this ReMix. I love the sounds and the way you blended them together - overall it sounds very nice and together. I'm not familiar with the source but this song is definitely evoking some cool, futuristic cowboy imagery for me, and it does it very well. I want to hear more like this.

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rhapsodos
on 2011-01-07 16:05:38

Genius stuff here, I love it. Brilliant to hear some ilp0 again :D It's simple and uncluttered but still manages to be quite bold and powerful and leaves quite an impression, at least on me. Forever enjoying the Western/Spaghetti elements. I'm sticking this one on my iPod rn ;]

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Benjamin Briggs
on 2011-01-05 22:25:46

wow this might be my new favorite ilp0 mix

unbelievable display of talent as usual :nicework:

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delbuster
on 2011-01-05 20:26:15

oh my goodness. the Pink Floydness of the beginning is pretty great

then it changes! i really like this.

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docnano
on 2011-01-05 20:23:38

Wow, fantastic! I was riveted the whole time by a soundscape that oscillated between spaghetti Western and Jethro Tull.

The work, which becomes a new genre itself, will be called... Cowboy Prog Metal. Or something.

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Mustin
on 2011-01-05 13:35:52

Pretty damn awesome. Love the sound. What software/sounds do you use?

Awesome way to set the tone for the new year.

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NegimaSonic
on 2011-01-05 13:20:06

sounds pretty cool and wild, not entirely my cup of tea off of the first listen but that's likely just because I don't know the source

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pu_freak
on 2011-01-05 13:13:13

Awesome! I've been wanting to do a remix of this game for a long time, but I'm glad there's great one now

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djpretzel
on 2011-01-05 12:54:28

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Wild Guns (Natsume , 1994, SNES)
Music by Haruo Ohashi,Hiroyuki Iwatsuki
Songs:
"Gold Mine"

Tags (3)


Genre:
Mood:
Mellow
Instrumentation:
Electric Guitar,Synth
Additional:

File Information


Name:
Wild_Guns_With_the_Gold_Comes_the_Curse_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
7,910,405 bytes
MD5:
dba0d63e0ba52af8c73feaadea70be13
Bitrate:
235Kbps
Duration:
4:26

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