ReMix: Super Dodge Ball 'Almost Frozen'
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- Game: Super Dodge Ball (CSG Imagesoft, 1989, NES)
- ReMixer(s): Monobrow, Rexy
- Composer(s): Kazuo Sawa
- Song(s): 'Vs. Team Iceland'
- Posted: 2013-01-09, evaluated by the judges
- Album: Featured on Super Dodge Ball: Around the World
Time for a Rexy + Monobrow collab, improving on the released version of the same track featured on Super Dodge Ball: Around the World... it's been getting colder and colder here, and my computer's right next to a window, so I run the risk of becoming like the mix title, which arranges Team Iceland's theme in an icy, ambient/rock/prog fusion jam. Bev writes:
"I worked on this track since the project's interception back in 2005, and the intention I had in there was to develop some kind of icy atmosphere. It did however keep changing genres throughout the whole production process due to my sick realization on knowing that there's some that certainly don't show the best of me as a writer at all. Close to the end of development though it did take more of a pseudo-symphonic and ambient approach while still fitting with the pacing of the rest of the project tracks.
The reason why the project took so long to get through the evaluation was because my soundbank at the time really didn't hold out that well, and so I asked around the #ocremix IRC for help. Luckily, Monobrow was there to give me a hand (could this be the first known OCR collab comprised entirely of girls?) - she took my project file and ended up giving it a complete overhaul, maintaining the structure but also having more liberties in writing and switching some parts around. No longer did it maintain some kind of symphonic hint but it did take itself into a more 70s-organ-driven-blues kind of way while emphasizing on the icy field of play a lot more than I could've done on a production level."
It's an interesting collab, because Katie really took things in a very different direction while maintaining substantive components of Bev's original - a little less cumulative and a little more revisionary, but whatever gets the job done, right? I dig the final result, which I think still has an open, airy, icy feel to it, but also rocks some 70's prog/fusion and spirals around like a highly-caffeinated ice skater, with grace & copious energy. Monobrow writes:
"I volunteered to help Rexy redo this track last minute. It turned out to be a difficult task! Her original arrangement progression though was very solid, which eased the process. My work basically included revamping the instrumentation, reworking/moving/writing, and synth/organ/drum wankery everywhere. I tried to stay true to her arrangement as much as possible, but ended up changing some chord progression at the end. My intent was to take her previously icy arrangement and turn it into an insane blizzard, which I heard potential for instantly. Think COLD HARD ORGAN. I imagine some dude getting caught in the snowstorm from ice-hell and he's battling the biting wind, making his way home against all odds... That or a bunch of Scandinavian dudes having the craziest volleyball tournament EVER."
COLD HARD ORGAN... musical awesomeness, or yeti porn? In this case, the former, as Katie did an ace job bumping Rexy's initial arrangement up a notch. Wes writes:
"I feel like the somewhat-thin soundscape here actually works very well, given the pseudo-prog rock aesthetic going on here. It doesn't bother me at all, and thanks to a mighty-fine arrangement I have no trouble passing this one, personally."
halc adds:
"listening to this having not heard the last version since I judged it, which I don't quite recall, but it looks like I liked it. I thought this was pretty well done anyway, I think NO-ing this one right now is a little harsh, and though I can see where the crits are coming from, the arrangement is super-creative and I personally liked the quirky/chaotic soundscapes a lot, no complaints with the general sound/aesthetic of the piece"
This isn't an easy source to mix, it isn't an easy genre to take on, and the fact that it's an ally-oop tag-team arrangement collaboration makes it more impressive, in my book, since it's tricky to make those sorts of things work. Kudos to Rexy & Monobrow for ensuring that Bjork's homeland was well-represented on the album; good stuff!
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