ReMix:Metroid Prime "Chozodynamic" 4:24

We continue showcasing ReMixes from our recent team-up with Nintendo Force, The Impact of Iwata album! In Satoru Iwata's Iwata Asks interview with the Metroid: Other M dev team, it was fascinating seeing how open Iwata was with letting another company tackle a Nintendo property with a markedly different development approach to a long-standing franchise, but Iwata's desire to innovate and take risks was big reason for his success, as underscored in Lucas M. Thomas's Impact of Iwata book. Ready to engage in creative riskiness herself, The Vodoú Queen has her brothers in muzak helping her arrange tracks from both Metroid Prime and Super Metroid, featuring a slew of theme cameos invoked between both titles:

• The Vodoú Queen: arrangement, synths, keyboard, drum programming, mixing, production
• ZackParrish: lead guitar, acoustic guitar
• CNDR: bass guitar
• TSori: muted trumpet
• Gamer of the Winds: soprano sax

The Vodoú Queen's penchant for breaking new ground is baked into the cake of all her arrangements, with this piece tributing helmet fanatics Samus and Daft Punk, and made more vibrant and full-bodied thanks to her collaborators:

"...This was originally called "Chozo Funk"... and it rhymes with "Daft Punk"... ;)

As such, this was made as a love letter to many things: one of my favorite electro-pop/house/funk groups, a hero any girl should aspire to be, a franchise that well-shaped my early years, and a man who pulled a video game empire from the brink of collapse. This remix was made from the bones and strands of an earlier project from an old compo [...] but its origins (with "Chozo Artifact Temple" acting as the main base of the arrangement) helped to shape what is honestly a remix that is held dear to my heart, and every step in making it was an absolute joy I'll never forget.

Way too much to be said for the process, but the TL;DR of it is it's heavily inspired by Daft Punk (particularly the songs from their earlier bits of discography, such as Discovery, Homework, and Human After All) and, if you're an avid listener of theirs, the parallels and motifs were lovingly placed there -- with a bit of ol' wildin' wah/whammy a la Jimi Hendrix (courtesy of Zack) stirred into the soup pot. :D And there's plenty of Metroid Easter eggs galore, with many of the bells, whistles, and cherries on top taken straight from the mood-setting, soundscaping, and SFX stylings made famous from the franchise (ex: the snare lick *pops* and much of the underlying drumline are taken from/inspired by the background sounds from "Chozo Ruins")! See if you can find them all! ;3 [...]

As I have said in the Iwata project workshop on Discord -- and I'll say as much here again -- everyone who has contributed to this has helped bring to light a dream come true for me. Since my earlier remixes years back, I had the chance and pleasure to only remix three Metroid songs [...] and, at that time long before, I didn't have the skill nor connections to truly give due justice to such legendary, timeless music from such a long-standing and prestigious video game franchise. I will probably revisit them some day, but, for now, I tip my hat to my co-conspirators on this endeavour and their gracious charity and advice in producing this treat. I created it with a vast and deep respect for all Iwata had done for the resurgence of Metroid (and Nintendo as a whole), and for the first ever heroine I admired as a kid, Samus Aran.

Enjoy, peeps. Hope the funky vibes are groovy with you. <3

See You Next Mission!"

As soon as the groove fully kicks in :16, to me, you're hooked. Judge Emunator, on a recent journey of musical growth himself, couldn't help notice and praise Vodoú Queen's ambitious (and well-executed) concept:

"I have to say that, in my eyes, this is one of VQ's most successful musical outings to date, and really encapsulates so many of the things I enjoy about her music. There is absolutely no shortage of ambition here - that much was evident by the [...] source breakdown (good luck to whoever ends up doing the metadata tagging on this one!) It's making a clear stylistic homage that understands what made the original reference so great, but isn't limited to *just* the bounds presented by the original. The addition of the acoustic guitar and trumpet/sax feel right at home in the Daft Punk cinematic universe.

You clearly have a LOT of love for the Metroid canon and it shows here, but what I think I'm actually most impressed by is how *focused* this arrangement feels despite the myriad of sources referenced and the number of ideas thrown on the table. At just over 4 minutes, this doesn't overstay its welcome or come across as too repetitive (which, at the risk of committing sacrilege, I can't *always* say for some of Daft Punk's original work.) I think a major part of the cohesion is the consistent groove and the Artifact Temple arpeggio, which serves a grounding role in the arrangement that everything else can spin off of. I understand the temptation to create massive, sprawling arrangements that are loaded with ideas, and that approach has a place, but I really admire your restraint in crafting this arrangement - there were some great editing decisions made along the way."

Yeah, I wonder who handles the metadata around here, the poor bastard! :'-( (Don't cry for your boy, I'll be fine!) Props to Vodoú Queen for melding together two great spacey interests together; we know Daft Punk brings the funk but who'da thought that VQ would aim to channel their robofuturistic flow into the Metroid universe? And all while running the gamut of themes with one of OCR's largest list of source tunes for a ReMix! The creative scope of this was inexplicably tied up into a neat little 4-1/2-minute package, another unique feature that makes The Impact of Iwata album a special tribute worth exploring in its entirety, especially alongside Nintendo Force's new book (and OCR-supplemented audiobook)! :-)