Posted 2004-05-23, evaluated by djpretzel


Commander Keen! He was truly keen. If anyone was ever keen, it was him. Actually, i never really played these early id games, but Prince did the tunes just like for Doom - pretty flexible guy. First off, let's answer the obvious questions as to what's being said at the beginning, and why - I emailed analoq after hearing the mix and was informed:

it's just supposed to sound weird. i was sick, i had a fever and a piercing headache, but i wasn't tired enough to sleep so i recorded that intro. for the record, i'm saying:

i'm not feeling too good,
about this one,
some kind of surreal ex pression,
surrealist ex pressionistic?
whatever.

moving on, 960 galactic alphabet,
960 galactic alphabet!
are you here? please!
thank you.

This has a very euro-pop sound to it, perhaps a bit of a Kraftwerk influence, and there's some tres 80's mangled vocoding of "Goodybe, Galaxy," preceding the lovely old-style recording piano conclusion with a nice cross-panned fade out. The guts of the mix are essentially a laid-back beat, a lil funky, with a squeaky analog monoglide lead and some psychedelic oscillator effects over a plunky bassline that does its own happy little riff. I love some of the progressions and the piano solo circa 1'40" is my favorite bit, as analoq lets it loose with some funkdom. Slick snare fill into some heavier filtered percussion follows that, with a great analog lead that restates the melody in more badass fashion. For some reason, be it the references to leaving a galaxy or the dramatic progressions at points, this reminds me of Bowie's Space Oddity (i.e. "Ground control to Major Tom") - in a good way, as I'm a huge fan. Maybe if you melded that track with early euro-techno, added in some more recent virtual analog sensibilities and processing, and decided to cover Commander Keen, you'd come up with something fairly esoteric, unusual, and quality like this? analoq has answered that question, and for some reason I think he's the only one that could have. This has a VERY distinct flavor that, personally, I love. It feels like one of those tracks on albums that aren't one of the singles but you end up liking more, a rare find, and without being intimately familiar with the original I can appreciate that analoq's really transmogrified it into something different and special. Funky.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
avatar
BladedEdge
on 2018-05-13 12:27:51

This is the single greatest music track on the entire OCRemix website. It takes a fairly plain track from an early DOS game, straps it to a rocketship made of groove and piano, and shoots it directly into the stars.

In the years since, analoq seems to have dropped off the face of the internet. Wonder what ever happened to him/her/them. Tracks scattered through long-abandoned websites and web services.

avatar
BLAHMASTER
on 2016-07-15 15:58:56
On 12/2/2015 at 5:18 AM, Black_Doom said:

Holy shit, this is way too perfect for 2004! Every little detail is very clean and very enjoyable - the sunny jazzy piano, the backing EP, the strong beat, the juicy synths, and, of course, the funny vocoded "goodbye galaxy" clip :D Go and grab this stuff, quickly!

Yes.

avatar
Black_Doom
on 2015-12-02 06:18:54

Holy shit, this is way too perfect for 2004! Every little detail is very clean and very enjoyable - the sunny jazzy piano, the backing EP, the strong beat, the juicy synths, and, of course, the funny vocoded "goodbye galaxy" clip :D Go and grab this stuff, quickly!

avatar
timaeus222
on 2014-08-22 20:53:51

Wow, this is so good! Okay, yeah, the vocals were hard to understand, sure, but the harmonies, the melodic contour... they just make this more modern than it actually is. The vocoder wankery towards the end is hilarious. :lol:

avatar
Sansato
on 2010-12-16 01:44:15

We definately need more Commander Keen remixes. :)

No arguments there. From what I've heard so far, the games have quite a quirky selection of music. This ReMix is quirky as well, but in the best possible way. The distorted dialogue intro definitely caught my attention, while the rest of the song kept it from escaping until the very end. Good shtuffs.

avatar
Skinner3D
on 2010-12-15 22:23:11

Agreed with the people who commented before. :D Fun, unique, sweet rendition.

I didn't know the backstory until I read it just now. It makes it even more fun to listen to this song.

We definately need more Commander Keen remixes. :)

avatar
OA
on 2010-04-29 12:23:36

Interesting and funky take on the source, and the vocal stuff really keeps it fresh and unique.The first listen caught my attention because of the talking, and the beats and synths kept my attention to the end, and before I knew it, I was hitting repeat.

The relaxed feeling this has is infectious, and I really enjoyed it.

avatar
Marmiduke
on 2010-04-12 10:23:59

Wow, what a reinvention of the original tune. Takes what is probably the most memorable song it in the entire Keen franchise into a completely unexpected direction.

Cool Euro krautrock sort of vibe going on. I think the voicework makes the piece myself, but it would work adequately enough without it too. The synths are excellent and are right where they need to be in terms of volume and pitch. What's great is that there is atmosphere without compromising coherence or variety. The diversity of ideas, sounds and textures is amazing.

It's quite a unique track, and not one I would have thought would appeal to the vast majority of listeners. But this thread has proven me wrong, to my pleasant surprise. Good to see awesome music get some much-deserved respect.

avatar
Nutritious
on 2009-12-05 01:24:55

Amusing intro from Analoq here, you really can hear how sick he sounds. Production is very clean and I love the generally chilled vibe. Good use of multiple EPs/Rhodes specifically, which work very cohesively with the drums and bass. Nice changeup at 2:35 with something unexpected. The synth string stabs in particular really appeal to me for some reason. This song's been on my OCR playlist for quite some time and won't be leaving any time soon.

avatar
ella guro
on 2009-12-02 23:02:15

You know, sometimes I feel like analoq used to make the same mix over and over. I almost always like his mixes a lot cause he does what he does really well, but they're usually variants of the same thing. Phat rhodes-ish sounds, funky bassline, relaxed 4/4 beat, slightly jazzy. It's not a good or bad thing really, just an observation. His mixes are weird, funky little self-contained worlds. You could be an incredibly talented musician and still never achieve that kind of assurance and uniqueness in your sound that analoq has (or at least had...from what larry is saying) in his.

This is one of my favorites of his. He just throws a bunch of different ideas into one pot and they work while still sounding very much part of the same world. The crazy fx at the beginning and the distorted talking might be my favorite part, if not for the very nice brief piano outro (I also really like the way the piano was sound processed to sound kinda distant and lo-fi). The Kraftwerk references are kinda goofy, but he pulls them off with a straight face and they work.

Commander Keen 4-6 were so great, more mixes! Especially more like this!

avatar
Tmansdc
on 2009-08-13 16:26:06

The intro with the distorted voice, the funky/groovy bassline, and the piano outro are all wins in my book.

Analoq seriously needs to do some more stuff.

avatar
Ascendancy
on 2009-08-13 14:15:04

Awesome.....there's no need to comment with words, let your ears do the talking =D 10/10

avatar
Antipode
on 2007-10-05 19:05:20

Agreed on all counts. This is in my top 10 from this site without a doubt.

avatar
Liontamer
on 2007-10-05 17:26:00

Who knows if we'll get anyything that sounds like this ever again. Props to Aaron for making such a unique piece. Back when this debuted for the OCR4 flood, I enjoyed pretty much all of the new mixes that were a part.

djpretzel's Revenge of Shinobi "Consent (Make Me Dance)" was my 2nd favorite and it actually took me a few loops to really appreciate the funked-out electro goodness.

But this one grabbed my ears from the very start. The intro effects and vox were unique. As SOON as the music faded in, I had been hooked.

This track was smooooooooooth to start. And when it switched gears with some more agressive beats, it ended the track with a lot of power. analoq, top of his game.

Nowadays, the guy jokes that he's lost it. If even 1% of our submissions ever "found it" the way this guy did...

avatar
analoq
on 2006-01-16 22:13:35

thanks guys (:

oh and here's something i noticed recently :lol:

cheers.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Commander Keen IV: Secret of the Oracle (Apogee , 1991, DOS)
Music by Bobby Prince
Songs:
"Tropical Ghost Oasis"

Tags (8)


Genre:
Funk,Pop
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Electric Guitar,Synth,Vocals: Male,Vocals: Voice Acting
Additional:
Effects > Vocoder
Lyrics > Lyrics: Original

File Information


Name:
Commander_Keen_4_man_sieht_sich_galaxie_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,327,716 bytes
MD5:
13e5f572007d768839481dfa3aeadfc3
Bitrate:
149Kbps
Duration:
4:40

[spoken]

i'm not feeling too good about this one,
some kind of surreal ex pression,
surrealist ex pressionistic?
whatever.

moving on, 960 galactic alphabet,
960 galactic alphabet!
are you here? please!
thank you.

[vocals]

goodbye, galaxy

Promotion

8-bit Jazz Heroes - Press Start
View All

Latest Albums

View All

Latest ReMixes