ReMix:Mega Man X2 "Battle Against a Sponge" 4:00

Time to rock, man! jnWake tags in Kev Ragone and Mattmatatt to transmogrify Mega Man X2's boss music, and it's a funky fusion delight! Wake worked through some surprising ennui about the source material, though you'd never guess that from the energetic end result:

"Jazz fusion-ish cover of the boss intro theme and the boss battle theme from Mega Man X2. Features awesome collaborators Kev Ragone on drums and Mattmatatt on guitar.

Another month passes, another DoD song to submit! This time, it was originally written and released for Dwelling of Duels' Mega Man Redux month in May 2024, where it placed 8th among 34 entries. I took the opportunity to cover a source that had been in my mind for a while, the boss theme (+ intro) from Mega Man X2, which are known as "Boss 1" and "Boss 2" in the game's soundtrack. Being honest, I'm not sure why my mind ever registered both as things to remix since I don't think they're actually that good, haha, but I guess they do have some fairly unusual melodies and progressions, so that must have registered as "interesting" in my mind. Regardless of that, I simply went ahead with making a cover despite some doubts about the quality of the sources! My approach here was jazz fusion-ish. These themes have rather unusual chords and melodies, so a jazz/rock approach fit them well! "Boss 1" in particular has a fun progression (Eb-Gb-F-Ab-B-D) that's harmonized in 4ths, so it hides a bit of jazz behind the rock elements of the source. Initially, I set out to write something in the style of pianist Hiromi, but in the end the arrangement came out a little more like the supergroup U.K.... of course, on my musical level, not the much higher one of those artists!

Since I went for the jazz-ish feel, I recruited Kev Ragone, who's a very prolific drummer in DoD and live bands but I think hasn't been featured on OCR before, and Mattmatatt on guitars, who recently made his OCR debut. Both are extremely talented. I tasked Kev with finding his inner Simon Phillips (former Toto drummer who sometimes plays with Hiromi) and tasked Matt with finding his inner Allan Holdsworth (very well known technical guitarist, who played in the aforementioned U.K.). I don't recruit actual drummers often, but it definitely adds a special feel to tracks! Matt did great as well, adding his brand of virtuosity to the track. I handled all the synth/piano programming/recording, including the bass, which I wanted to have a funky FM-ish sound.

I titled the cover after Wire Sponge, but the cover itself is of the boss theme only."

Right out the gate, the track grabs your attention, though, as I've said before, point FM synths at me and I'm yours. Judge prophetik music isn't as easily swayed as yours truly, but his ears eagerly soaked up the DoD trio's mega-musicianship:

"opening is so instantly funky. boss 1 is so weird and this is a surprisingly approachable and tonal version of it. matt's guitar work is stunning - i love the constant motion, very mathrocky. the shift at 0:48 is well-timed to give a break after that first absolute banger of a solo. the rhythmic elements that come in at the end of this section are great also.

i loved the interplay of the synth playing the lead at 1:40 and matt's guitar underneath it doing constant motion insanity. nice drum solo section! good tie back to the jazz roots underneath the complexity, and a great way to transition to the break at 3:19.

there's a final blow through some of the chord progressions and then it's done. [...]

easy vote! this is a straight banger, with superb artistry shown in the three performers. excellent job conveying a really weird original in an approachable and consumable manner."

When you think about it, these are some pretty weird source tunes, aren't they? Touting how much catchier Wake, Kev, and Matt made these boss tracks almost feels like slagging the original themes, but to me, this arrangement feels like a proggy offshoot of Alph-Lyla's quirky arrangement approach to the official Rockman X arrange album, which had several extremely interpretive entries. It's also not difficult to use the "supergroup" descriptor Wake mentioned for U.K. in reference to these guys, as judge Chimpazilla dug absolutely everything these bros put together:

"WOWZA this is great!!!! Starts out so strong and keeps delivering. The guitar performances are just dynamite. The synth work and drums are also excellent and all perfectly supportive. The arrangement is full of dynamic shifts and varied instrumentation and rhythmic patterns. Reminds me of some of the best prog-rock arrangements from the 90s like Dream Theater or Planet X. Super professional sounding, this arrangement is groovus maximus."

The track's so upbeat and the pace feels breakneck most of the way, so there's indeed a tremendous sense of movement throughout, thanks to the killer fusion chops of Mr. jn, Mr. Ragone, and Mr. Matatt. It's hard to go wrong with VGM fusion as a listening experience, but regardless of whether you're familiar with Mega Man X2 or not, don't pass up this armcannon of adrenaline! (If you do, mistakes were made...)