ReMix:Chrono Cross "Liskojytä" 3:31

By Eino Keskitalo

Arranging the music of 3 songs from 3 games ( view all )...

"Dance with the Lizard", "Labyrinth of No End", "Syreen"

Primary Game: Chrono Cross (Square , 1999, PS1), music by Yasunori Mitsuda

Posted 2019-03-25, evaluated by the judges panel


We return to Chronopolis with a duo of delightful mixes to start the week; up first is Eino Keskitalo with a lo-fi, upbeat, gritty chiptune mix which incorporates a few cameos from other games as well:

""The Lizard Dance" is a pretty cool one-chord jam... I added a little bit more bass movement in this arrangement. There's also the bit where I've taken two lines and separated their tempo, cutting the other in half and other in 1/4, and bringing it up in steps... the harmony ended up not matching so well anymore, so there was some tweaking there. Overall, I remember wanting to experiment with chip sounds over rock drums back then, and that's what all the sounds are here, simple waveforms apart from the drums.

There are a couple of cameos from other games, one from Wonder Boy in Monster Land, the final dungeon music, and one from the Syreen theme in Star Control 2.

A huge thanks to Brad for directing the project and cheering this one to the finish line!"

Because why NOT throw some Star Control 2 in there, right? The Ur-Quan demand it. Eino's been doing neat, less orthodox things with chip textures lately, conjuring up some lo-fi/garage style distortion & production and pairing that against clean, pure waveforms. It's neat when the harmonics in the distortion hit at the right angles and produce some indie-rock style guitar FX; crunchy, satisfying, & functional. Album director prophetik music writes:

"Eino (evktalo) was one of the first people to hop in and take a track. I love how chippy and glitchy this track sounds -- since the OST is extremely organic and uses lots of accurately-represented instruments, his addition of a lo-fi sound was really cool and fit in well. I am a huge fan of the attention paid to the leads especially."

It's not JUST a question of appying downgrade/bitcrush to chip synths; that can easily & quickly become a trainwreck of overlapping frequencies and general chaos. Eino makes it work by reeling it in & controlling the effects, so it's a calculated, musical roughness. My thoughts echo Jivemaster's decision:

"The source tunes fit surprisingly well together. Initially I thought the bit crushed instruments may become tiresome as they continue through the track, but their gritty nature really adds an atmospheric element to the production which I highly enjoy, almost like a secondary reverb source. There are a couple of departures from the main pacing in the arrangement across the different sections, but the momentum of the track is mostly the same throughout. Overall track length is about right here, as I feel any longer and things would risk becoming repetitive. That said, the general riffing and articulations in the mix do help in keeping things fresh, as do the tweaking of the effects, which act as a fill in their own right in some cases. Mixing is also handled relatively well, considering the amount of crushed parts playing, things didn't feel squashed or bunched together. Overall this is another interesting one from Eino, continuing in a style that he's certainly enjoying himself in ."

Definitely; if this were just a straightforward chip mix that had a bitcrusher dumped on it, it would sound rather... not good. Instead you've got an engaging take on the theme, incorporating sources from other games as appropriate, with a compelling aesthetic that leverages lo-fi/distortion against chip waves in a warm, organic capacity. Great stuff from Eino, who continues to apply unorthodox but effective & enjoyable sound design to his arrangements!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 4 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
avatar
Black_Doom
on 2019-04-06 13:21:08

Not familiar with the original as well, but yeah, this is some damn nice job! The groovy, crunchy drums is certainly my favorite thing about this track. I mean, the rest of instrumentation is very cool too (those chippy bits are super stellar), but the percussion just makes me tap my toes and bop my head quite a few times, haha. The drum writing at around 2-minute mark is especially tasty! And, man, that aggressive synth assault at 2:40! Extremely sweet earcandy from Eino, just as expected :D

avatar
Mr. Hu
on 2019-03-30 19:52:50

I'm unfamiliar with the original, but I'm digging this so hard. That lower octave lead is like the halfway point between the shimmering high stuff and the noisier sounds (which have the perfect amount of grit, to my ears), and it blends in so well; it almost keeps the whole mix glued together. Great sound and panning on the kettle toms as well!

avatar
lemnlime
on 2019-03-27 10:35:51

A very lively, enjoyable chip mix :lol:

avatar
Liontamer
on 2019-03-25 13:12:39

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

Sources Arranged (3 Songs, 3 Games)


Primary Game:
Chrono Cross (Square , 1999, PS1)
Music by Yasunori Mitsuda
Songs:
"Dance with the Lizard"
Additional Game:
Star Control II (Accolade , 1992, DOS)
Music by Aaron J. Grier,Dan Nicholson,Erol Otus,Kevin Palivec,Marc Brown,Riku Nuottajärvi,Tommy V. Dunbar
Songs:
"Syreen"
Additional Game:
Wonder Boy in Monster Land (Sega , 1988, SMS)
Music by Shinichi Sakamoto
Songs:
"Labyrinth of No End"

Tags (10)


Genre:
Pop,Rock
Mood:
Energetic,Funky,Quirky
Instrumentation:
Chiptune,Electronic,Synth
Additional:
Effects > Distortion
Effects > Lo-Fi

File Information


Name:
Chrono_Cross_Liskojyta_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,985,373 bytes
MD5:
c8c864e7bcc0ced81debb7f4e9606bd2
Bitrate:
223Kbps
Duration:
3:31

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