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OCReMix releases Final Fantasy VI inspired album, Balance and Ruin

L

Lonestar

I joined for Erin Brockovich discussion
While VI and it's music were never my favorite (dirty VII fan), it's got some tremendous production value. Puts the VII remix album of theirs to shame, enough that I'd like a revisit someday.
 
P

PBalfredo

Member
Lots of good tracks, but oddly enough the one that has stolen my heart the most is Blackjack's Breakup Bossa, complete with smarmy lounge singer Setzer. It's such a fun lil' song.
 
A

akidnamededdy

Banned
BOTEC said:
Yeah, it's a little jarring. But it's mostly tastefully integrated and gives the songs some unique texture. I don't mind it (yet).
Click to expand...

I kinda like it in There Will Be Blood...I had high hopes for Metamorphosis, and while this isn't what I was expecting for it, I like it.

Joining the holy-crap-virt crowd. Can't listen to Impresario enough.

Gotta say though, I was hoping something similarly awesome had been cooked up for Dancing Mad and I was let down. After several listens, I do like what's we got for Dancing Mad...but Impresario definitely stole the show.

Eagerly anticipating my physical album :)
 
P

PBalfredo

Member
Even though Smoke and Cloud is not how I would have taken Locke's Theme, I have a weird appreciation for how they made it sound like a Final Fantasy XIII track.
 
W

warmlettuce

Member
Pretty good listen so far. A couple of standouts for me include almost everything by XPRTNovice, particularly La Montaña de los Caballos Jóvenes (Mt. Koltz), A Fistful of Nickels, and Bad Octopus (this one is so so so great!).

Impresario is great also, but everyone here knows that already. The preceding song, The Dark Oath, needs more props as it's a perfect rock power-ballad lead-in to the Bohemian Rhapsody inspired Impresario.
 
P

PlanetSmasher

Banned
I don't have time to listen to or download this for a week or two due to a constant string of shows, so can anyone let me know if the songs on this album have voices and lyrics in them? There's a distressing trend with OCRemixes of remixers adding lyrics to songs, and nothing devalues a classic piece of music more to me than some "clever" remixer rapping over it or adding silly autotuned lyrics that don't need to be there.

I want to give it a listen, but I just don't have time right now. :X
 
F

Frumix

Suffering From Success
Man that Decisive Battle sure sounds like it's been drinking with Super Meat Bo---

Arranged by Danny Baranowsky
Click to expand...
b4-shpak2.jpg
 
D

Dunan

Member
PlanetSmasher said:
I don't have time to listen to or download this for a week or two due to a constant string of shows, so can anyone let me know if the songs on this album have voices and lyrics in them?
Click to expand...

Several of them have lyrics, and -- forgive me for an opinion completely opposed to yours -- I love hearing lyrics added in remixes, particularly when the originals don't have any vocals in them.

The vocal pieces in this one are mostly in English, but Locke's theme is in Japanese
and is a poem from the Man'yoshu, a poetry collection from the ancient capital of Nara in the 7th-8th centuries AD
.

Wow, do I like that piece. Props to whoever thought of it.

Zircon, is there any official status being given to the songs that didn't make the cut? Are they available somewhere in their final states? While this project was in progress, I became a big fan of The Weding Duel (an organ rendition of the music you hear when fighting the rats above the opera stage), The Dancing Fanatics (upbeat version of the Fanatics' Tower), and an Inspector Gadget-Umaro hybrid whose title I forget. I was kind of hoping they'd be on the bonus disc, because they're fantastic.
 
P

PlanetSmasher

Banned
Dunan said:
Several of them have lyrics, and -- forgive me for an opinion completely opposed to yours -- I love hearing lyrics added in remixes, particularly when the originals don't have any vocals in them.

The vocal pieces in this one are mostly in English, but Locke's theme is in Japanese
and is a poem from the Man'yoshu, a poetry collection from the ancient capital of Nara in the 7th-8th centuries AD
.

Wow, do I like that piece. Props to whoever thought of it.
Click to expand...

Alright...thanks for the update. Not what I was hoping to hear, but good to know.

One last question: did anybody end up remixing Metamorphosis? That's one of my favorite songs on the entire VI score, but it's so rarely addressed in remixing. Probably since it's so short.
 
M

Myriadis

Member
I will definitely give it a try. I love some of their newer releases (25 Years of Zelda, Theophany's Majoras Mask and Wild Arms) and I'm pretty sure that I will find some songs I like on this album.
 
O

orioto

Good Art™
I've been listening to that a lot.

So, well, don't ever ever put that many dubstep in my FFVI please. And more than being a scandal, this justs screams "heyy kids this album has been done in 2013, remember the hot shit back then wouhou:"..


Now, some song are like i want them to be, like the Gau one, the Mt Koltz, Strago, songs that dont try to be dancing or pop, but stay soundtrack music... The Ending suite makes the whole thing worthy by itself anyway :)
 
M

mclem

Member
I completely forgot that I kickstarted this. Now I need to um and ah over whether to listen now or wait for my physical copy.
 
B

BorkBork

The Legend of BorkBork: BorkBorkity Borking
Brilliant pieces after a few listens:

Impresario
Terra's Resolve
Bad Octopus
Fistful of Nickels
A Glimmer of Hope
Blackjack's Breakup Bossa
On the Run


Kind of disappointed in Coin Song and Epitaph to be honest. Two of the more neglected pieces for remixing already, and not quite up to my expectations here.
 
J

jett

D-Member
BorkBork said:
Brilliant pieces after a few listens:

Impresario
Terra's Resolve
Bad Octopus
Fistful of Nickels
A Glimmer of Hope
Blackjack's Breakup Bossa
On the Run


Kind of disappointed in Coin Song and Epitaph to be honest. Two of the more neglected pieces for remixing already, and not quite up to my expectations here.
Click to expand...

I can't help you with Epitaph, but as for Coin Song...

I liked both of those remixes in this album though.
 
cj_iwakura

cj_iwakura

Member
jett said:
You could've looked at the tracklist, you know. :p It's there.
Click to expand...

Totally did. Imagine how dumb I felt when I heard it today. :p It's not as good as I expected, but okay. Disc 3 is not too hot so far. Disc 1/2 have had the best overall.

The ending of Impresario is dynamite.
 
M

Myriadis

Member
Listened to it a bit already. The first two songs are really good already.
And that "omen" quadrology, woah. A 40 minute long ,incredibly cheesy, prog-metal piece split into 4 parts.
Edit: The full orchestral version of the Terra Theme is also absolutely awesome.
 
B

BOTEC

Member
Finally finished this behemoth. Big props to all involved, quite an impressive album. Not a single track that I'd want to skip on subsequent plays. A testament to not only Uematsu's composition, but the talents of the performers and producers that worked together enhance what is already a stellar work.

Now all that remains is to give my buddy shit for producing some of the most-up-their-own-ass tracks on this album. 10 minute long battle theme? Good gravy.

I'm also super curious to check out the FFVII remix album. FFVI had great music that the OCRemix crew managed to enhance. I can't wait to see what they do with downright garbage.
 
A

atbigelow

Member
"Fistful of Nickels" is probably the best remix I've ever heard. Not only does it maintain the original flavor, but good god the FEELS halfway through. I still remember as a kid when I heard Shadow's theme for the first time and was like "huh, western music?"

It's so good it almost just feels like a Morricone song itself. It'd be so fantastic to hear this with a full orchestra.



Some letdowns from the album, though:

-Gau's Theme. One of the most beautiful and understated themes in the game. The arrangement here feels a bit too... random. The original was a cello masterpiece and that kinda gets thrown out the window here. :/

-Devil's Lab. The arrangement here feels a bit uninspired. Too much weird garbling noise and synth. Pretty sad, as it's one of my favorites from the game.

-Fierce Battle. Too much dubstep-esque sounds here for my taste. Yeah the original definitely used electronic sounds, but they were paired with other instruments so as not to be overpowering.

-Dancing Mad. Again too much synth going on here. I do like the killer bass line. Too synthy going on, though.

-Epitaph. I actually like this arrangement but don't feel like it really hit its powerful moment. Contrast to "Fistful of Nickels" where you get that fantastic climax halfway in and you're just like "aw shit, top gear, son" that doesn't happen. Just felt they could have done more here.


SURPRISE AWESOMENESS
-Slam Shufflin'. I typically liked bLiNd's stuff anyway, but was pretty amazed that he turned Zozo's music into a really great dance track.

-La Montana de los Caballos Jovenes. What the fuck this song is crazy creative and fun. I liked the mountain music in FF6 and this just puts such an enjoyable spin on the whole thing.



Overall, it feels like they did a pretty great job. They seemed to have dropped the ball on all the battle music.
 
S

Schweinehund

Member
OpinionatedCyborg said:
Impresario is great but the lead singer (virt?) sounds a bit too much like Weird Al :).
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Actually started listening to this, replaying through FF6 and just finished the opera scene. I love how he worked the lyrics into the song. Too bad he couldn't have a woman sing maria's part.

Haters gonna hate, but I'd love to see FF6 remade on next gen hardware before any other FF's.

Loving shadow's theme as well.
 
Pejo

Pejo

Member
Ok after listening to the entire thing many many times at work.....

This is fucking fantastic.

Impresario, Mt. Koltz theme, Ascension of a Madman, Strago theme....fuck. So good.

Download this people.
 
B

blujeanne_baby

Neo Member
I wanted to give a shout out to all the remixers and the performers who did orchestral pieces for this album. My favorites by far are Derek Oren and Jeremy Robsons pieces. Here are my favorites.

Derek Oren, Jeremy Robson
- Trauermarsch
- Elegy for a Ruined World

bustatunez "Will Roget II"
- Prologue

Steffan Andrews
- Ascension of a Madman

Chad Seiter
- Terra's Resolve (real orchestra)

Rexy
- Gestahlian Sonata (Piano)

Forrest Powell feat. Laura Intravia
- Katabasis

Shnabubula, Gabe Terracciano
- Ending Suite (Violin and Piano)

The quality of all of these pieces are an amazing achievement in the video game sampling community. While there's always nothing like a real orchestra this album represents a blurred line. It's getting really hard to tell what is real and what is not. I think thats the best compliment one could give to a sample artist.

Amazing job all around, the album is a masterpiece, I'm so happy it was created.

-Carrie
 
Q

qualitydisc

Member
I just discovered this album. Amaaaaazing. Really, really high production values.

I wish I had Kickstarted it to get the physical CD but at least it's free to download now.
 
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