ReMix:Final Fantasy VII "The Cosmofarian" 3:11

By djpretzel

Arranging the music of one song...

"Cosmo Canyon"

Primary Game: Final Fantasy VII (Sony , 1997, PS1), music by Nobuo Uematsu

Posted 2019-11-18, evaluated by Liontamer


I wanted something different for OCR04000; we've been around a long time, and the VGM arrangement scene has grown so much during that period. One of the things I miss from the "good old days" (or at least associate a bit more with them...) was artists trying weirder concepts out & playing with unfamiliar genres. As much as it is a site dedicated to games, and to music, OCR is a site dedicated to the infinite possibilities of musical arrangement, specifically, and commercial markets *tend* to resist individual artists moving too far & too often along the spectrum of stylistic diversity & influence. Well, we aren't a commercial market, we're a labor of love, forged in the chaotic cauldron of the earlier internet, when anything was possible & we hadn't yet seen as much of... The Dark Side ;) To be clear, I'm not throwing shade on the emergent commercial mixing scene, which I view as both fantastic AND inevitable, but I do think meaningfully distinct & vital work remains possible outside of that space.

So with that said, this is a strange & hopefully agreeable blend of roots reggae, blues, & rock, arranging Final Fantasy VII's "Cosmo Canyon" from the incomparable Nobuo Uematsu. I've always loved reggae, even though I'm guilty of the cardinal "reggae tourist" sin of being primarily familiar with Bob Marley's Legend. There's a fair bit of dirt, grit, and hair on the organ & wah clav, and then the amped/distorted clavinet that gets the solo is a big potty mouth. Drums are Toontrack, bass is Scarbee's Rickenbacker, organ is Sound Dust, guitar is Shreddage w/ Chandler GAV19T, brass is Session Horns Pro, & both clavs are Spectrasonics Keyscape, and that's basically everything. Doesn't stick around too long, but I had fun taking the very solemn, spiritual source and going in a... different direction.

Alternate mix title would be "Red CDXX" - "The Cosmofarian" is conceptually envisioned as a creature of intergalactic power & near-omnipotence that doesn't give af, like the MCU's celestial beings... except its primary focus is spreading peace, love, & music throughout the universe. Larry Oji writes:

"I appreciate Dave's conceptual throwback to simpler times in the VGM arrangement community; there's a certain lost charm when it comes to people trying riskier directions when it comes to interpretation, so this track fits nicely in that framework. Beyond being quaint, this piece plays to a lot of djp's traditional strengths: a willingness to take genre risks, keeping textures simple yet fully fleshed out, playing parts in live for a more organic-style presentation, getting melodically liberal, leaning into comping/vamping, and not overstaying the welcome. :-)

I've said before that when you look at what djp's posted from the very, very beginning of OCR, you can tell he's all about embracing less conventional arrangement approaches, whether by himself or other artists.

I've also championed unconventional pieces myself in my role here, and applauding the weird and nontraditional makes OCR that much better. It's a facet of this place I know we'll never lose, so whether it's 5 more years and 1,000 more mixes, or 20 more years and 4,000 more mixes (I fully expect these links to eventually work), here's to both a concept and a community full of ideas, ambition, talent, passion, and the love & appreciation of video game music as an art form!"

I'll drink to that.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 7 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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CJthemusicdude
on 2024-04-17 16:14:14

This was a very unique take on the original source, and I really dig that. That funky guitar and slow-paced reggae style fits this well! This was an absolute treat, thank you for making this remix! ?

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evktalo
on 2020-01-01 04:40:25

Nicely done! The source material works really well in this style. Fun to hear that distorted organ sound in there.

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HoboKa
on 2019-11-22 01:14:56

Hey nice source pick DJP. This is my 2nd favorite FF7 tune. Nice Blues-y re-interpretation of Cosmo Canyon.

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Sir_NutS
on 2019-11-20 08:54:00

Here's to 4000 more!

(also cool mix).

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Mr. Hu
on 2019-11-18 20:48:04

Great vibe, great stutter. Finds that sweet spot between grime and sheen. The harmonics at 1:55 - gimmie all of that *gobbles it up, greedily*.

Agree 300% with OCR being a kind of bastion for less popular genres. I think my first ever tastes of industrial AND trance came from this site, 17-18 years ago (both FFVII mixes, ironically). Also, as someone who just got back into making my own music after some years away, I always appreciated this site for supporting interpretations over straight covers. The creative process it takes to arrange something new out of something old...sometimes a track doesn't work out the way it does in your head, but the end results can be incredibly rewarding when they do (or after those happy accidents).

PS. I'v also been constantly impressed by DJP's writing/write-ups. Manages to find new ways to write about music with each new post. As we're all at the point of no return with texting, social media character limits, and clickbait pseudo-journalism, (not to mention professional deadlines and shorter attention spans), it's often very refreshing for me, personally, to see a well-worded paragraph or three on the main page of a site that supports creative arts like this one.

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Black_Doom
on 2019-11-18 14:57:24

It's pretty funny that in the write-up for MkVaff's remix of the same theme djp mentioned he was planning to arrange "Cosmo Canyon" at some point, and, well... Here we are :) It's also very interesting that this is the third (!) djp remix of 2019. I mean, are we going back in time or what :D Anyways, onto the track itself - I gotta be honest, I'm too far from calling myself a huge reggae fan, but this remix is just ridiculously good. Just like Mike's track I mentioned earlier, this is nowhere near what you can expect from an arrangement of this source tune. And yet it works on every level possible! When I was listening "The Cosmofarian" for the first time, I was initially worried that it was too liberal and I didn't recognize the source at all, but luckily the melody kicked in at 0:25 and it was pretty much there the entire time :) This is also certainly a classic djp track in that sense that it has a lot of connections with his previous tracks (actually, my very first thought that popped into my mind was "FORTUNA FAVOURS THE FUNK!". Yeah, it was more like a scream, hahaha), but it's something new, fresh and different at the same time! Keep on rocking, Mr. Lloyd ;)

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Liontamer
on 2019-11-18 02:27:38

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

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Final Fantasy VII (Sony , 1997, PS1)
Music by Nobuo Uematsu
Songs:
"Cosmo Canyon"

Tags (10)


Genre:
Blues,Reggae,Rock
Mood:
Funky,Happy
Instrumentation:
Brass,Clavinet,Electric Guitar,Organ
Additional:
Effects > Distortion

File Information


Name:
Final_Fantasy_7_The_Cosmofarian_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,731,772 bytes
MD5:
d0c3c602ab2226d35de1e9995c748e79
Bitrate:
236Kbps
Duration:
3:11

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