ReMix:Celeste "Black Moonrise (Midnight Mix)" 3:41

I love it when a good mixpost theme shines through. We just posted Mosh Bits' metal Minecraft debut, where they fused Lena Raine's source tune with Mick Gordon's style. Now we have another OC ReMixer debut with another modern VGM master mashup. This time, newcomer BeanJammin (Keenan Lind) provides the very rare arrangement of an arrangement, going the electronic and rock route while taking the best of both worlds from Celeste's Lena Raine and FTL's Ben Prunty!

Ben actually made the official source tune of this ReMix; he took Lena's original track, "Resurrections", and arranged it as "Old Site (Black Moonrise Mix)" for the Celeste Original Soundtrack B-Sides album, so be sure to listen to that as well - Ben even used some similar bell tones as his Super Metroid ReMix - to fully appreciate the connections. The ReMixer comments:

"First project I've worked on since I've found this community that is a proper VGM remix! Had a lot of fun working on this cover remix from Celeste's chapter 2 B-Side! This track was an ask from a custom mapper in the Celeste community for a campaign they're putting together, and I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out."

Well, we are too, so it's nice to have you join the lineup, Bean! Keenan also hosts some impressive two-game mashup arrangements of Celeste themes with other classic VGM in his Quickie Mountain custom map soundtracks, so swing by his Bandcamp for those! Like the rest of us on the judges panel, prophetik music made sure to compare Keenan's piece to both Lena and Ben's versions:

"compared to the original, this is highly evolved and has a lot of new stuff and new concepts. compared to ben's, it's different enough. i don't know if i'd call it derivative, but this felt similar to me to the alternate versions of tracks from Crypt of the Necrodancer that OCR folks worked on. there's a lot of similarities in the approach and instrumentation, but within that framework, there's a lot of variation. sometimes fences result in a more creative approach since you're working around stuff you wouldn't have thought about before.

i found the synth lead that is prevalent at 1:47 to be grating and lacking in movement, and would have preferred some envelope to mix it up. other than that, i didn't really have quibbles with any of the instrumentation options, and i think it sounds pretty good from a mastering perspective. i like how different several sections feel - the opening, 0:57, and 1:47 all have dramatically different vibes while remaining cohesive.

nice work =D"

Great point from proph on how technical, or, in this case, presentation guardrails can promote unique forms creativity, and I'm totally in agreement with citing the numerous arranged soundtracks from Danny Baranowsky's Crypt of the NecroDancer (of which we're proud to be one)! Chimpazilla, an official Crypt of the NecroDancer soundtrack arranger herself, praised the way BeanJammin gradually layered instruments to eventually achieve a fully fleshed out texture:

"I hear how the instrumentation and vibe are the same as Ben's remixed version, but as Larry pointed out there are nice personalizations. The arrangement builds to a nice crescendo as more and more elements are added, and the mixing of all the elements works well. It's an exciting and nicely personalized version of these sources and an enjoyable listen."

As Noir arranged both The Black Mages and Nobuo Uematsu, so went Keenan with simultaneous inspiration from Ben Prunty and Lena Raine; we can't wait for the next ReMix of this unique type, as well as future submissions from BeanJammin. We're honored to be able to represent Lena's quick impact in VGM with back-to-back mixposts from two major games, while also paying respect to two OC ReMix alums in Mick and Ben who have made huge impacts with their own signature game scores!