ReMix:Psycho Pinball "Kamomilla" 2:59

Our first ReMix of Psycho Pinball (DOS) comes courtesy Eino Keskitalo, who puts a quirky, updated electronic/pop spin on the carnivalesque "Psycho" theme:

"This is originally from PRC round 276, way back from 2014! Love the game, played it back in the day with friends. To be honest, I wasn't terribly inspired by the circus style music, but there were a couple of parts I did find I could work with, and I wasn't going to pass on the chance to rearrange music from this game. Interesting circumstances and interesting results, I think.

It's kind of fun to listen and compare the initial compo version to the finished thing. It's basically the same, really, but I did spend hours and hours in total, chiseling away on the mix, coming back to it every few months. Or years. The usual.

Nice to finally have finished a DOS game music arrangement. As almost always, this was done in Renoise, and you might be able to hear the sample-based tracker... "techniques," I guess, such as using a single sample for an instrument and just playing it in different pitches without worrying too much. I like to think that this one really has that feel. Thanks to Eladar, Jorito, and Pirjo for constructive comments!"

• Part of source used in the intro: 1:03-1:12
• Part of source used in the rest of the tune: 0:54-1:12

PRC & other compos provide unique challenges/circumstances and tend to result in mixes we would never have seen, otherwise - this is a great example of that, and I dig how Eino has taken a sugary/bombastic source that sits squarely in the Barnum & Bailey/Sousa style and turned it into a poppier, extended electronic track. I will say that when I first heard the intro, I thought the drop at 0'30" would have been a fantastic transition into a downtempo/lo-fi track. With more or less the same textures & instruments, but slowed way down, with more verb & FX, I think that genre treatment - while diverging even further from the tone of the original - would have worked a treat. Something dusty, trip-hoppy, and not unlike some of the mixes we've seen from Nestor Estrada, for example. But enough about what *might have been* - Larry Oji talks about what *is*:

"Thanks a lot for the source usage breakdown, which made this super easy to evaluate for arrangement. Fun stuff the whole way through with fun production choices throughout. Nice, spacious soundscape, and a dynamic and fun arrangement!"

Emunator adds:

"This arrangement is brimming with personality! I agree with the others that the true strength here lies in how successfully you adapted the original source material to something tasteful and listenable without doing a full 180 on the peppy circus vibe of the original source. For as little material as you're working with, the arrangement never feels like it's treading water. Your sound design is no slouch either - the rich, bubbly bassline sits perfectly against the lo-fi synths that fill out the mid/high range, and the breakbeat drums keep the pace upbeat while contributing a warm, scratchy texture to the mix."

While I still think the 180 alluded to above might have been slick, I agree with Wes - the elements here all work well together, Eino's captured enough of the "tracker aesthetic" with certain components that it comes through as intended, and the overall experience is bouncy, brisk, & just as much fun as the source, if not moreso. Enjoy!