ReMix:Chrono Cross "Liskojytä" 3:31

We return to Chronopolis with a duo of delightful mixes to start the week; up first is Eino Keskitalo with a lo-fi, upbeat, gritty chiptune mix which incorporates a few cameos from other games as well:

""The Lizard Dance" is a pretty cool one-chord jam... I added a little bit more bass movement in this arrangement. There's also the bit where I've taken two lines and separated their tempo, cutting the other in half and other in 1/4, and bringing it up in steps... the harmony ended up not matching so well anymore, so there was some tweaking there. Overall, I remember wanting to experiment with chip sounds over rock drums back then, and that's what all the sounds are here, simple waveforms apart from the drums.

There are a couple of cameos from other games, one from Wonder Boy in Monster Land, the final dungeon music, and one from the Syreen theme in Star Control 2.

A huge thanks to Brad for directing the project and cheering this one to the finish line!"

Because why NOT throw some Star Control 2 in there, right? The Ur-Quan demand it. Eino's been doing neat, less orthodox things with chip textures lately, conjuring up some lo-fi/garage style distortion & production and pairing that against clean, pure waveforms. It's neat when the harmonics in the distortion hit at the right angles and produce some indie-rock style guitar FX; crunchy, satisfying, & functional. Album director prophetik music writes:

"Eino (evktalo) was one of the first people to hop in and take a track. I love how chippy and glitchy this track sounds -- since the OST is extremely organic and uses lots of accurately-represented instruments, his addition of a lo-fi sound was really cool and fit in well. I am a huge fan of the attention paid to the leads especially."

It's not JUST a question of appying downgrade/bitcrush to chip synths; that can easily & quickly become a trainwreck of overlapping frequencies and general chaos. Eino makes it work by reeling it in & controlling the effects, so it's a calculated, musical roughness. My thoughts echo Jivemaster's decision:

"The source tunes fit surprisingly well together. Initially I thought the bit crushed instruments may become tiresome as they continue through the track, but their gritty nature really adds an atmospheric element to the production which I highly enjoy, almost like a secondary reverb source. There are a couple of departures from the main pacing in the arrangement across the different sections, but the momentum of the track is mostly the same throughout. Overall track length is about right here, as I feel any longer and things would risk becoming repetitive. That said, the general riffing and articulations in the mix do help in keeping things fresh, as do the tweaking of the effects, which act as a fill in their own right in some cases. Mixing is also handled relatively well, considering the amount of crushed parts playing, things didn't feel squashed or bunched together. Overall this is another interesting one from Eino, continuing in a style that he's certainly enjoying himself in ."

Definitely; if this were just a straightforward chip mix that had a bitcrusher dumped on it, it would sound rather... not good. Instead you've got an engaging take on the theme, incorporating sources from other games as appropriate, with a compelling aesthetic that leverages lo-fi/distortion against chip waves in a warm, organic capacity. Great stuff from Eino, who continues to apply unorthodox but effective & enjoyable sound design to his arrangements!