ReMix:Secret of Mana "Into the Funk of It" 4:25

By Tetrimino

Arranging the music of one song...

"Into the Thick of It"

Primary Game: Secret of Mana (Square , 1993, SNES), music by Hiroki Kikuta

Posted 2016-02-02, evaluated by djpretzel


HatTrax of Tetrimino says everything that needs to be said, making my job WAY too easy:

"Hello! Tetrimino here! This is our fifth submission to OC ReMix. Our lineup consists of Michaela Nachtigall (mklachu) on violin, Kristopher Salada (krissalad) on piano/synths, Matt Mukerjee (HatTrax) on bass & audio production, and Mitchell Cairns (MaximumHamburgers) on drums. Here's a video of our performance edited by our good friend and fellow musician Marc Papeghin (http://youtube.com/marcpapeghin): http://youtu.be/JjnB5NuH63M. This is Matt writing to you today, so this is going to be a long read. ;P

tl;dr: Epic Secret of Mana Tetrimino-style arrangement without constraining instrumentation to four live instruments.

For our 10K YouTube subscriber special, we wanted to try something different. We've always worked with a "live band" limitation; our arrangements have solely consisted of violin, piano, bass, and drums. For this special occasion, we decided to remove this limit -- what would Tetrimino sound like if we expanded our instrumentation? We wanted to sound bigger and better than before, but still like "Tetrimino." So, for this piece, we chose to add a lot of synth and piano parts to our arrangement, and eschew more common choices like guitar.

This time, we wanted to try new ideas across the board: new arrangement and instrumentation ideas, new playing techniques, new approaches to recording, new mixing ideas, new video ideas, etc. For example, we made great strides in our instrumentation, by having Kris play multiple synth parts split across his hands. Combining these split keyboard parts with the rest of our instrumentation allowed us to create even richer arrangements! We decided to go full force to bring you guys our most energetic jazz fusion/prog rock remix to date!

The piece we decided on is "Into the Thick of It," the field theme from the SNES RPG Secret of Mana. We go "all out" to turn this simple field theme into a jazz fusion/progressive rock tour de force! The original piece is fairly conservative, as you'd expect for a field theme. The focus of the original is a repeating arpeggio on guitar, fleshed out with a flute melody, choir pad, and some string harmonies. The familiar "A" section is the bulk of the song, with a short "B" section where the choir pad takes the lead. There's also an often forgotten sparse "C" section which provides a break from arpeggios.

We decided to arrange the piece in our unique jazz-fusion style but heavily borrow stylistic elements from progressive music. We turn this piece on its head by focusing not on the "A" section, but the less well-recognized "B" and "C" sections.

In our arrangement, the intro is the "B" section, with a very dreamy piano with synth elements, the bass hinting at the melody from that section, and some tasteful cymbal work. We then head into the familiar "A" section, and get the first taste of our expanded instrumentation: organ and piano parts together. This freedom meant there was less need for a left-hand piano part, which frees up the low end for bass to shine. Bass is doing some tasty slap riffs with some sloshy hats from the drums throughout.

At 0:40, things go prog. 3 x 7/8 + 4/4 complex meter reinterpretation of the "A" section, lead by arpeggios on the piano. When we finally reach the "B" at 1:04, we breathe a sigh of relief; back in common time. The energy drops dramatically at 1:18, quoting the "C" section from the original.

At 1:31, we hit our first original section, a violin feature section. The key focus in the section is space. Lots of rests, and thus, lots of punches. Lots of interplay between piano, bass, and drums that we pride ourselves on. Violin provides a particularly charged solo, especially in the second round.

At 2:03, things get very... different. Piano gives way to some ominous synths and a slap bass and drum groove. From there, things get epic. We already heard an epic violin solo and we'll shortly hear a virtuoso piano solo, but this section is for bass and drums. Intense double-thumb slap grooves on bass and tons of prog metal fills and double bass on the drums! Stylistically, the section was arranged with Lavos's "Final Battle" theme from Chrono Trigger in mind, but the melody riffs off the "B" section melody from "Into the Thick of It." The energy of the section grows to a head and then the dynamics drop down again, quoting the "C" section from the original.

At 3:08, we enter a jazzy piano feature section, using our original 4-person instrumentation constraint; a classic "Tetrimino" jazz-fusion section. We continue the piano feature into a gospel-like section, with some added percussion.

Finally, at 3:46 we play through the "B" section two last times as a reprise, once normally and once with extended octaves in both bass and violin. Just to throw in one last proggy bit, we end with a large drum buildup in 3 x 6/8 + 4/4.

PHEW! We hope you enjoy the nostalgia!"

Not all musicians/composers/arrangers enjoy writing about their work, or are even *able* to remember & convey all the detail and structure that Matt does... it provides a tremendous insight, and unlike my own analysis, it's coming straight from the horse's mouth. In this case the "horse" is a team of immensely talented artists who should now be quite familiar, after four equally compelling and varied featured arrangements. While their music speaks tomes about their distinct personalities as musicians & cohesive synergy as a group, the additional background info Matt's provided has been icing on the cake, offering an invaluable glance behind the scenes. This jam breaks their traditional constraints & branches out the instrumentation, but things are still very tight, with each note of each bar accomplishing something and each individual performance shining throught. Larry Oji writes:

"For any VGM fan, Tetrimino listed on a track is practically an automatic seal of approval. Meanwhile, "Into the Thick of It" is such a rich, catchy theme that immediately stands out as something arrangers can naturally build off of, so this was a true treat to find in the inbox. As usual, the synergy is strong with these extremely talented online collaborators, with strong performances & solid mixing that allow the beauty and skill of each part to be clearly heard AND combine well with everything else in play.

Props to the group for working in some more aggressive stuff within the piece, largely driven by the bass and percussion from 2:17-2:57, all without sacrificing any of the trademark energy, dynamics, and upbeat fun of their usual jazzy pieces. Once again, Michaela, Kristopher, Matt, and Mitchell are a fearsome fusion foursome. I hope to attend a live show of theirs some day! :-)"

What he said :) Great stuff, breaks some new ground for an already groundbreaking group, and pays funky, progressive homage to the masterful music of Hiroki Kikuta!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 9 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Crulex
on 2018-06-20 02:46:15

That violin! :wub: This is definitely my favorite ReMix from Tetrimino thus far for sure. High quality sound and cohesion, plenty of variation and the instruments were on point the whole time. Got plenty of funk to go around as well. There is nothing to really be said other than this is what a ReMix looks like when the artists knock it out of the park!

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Chromarin
on 2016-08-10 16:30:23

I knew that I'll love this from the very first notes on, because I could already hear that the remix will keep that specific sound coloration/quality of the original with the virtuosity and creativity typical for Tetrimino! I was absolutely not disappointed!!!!

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DimeTower
on 2016-02-16 00:25:25

How did I not know who this group was before this? I think I just booked the next couple of hours on my listening end.

Oh, and as for the song, WOW. Talk about a build up and an execution. It's just a masterful wind up and able to deliver change of pace, change of feel, and still over-deliver. Wildly impressive.

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nitrozsz
on 2016-02-04 21:39:31

Niiiiice. Into the Thick of It, normally a more calm track for traversing through the unknown and killing things, made more intense and exciting. And done in a way that sounds so neat, organized, and well produced. Yes, the ending was sudden, but the performance was so fast paced and exciting, I couldn't see this track end any other way. Very satisfying track.

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zykO
on 2016-02-03 15:04:38

i can't feel my face. what happened.

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evktalo
on 2016-02-03 02:14:13

Super nice work. Usual Tetromino tightness, but I do think I enjoyed this arrangement from them the most so far. There's tons of variety in the arrangement, my favourite is the ominous synth + heavy drums and bass section. I did think the ending was quite sudden, I was fully expecting a coda to wrap things up when that happened. In any case, a tight, super enjoyable version of a classic theme!

(btw the "Download MP3" box shows an incorrect length on the ReMix page)

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Toxiceye
on 2016-02-03 00:24:11

Step 1: Double what Bowlerhat said below.

Step 2: There is no step 2.

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Bowlerhat
on 2016-02-02 16:51:41

This is just soooo good!!! I already knew it from their youtube channel, and I was already half expecting it to arrive here as well, but it nevertheless still completely blew my mind. In my humble opinion it's their best piece yet.

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Liontamer
on 2016-02-02 12:57:46

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

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Secret of Mana (Square , 1993, SNES)
Music by Hiroki Kikuta
Songs:
"Into the Thick of It"

Tags (13)


Genre:
Fusion,Progressive Rock
Mood:
Energetic,Funky
Instrumentation:
Organ,Piano,Synth,Violin
Additional:
Production > Live Instruments
Time > 4/4 Time Signature
Time > 6/8 Time Signature
Time > Tempo: Variable
Time > Time Signature: Irregular

File Information


Name:
Secret_of_Mana_Into_the_Funk_of_It_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
6,446,811 bytes
MD5:
8a24672f2fdda2b9cc559b9bc535282b
Bitrate:
192Kbps
Duration:
4:25

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