EPTOk, so I'm starting to feel like a bit of a cheerleader here, but forgive the miniskirt, pompoms and unshaven legs for a minute because shit is seriously getting real. This is all about new stuff, so I felt necrothreading was a bad idea. Hope the mods are tolerant :3
For those of you that missed the last installment, OCR or Overclocked Remix is a fan community dedicated to videogame music appreciation and remixing. In the last three months they have released no less than SIX albums of pretty impressive quality and length, two of which are the soundtracks of commercial games.
This stuff is free to get and free to use so long as you're not making a direct profit from it (you can play it in a store or a bar or party so long as you're not charging to listen), and I just read psyonic reaver's blog about justin TV shutting off people from playing copyrighted music on their stream. This stuff is a great alternative. You can support an awesome community and get slick beats into the bargain for exactly nothing
As with last time, here's some of my top picks and an intro to the albums
HEROES VS VILLAINS:
a collab album between OCR and the baddudes, a group of former OCR remixers who've moved on. The remixes cover 10 classic games, 2 tracks per game, representing iconic characters with OCR's trademark whirlwind of styles and blends, everything from beach band to rap battles, along with more conventional metal, rock and electronica. I wasn't actually super infatuated with this album as a whole, there are some duds, but there are some serious corkers in there to get your teeth into. There's guaranteed to be something in there for everyone, just as there'll be a few that will flop for everyone. Here's my pick of the best tracks
Metroid, bounty of a brain: a really brawny and deep remix of Samus's theme, instantly recognizeable and inspiring if you've played the series, still pretty sexy if not. Big giant circles is on fire (he was on the team that did the ME2 soundtrack as well I believe).
Monkey Island, Pirate Shout: Pirate rock with a hint of the original flute in there. More amusing than super solid, but it's a great, creative remix that epitomizes what OCR does.
Kirby, the life and death of Kirby: really classy chiptune mixing set to a backdrop of incredibly well produced synths and distorts. not much more I can say, if you like VGM mixes this is one of the best, if you're not a fan of 8bit mixing, steer clear.
Legend of Zelda: This one is just awesomely wierd, featuring OCR's graphic artist and in house rapster doing a battle off between link and ganondorf. The other track in the pair continues the rap battle. Not the best rap but hey, it's pretty unique
THE MISSINGNO TRACKS:
One of OCR's series tributes, this baby covers pretty much every pokemon game ever made, in a laid back and happy style that fits the series pretty well. There are still a few power tracks, but not as many as in a lot of OCR albums dedicated to the more intense games. A lot of these are more the instantly recognizeable type. The album is also massive, I missread the track list thing it was only 15 but it's actually 28. 28 fucking remixes. I remember the days when it took the whole site a year to put out that much. Again, here's my pick
The Mighty Mighty Pokemon: Give it about twenty seconds and this riff should hook anyone who played those first generation games obsessive compulsively, forgetting to eat, sleep or breathe on occasion (not speaking from experience of course. Of course.) Someone has been channeling some serious guns and roses vibes for this one.
Teem.Rokit: this is one of the 'fuck the album feel I'm opening the can o' wierd' offerings on every OCR production. I never thought those annoying, incopetent criminal gits could be any fun. I was wrong.
Divine Olivine: and one that characterises the feel of the whole album. Just chillin, with some really nicely produced vocals and super smooth synth
Home is where the Luvdisc is: Classy jazz showing just how broad OCR gets in their reinterpretations. I haven't heard the original track, but this one stood out on its own. It's just a pity it was so short.
THRESHOLD DREAM:
I believe the third zelda themed album OCR has put out, not that I'm complaining. I was hoping for a bit more from tyler heath and zircon, but it seems a new crowd is doing a lot of the stuff these days. Overall I'm not so impressed with this album as the other recent content, it's a bit monotonous and lacking in character, with a more ambient feel about most of the tracks. It's still incredible stuff given it seems like a lot of rookies made their debut on this one, and of course will be infinitely more compelling to someone who has played Link's Awakening, which I haven't.
Threshold of a dream: the obligatory title track remixing a title track, I got sick of zelda title theme remixes for a bit, but this one is nice, laid back string and guitar mixing. It has a few wierd hiccups though. not sure about those
House of frogs: quite a nice track on it's own, classical electric guitar duet with sax makes for a sensual bit of music.
Twist
THE ANSWER
unlike most OCR albums this one was pretty much all one or two guys, mixing themes from the armored core series. Thus it is shorter, with a feel sticking closely between the tracks and a really nice, clean production. The album combines electro-synth with heavy rock and some inserts by unusual instrumentation and OCR's vocal diva Pixietricks.
Twisted on the surface: A pretty eclectic track mixing in classic piano to electro-rock
Goodbye Thinker: the closing track for the album, not indicative of the rest. Pixietricks gets a starring role and I think this is her best performance to date. It feels like a genuine AAA game credit track or a commercial single.
Hypermonkey likes the dancefloor: Ok, I admit I picked this one just for the title. It's one of the faster tracks on the album. Simple, catchy beats and well produced guitars give a nice solid base. I'm not sure I'm sold on Pixie's voice getting modulated all over the place, but it's the sort of thing that will probably grow on you. great chillout music.
Well, that's all from me now, I'll put my pants back on. You can get easy access to all of OCR's stuff on their youtube channel, or download it from their site. A good start for browsing is here:
http://ocremix.org/albums/
You'll need a torrent program to download the stuff, it saves them a bit of bandwidth
