Posted 2017-08-29, evaluated by the judges panel


So freakin' cool; creative, genre-bending, to-hell-with-conventions ReMixes like this make running OCR a joy. Jack of all trades and master of far too many for my personal comfort, creative juggernaut XPRTNovice (Joe Zieja) put together a comic-cool blend of delicious jazz & old-school hip-hop, with retro guitar, warm EP, a suitcase full of live instruments, and some considerable flow, for Mirror Image: A Link to the Past ReMixed - he writes:

"Well, I guess I needed a debut rap track at some point. I didn't expect it to go there, but it did. I wanted to create this sort of atmospheric, funky thing, to give the feeling of getting lost in the forest, but at some point I think I ended up getting bored with it. And then I started rapping, and it all came together. Many thanks to Wiesty for his excellent live drum recording and augmented organs. Live instruments, other than that, include another organ played by me, 4 saxes, flute, trumpet, and dropping the mic."

Joe can make his voice basically do anything he wants, and he's also got a great sense of humor, so it's cool to see both of those dimensions at play here, along with the abundant musicality & chops. This intros with audio drama, transitions into a slick jazz take on a familiar favorite, then pivots into something not unlike nerdcore, so it might lose a few people along the way, but the intrepid listener with diverse tastes is rewarded by an arrangement that's fun, funny, chill, & utterly unique.

Also: Ganondork.

So there's that.

I like the slapback-y verb + delay on the electric guitar at 0'36", which kinda dates the aesthetic to a certain era when people said "daddy-o" all the time and TV doctors openly smoked while diagnosing their patients. Upright acoustic bass, when paired with overall presentation, reminds me of Soul Coughing a bit; good stuff. A creative, divergent, & unexpected addition to Mirror Image which I find myself coming back to often; excellent stuff!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 5 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
avatar
Crulex
on 2024-09-04 16:13:36

Jazzy hip-hop is something I don't usually expect, but it's wonderfully done here. Outro rap was hilarious and actually great vocally. This was a treat to listen to, super fun.

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docnano
on 2017-08-31 21:52:08

One of my favorites on the album for sure. Great jazzy/hip-hop vibe that would be at home in a not-so-serious anime spinoff of our beloved franchise. The lyrics brilliantly straddle the line between witty and immature. Love it!

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evktalo
on 2017-08-30 02:53:37

Great jazz, cool rapping. I like how the chord change / dissonance thing at 1:03 etc has a huge, huge pull begging towards resolving. I think the harmony is a bit different from the source? In a way that emphasizes the pull even more. I don't think there's really a conflict between rapping and jazz here, but it's more of a case of having a long stretch of instrumental sections and then just a couple of verses at the end (not the only OCR with vocals that does this). The spoken word bit at the beginning helps a bit by foreshadowing it, but I still feel the balance is off structurally. Regardless, a mighty fine arrangement of the source, it's genuinely funny (I find the mild crassness amusing for the source material too) and arrangement fits the music and the game very well.

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orlouge82
on 2017-08-29 17:39:05

Love this song. The rap and spoken parts are a callback (to me, anyway; not sure if anyone else feels the same) to the style of a lot of Dale North Mustin remixes from the early to mid 2000s (both on OCR and outside releases like More Than Mario).

Phenomenal work!

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Liontamer
on 2017-08-25 14:21:12

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (Nintendo , 1991, SNES)
Music by Koji Kondo
Songs:
"Forest"

Tags (15)


Genre:
Hip Hop,Jazz
Mood:
Chill,Funny,Jazzy
Instrumentation:
Brass,Electric Guitar,Electric Piano,Saxophone,Trumpet,Vocals: Male,Vocals: Rapping,Vocals: Voice Acting
Additional:
Lyrics > Lyrics: Explicit
Lyrics > Lyrics: Original

File Information


Name:
Legend_of_Zelda_A_Link_to_the_Past_We're_the_Fugawe_Forest_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
6,433,822 bytes
MD5:
feb11fcf9fe98fc20773ea9e8cb0be3b
Bitrate:
210Kbps
Duration:
4:01

[Intro]
Where am I?
Goddamn old dude just tells me to go places to find a... sword.
[sigh] This place is lame.
I mean, I... I guess I feel kinda cool, you know... doing the hero thing.
Alright. [sigh] Let's see what happens.

[Outro]
Bring in the beats
1, 2...
A 1... 1... 1...
1, 2, 3, 4

It's the night before the cataclysm, symbols of virtue
Got a big ass knife in the ground, gonna hurt you
Keepin' my line true like fine crews
And when I get through with you, ain't no tattoo gonna cover that bruise

I got this voice in my head, and he's strokin' my ego
Sayin' the Master Sword is all I'll ever need wherever we go
It's the steel that makes evil retreat, beat feet, go skeet
Well, damn, that sounds sweet -- let's go drop him a beat

Let's go drop him a beat
...him a beat
...him a beat
Haha!

Here I come, baby, the hero of the ages
Gonna give GanonDORK a poke with the Sword of the Sages
All the angels in heaven singing a hell of a chorus
If I could only find my way out of this goddamn forest

Wait, was it... was it a left here, or...? Shit.

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