ReMix:Streets of Rage "Sensual Ippon" 3:49

By mv

Arranging the music of one song...

"Keep the groovin'"

Primary Game: Streets of Rage (Sega , 1991, GEN), music by Yuzo Koshiro

Posted 2004-09-03, evaluated by djpretzel


News flash: mv is good. Damn good. Varied styles, consistently high quality, creative arrangements. There's not much left for me to do but simply describe his mixes and highly advise them to listeners, which is a good thing. This go 'round he covers Yuzo's Streets of Rage soundtrack with a funky trip-hop rendition of the level 4 bridge theme, throwing in the intro as a brief cameo at the very end. He reveals a surprisingly short development period and some insight into the track's origins and name:

"this mix was started and finished one day in a few hours, while i had other projects on hold. i had always wanted to remix some yuzo koshiro music since i find him to be one of the very best musicians in the game music industry. i had always been fascinated by the round 4 visuals and music, and actually found the track to sound moody and relaxing rather than catchy and agressive; so here's a trip-hop/lounge version of that tune, with a general mood that would be a hybrid of "cammy by night" and "time chill". the end of the mix actually uses the main SOR theme for nostalgia. The title is a humorous word association with "Sensual" describing the mood and the character Blaze; and "Ippon" being the japanese word for winning point moves that can be achieved in karate, martial art which Blaze masters in Streets of Rage."

Regardless of what it means, it certainly sounds cool. Mellow rhodes, very warm, sits in a comfortable puddle of 70's-infused trip-hop, with wah guitar stage left doin' its thing while ambient "bridge" effects (traffic and the like, very atmospheric and tasteful) fly by, and an unobstrusive bass anchors the beat, while a flute lead covers large portions of what you could call the chorus, with interspersed sax. The cameo intro at the end is just a LITTLE cheesy and conspicuous to those intimately familiar with the material, but it works, and reminds me of something I might do, so from that biased perspective I certainly dig it. Yuzo was the master of 16-bit funkdom, combining mad electrofunk skills with usually ninja-related contexts for further amplified mojo, and mv keeps the faith with his interpretation. Great stuff; furthermore I can now enjoy it in the comfort of my fully air-conditioned home... albeit $2700 lighter. The joys [sarcasm] of home ownership are at least partially alleviated with tunage like this. Smooth.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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WesternZypher
on 2010-10-01 23:37:58

I love this as much as Slow Moon Groove. And that's a whole lot. This comes on, and whatever my stresses, I reflect, I rewind, I unwind. Thanks you mv, thank you OCRemix, thank you Yuzo, for this.

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OA
on 2008-04-24 11:37:02

Beautiful rhodes sound, and the bass sounds good as well, but that drum loop is just so repetitive. :/

It has a really smooth groove that is pretty easy to get into, but I think I would have to be in a specific mood to really appreciate this one. It flows very well, but doesn't really take any risks.Some of the samples are kind of weak, like the flute that is thankfully only used in a few minor spots. But for every weak sample, there is a strong one, like the underlying undulating synth.

Pretty nice stuff, with just a few issues with a few instruments.

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FliE
on 2006-09-18 14:40:13

This is a good piece right here.

I like these, kind of relaxing, "chill-songs", and since Streets of Rage is one of the most memorable titles from my (early) youth, this song is pretty nostalgic too :o)

The melody fits in perfectly with the bassline (which could have been a bit "fatter" imo), and the kick (synth. drum or w/e) just makes me wanna nod my head :)

Good one, I can't get enough of it :)

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I_Love_OC_ReMixes
on 2005-12-24 07:58:53

Such a sexy mix, and 1 page of reviews. :cry:

I love this one, just like your Time Chill mix, creativity, original touches, flow, awesomeness. Love ya mv! :oops: and merry christmas!!

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Miletus
on 2005-04-04 08:31:10

An excellent mix. You've got that cool cyberpunk streets of rage style close to perfection.

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shrimpchips
on 2004-09-30 17:06:17

Matches the game perfectly. That "cool" street vibe, with undertones of something a tad more devious beneath it all, which really comes out at the end. Well done.

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tyler_lucero
on 2004-09-24 19:22:18

I like it. From a purely musical standpoint, it may be somewhat lacking, (i.e, procussion ending) but I dig the bassline. To me, a good bassline is the key to a good song...the quality of any (modern) tune can be boliled down to the funkadelic groove of a good base, which this remix has in spades (note 1'57, and again at 3'03.) It may not change structurally, but does it really need to? I think not. This remix gets my foot a-tapping and my head a-bobbin, and frankly, that's good enough for me.

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CykoticZZ
on 2004-09-24 09:41:46

i can't get this song out of my head. ARGH d@mn you MV, you and your darned talent!

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ambient
on 2004-09-09 10:38:52

As an avid fan of all things SoR, I felt obliged to

share my impressions of this mix.

Usually, as soon as I download a SoR mix, I love it,

as I do most SoR mixes on this site, barring a

couple. I was really looking forward to

downloading this mix, and when I finally listened

to it I was a little disappointed - it sounded

too downbeat and unimpressive right of the bat.

I have to agree with Prot on almost everything he

said about the mix.

Oh well, in any case, most SoR mixes sound either

minimalistic or suspiciously like midi-rips, they

manage to capture the essence of the originals.

This one just doesn't. Gecko Yamori does it way

better in his version. Sensual Ippon sounds

uninspired.

On the bright side, rhodes do sound great and the

variations are also good.

I think that this mix would not have had an easy time

with the judges. Lack of progression is one issue.

The ending from the title just sort of pops up out

of nowhere, there is no buildup to it. Drums are

repetitive, I hear 4 unique measures at most, one

repeating over and over and 3 alternating fills.

The flute sounds subpar to put it mildly. There is

also very little going on in the rearrangement

department, especially considering the emphasis

that is being put on rearrangement on this site.

Also, it just sounds sparse in a lot of places.

The quality of this mix is surprising, especially

coming from mv, whose TimeChill is surely in my

top three favorite mixes of all time.

EDIT:

After listening to this mix on a good system

a couple of times, I learned to appreciate it more.

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SirRus
on 2004-09-07 12:08:28

I think this is the second time I have heard mv say he put together a mix in a matter of hours (someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe he said the same thing somewhere about "Forray Into Eastern Horizons") Anyway, its just one of those things you've got to admire and from my perspective envy that he can produce OCR quality songs with such efficiency. Perhaps this one is not my favorite mv song, but I respect practically all of his music, and this one is no exception. I enjoyed the mood and overall feeling of this song in spite of some of the more lackluster individual parts (Prot pointed out the flute sample and percussion for example). In the end, the song as a whole is a wonderful thing. Keep it up mv.

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GrayLightning
on 2004-09-07 02:15:22

Enjoyable work as always MV. Easily my favorite SoR mix ever.

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benevolensaurus
on 2004-09-05 21:10:35

It's nice to see calm, mellowish mixes like this on the site once in a while. Kind of odd, I thought, how a mellow lounge-type mix would come from a game about fighting on the raging streets, you know, how that's all opposite and stuff... yeah. I suppose that's what remixing is about, though: taking a piece (or several pieces) and transforming it into something very much different while still retaining within it traces of the original material. Well, more or less.

But anyway, yeah, very cool, mellow, lounge-like, etc. I like it, and stuff. I could go on to say a really corny line about "taming" this "raging" beast of a game, but I don't think I will. Even though I just sort of did. Eh...

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Protricity
on 2004-09-03 11:21:42

eh, not too bad. Percussion is pretty weak. The one loop used none stop is broken up a bit, but when that happens it goes from swing to 4/4. Awkward, could have been done much better. Melody is only slightly varied from the original. Theres additions here and there like the distorted synth, but I wouldn't say they enhance the song too much. Some rhodes stuff going on, nice. Lead flute is just plain weak. More off key/tune jazz riffs, but not nearly as bad as the cammy by night remix. Much better job with that.

So in retrospect, feels like a simple upgrade from the original into slow, minimal version.

I would have prefered some real progression, some real direction, but I suppose simplicity and a casual feel were the focus here. Would like to see more interesting things done to these songs in the future, especially in the realm of percussion, progression, and rearangement, but thats just a personal taste. More or less, it really feels as if this mix was thrown together in a few hours. Ending is rather uninspired.

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mrjag
on 2004-09-03 10:46:14

What a wonderful surprise see a SoR remix. Best genesis soundtrack ever.

Good breaks in drumline.

A powerful set of instruments in a super rearrangement.

Good job :wink:

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Hasbro24
on 2004-09-03 04:17:38

This remix is awesome. Its something you can listen to anytime, or set on repeat and never get tired of it. awesome job!

-Josh- 8)

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Streets of Rage (Sega , 1991, GEN)
Music by Yuzo Koshiro
Songs:
"Keep the groovin'"

Tags (3)


Genre:
Hip Hop,Jazz
Mood:
Chill
Instrumentation:
Additional:

File Information


Name:
Streets_of_Rage_Sensual_Ippon_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,586,910 bytes
MD5:
8d82f54dd6dc705938271f1274301f40
Bitrate:
192Kbps
Duration:
3:49

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