ReMix:Final Fantasy VI "Umaro's New Groove" 3:28

Archangel's LAST posted mix was a cartoonesque orchestral album cut (from DKC3:DTT!), and it's time to wash-rinse-repeat with another arrangement in a somewhat similar vein, from B&R. No one else is really doing mixes in this style, and I'm grateful & thrilled that he continues exploring the more playful side of what this type of instrumentation is capable of.

"Greetings, almighty primarchs! This arrangement was heavily inspired by various cartoon soundtracks, especially John Debney's soundtrack for The Emperor's New Groove (hence the track title). I've been watching a lot of cartoons with my little nephew lately, so it seemed like a natural choice of genre for Umaro's theme, which is pretty goofy compared to the bulk of the Final Fantasy VI soundtrack.

I arranged the theme so that the remix follows a little story. Umaro wanders through his empty caves, alone and bored. His only comfort is his vast collection of bones and rocks, which he uses to make music (hence the percussive emphasis in the song). He has even designed a series of pulleys and ropes that allows him to play a whole number of different drums at once. He can just take a walk through the cave and casually murmur or tap the percussion along the way to entertain himself. He also likes to do a little samba jig now and then.

Then, one day, he hears voices coming through the tunnels (1:52). It's been a while since anyone has been in his caves, so he becomes suspicious and decides to find out where the noise is coming from. He moves through the caves in a mock-James-Bond/Mission-Impossible manner, dramatically jumping off rocks and skulking stealthily along the cavern walls, until he finally runs into Mog and the rest of the Final Fantasy VI gang (2:33). Mog says: "There you are! You're coming with us, kupo! We need your help!" Umaro readily accepts his new mission, relieved and glad to finally have a good reason to leave his caves and be a little more active for a change. With his new groove and a renewed sense of purpose, he is more than ready to kick Kefka's butt. Enjoy the track!"

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE BASS...OON. Faint echoes of "Peter and the Wolf" in addition to the stated inspiration, with PLENTY of emphasis on varied solo woodwind part-writing, chromatic percussion, AND hand percussion. Absolutely love every bit of it; it's a treat to hear all of these instruments given center stage, as opposed to the accompanying parts they usually find themselves filling in many arrangements. Jaka Čibej: Liberator of Non-Brass/String Orchestral Instrumentation? Nah, that's too long... "Archangel" works just fine :) Larry writes:

"Excellent! Another great one for the PC ReMix initiative. ;-D OK, maybe NOT that, but still excellent. I loved Jaka's thorough and informative description of the imagery behind this piece, and can dream of actually seeing it used in an animated romp based on the FF6 characters. Props for style points in the nod to Debney's work; it's nothing but a hit as far as the quirky and playful film score vibe. Please keep making musics forever, Archangel. [sic] :-)"

Part of the reason we may not hear as much exposed woodwind part-writing is due to sample quality, but another contributing factor is probably just plain old difficulty; Jaka certainly checks the first box, and deftly overcomes the second challenge with confident, graceful solo parts brimming with character & expression. I think I've heard so much (excellent!) epic and/or dark orchestral work on OCR that focuses primarily on strings and brass that I'd almost forgotten that this sort of approach is even an option, which is silly... but at least partially true. Thanks to Archangel for another appreciated, sublime reminder of the wider world of orchestral music!