ReMix:Chrono Trigger "Neons of Time" 3:17

Neon X (Martin Höglund) returns after a strong Super Mario World synthwave debut just last month with a straightforward EDM/chill take on the iconic "Corridor of Time":

"Chrono Trigger is maybe the best game ever made, in my opinion. I really don't know why I didn't remix songs from Chrono Trigger until now. Maybe I just waited for my skills with my music production software to grow a bit.

This theme gives me so much nostalgia and melancholy, together with great memories and love for the story and characters that you encounter in this game. I imagined a remix/cover sounding a bit like my "Forest Interlude" from DKC, and tried to apply that atmosphere and vibe into this. "Corridors of Time" is originally a short theme with few repetitive parts, so I thought I should make something of my own. There is a guitar-inspired solo part (played by my lead synth, of course) that felt right to put there. I hope you somehow appreciate that kind of thing.

I didn't use much new tools other than tweaking and modifying already standard synths from earlier remixes. This I do almost every time I'm trying to find a fitting sound to each instrument for each new song.

Every time I listen to this remix (I need to listen a lot before releasing a song to discover flaws and errors), I feel empty and relaxed, as if the music cleanses me inside. So deep, haha. ;)"

Original solos are very much the kind of thing we appreciate here at OCR, and I'm glad Martin incorporated one, here, as it helps set his interpretation apart. This theme has been arranged up one side & down the other, including in chill/electronic styles not too dissimilar from this mix, so the solo is a "differentiator," as they say. Production is shimmery & punchy where it needs to be, and there's a good deal of clarity and depth that do contribute to a cleansing, expansive vibe. Judges were unanimous; MindWanderer's comment was interesting:

"it may be an overdone source, but that's because it deserves it. This isn't a groundbreaking treatment, but it's some solid synthwave for all that. Great synth choices, good progression. Practically a textbook example of how to do a creative bridge for an OC ReMix track: clearly derived from the source material yet clearly original. It occurred to me that if you trained a really, really good AI to create OC ReMixes, it might come up with something like this; it's essentially the archetypal track for us in terms of source material, structure, genre, and approach."

Many artists might bristle at the invocation of AI in this comparison, but I expect that to change a bit over the decades to come, and if only for overall genre & source selection, I think the observation makes sense. While I wouldn't put much of anything outside the capabilities of AI - on a long enough timeline - it's another reason why I feel like the original solo section brings a bit more character & identity to the table, from an arrangement perspective. Liontamer adds:

"It's a pretty bread-and-butter genre adaptation to start, but hits hard and personalizes the sound well. I liked the original writing ideas introduced at :47 as well as 1:04 and 1:20; subtle things that nicely helped put your own stamps on this treatment of the theme. Cool liberal variations of the melody 1:36 followed by some original vamping afterward. Bro, just great ideas throughout the middle to make this unique while surrounding by the more conservative parts at the beginning and end. Nice energy throughout!"

Roger all that; even the parts of this mix that are intuitive & perhaps more predictable are still enjoyable and well-constructed, and Martin's done more than enough to inject his own voice (rather seamlessly) into the conversation. Additional evidence for the decades-old adage that "One can never have enough 'Corridor of Time' ReMixes" - great stuff!