ReMix:Double Dragon "The Secrets of Sosetsuken" 4:04

S.O.S. - Summer of Sixto? Stunning our Senses? ... or perhaps, 'Secrets of Sosetsuken,' the latest in a mind-numbingly awesome and prolific series of ReMixes '08 has seen Juan Medrano produce. Like Ms. Furtado, he's clearly promiscuous, having had intimate relations with TMNT IV, MM2, MM3, Sonic, and back in December of last year, Shadow of the Colossus. Sure, some of those were sordid collabs, often involving two or more mixers in a torrid display of decadent musical collaboration that would shock values voters, but the common denominator here is Mr. Medrano, who continues to commit these displays of obscene musical awesomeness - in public! There's still more to come in the not-so-distant future, but this latest fiesta of flavor is a Double Dragon joint. DD was one of those games a certain demographic of gamers were raised on in arcades; I remember playing it at a Godfather's Pizza in Springfield, VA where I grew up. I remember one of my sisters trying to be cool and carrying an extra large pizza with one hand (palm up), and dropping the whole thing on the floor, and I remember being strangely apathetic to this first degree pizza murder because it meant I could spend more time trying to get Billy's girlfriend back and beating the crap out of Abobos (Abobii??) - good times. Suffice to say, the game holds a special, pre-SF2 place in the hearts of arcade gamers from that era, and its soundtrack does as well.

This one starts off rather unexpectedly with a synth pad sweep and quick breakbeats underpinned by running synths - really rather good electronica foundation for someone who's historical focus has been on rock, I must say. Good enough that I'd actually like to challenge Sixto to submit a mix without guitar... I think his skills elsewhere have progressed to the point where it should be doable, and I think it'd be an interesting experiment. No worries if he's not interested and would rather stick to rocking it out with the guits, just saying it'd be... unique, and furthermore I think he could do it. Juan writes:

"I always thought that the Double Dragon games had pretty great music. Even as a kid, I could imagine hearing some of the tracks being played by a live band, so coming up with an idea wasn't very difficult. I tried fusing two different types of sounds together as I've done a few times before; electronic sounds and rock instruments. This time, rather than go to zircon for the electronic parts, I decided to do everything myself (though he did provide me with lots of presets and neat sounds to play around with. Thanks for that, sir!) Now, I spent hours and hours trying to come up with a decent guitar solo section, but nothing was sounding near as great as the original solo in the source track so I decided to try and reproduce the solo as best as I could. I'm pretty satisfied with what I came up with. Hope you guys enjoy!"

The arrangement here turns more towards rock at 0'19", with a nice filter sweep transition into rock kit drums and meaty electric guitars, after which routine amounts of Juan's ass-kicking rock arrangement take over. Of course, his mixes are anything BUT routine - while the execution is usually guitar-centric and always superb, his arrangements are each unique entities unto themselves, with distinct character. Here synths play a continued role even after drums and guitar take the helm, keeping a running tempo in play and maintaining momentum, and breakbeats are reintroduced later. This type of reintroduction is key to making them more of an integrated component as opposed to an "intro gimmick," and intangibly helps the overall flow of the piece.

I've been watching the Beijing Olympics and seen some jaw-dropping stuff, but one thing I've noticed remains consistent for every Olympics I've ever seen: amazing athletes successfully perform things that look ridiculously difficult, but the gold medalists - the super stars - do the exact same thing, and make it look effortless. Okay, maybe not effortless, but there's a certain grace and natural movement that makes them look as if they were born to do what they're doing, and it's what makes the difference between microseconds and tenths of points. Point being, Juan makes mixing look effortless, was born to make music, and keeps on winning gold medals this year, making him the honorary Phelps of OCR '08. Metaphors aside, another great piece from Juan, who continues to rock out and improve his skills at the same time.