ReMix:Metroid "Lucre" 2:56

Redg (Brent Wollman) has a distinct, unapologetic style that focuses on extreme sound design & a more experimental/experiential approach to arrangement... you can't dance to it, it's not easy listening, and it's probably not for everyone, but if you close your eyes and/or listen in complete darkness on a decent set of headphones, he achieves very specific textures that are unnerving, dynamic, complex, and which often manage to evoke the atmospheres & characters of the games being arranged without emphasizing melodic or even harmonic content.

Think of his ReMixes almost like the auditory equivalent of an optical illusion, and that's a good start...

Here he takes on a previously unmixed source from the original Metroid, delving deep into the psychosis of Ridley with a twisted & tortured minimalist electronic/ambient descent into madness:

"The dragon lies ruined in his lair, but the depth of his lust will form new incarnations. I could never truly see until I strained to view the perfect shadows he languished. My eyes were open wide to find their value in a pitch black eclipse. Ears deafened by the screaming vacuum, his dying rage.

Source usage is straight up... opens with the main melody and persists with arp figure.

This piece is an exploration of the ridley character. I was thinking about his various appearances throughout the metroid canon . . . a space-faring pirate repeatedly resurrecting, living and dying on intergalactic corruption."

Very poetic, which is appropriate, because thinking of Redg's mixes as dark, unstable, & explorative sound poems makes a LOT of sense. Some of the sustained whines & creaks here are bloodcurdling, sure, but if you can listen and focus WHILE your blood curdles, you'll hear how they evolve, how overtones develop, and how the overall soundscape morphs... it's quite cool. Chimpazilla's visceral, coronary comments echo the vibe:

"This is a track that actually forces me to revisit the definition of music as the "arrangement of sounds across time" because that's literally what is happening here. This track is really more like one long atmo clip than what I'd call a "song." That said, I love it. This track punches into my chest and rips my heart out, then shows it to me still beating before eating it in front of me."

My goodness, Kris! I like it. Palpable adds:

"I love you, Brent - no one sends us stuff like this... I feel like the unorthodox approach you take for remixing also suits the Metroid OST very well, so it's possible on some level that is making me feel more of a connection (maybe tackle Earthbound sometime too!)."

The phrase "gritty reboot" is a little overused, but I think Vinnie's point about this style lending itself to Metroid is spot-on, and these are the type of textures & this is the type of pain that would make Ridley "real" for me, personally. Your mileage can & will vary, but if you want something "off the beaten path" that delves into the psychological & turns it into pure sound, Brent has crafted another dark therapy session for you!