Relics of the Community

Let’s talk about fan arrangement albums, and naturally the ones on OCReMix. I was thinking of listening to each and writing something of a review of them. Chronologially, starting from the first.

 

The first album on OCR is Relics of the Chozo (official site), a Super Metroid album. Protricity, the director of the project, has 9 remixes on the project, not counting collaborations. It’s safe to say it’s a Protricity album.

 

With varying styles, mostly orchestral vgm and atmospheric synth tracks, it’s an interesting album, fitting of the source.

The album is consisted of 19 tracks by, aside from Protricity, Adhesive_Boy, Avien, Children of the Monkey Machine, Daniel Baronowsky, Prophecy, Suzumebachi, Vigilante, and zyko.

 

It should be mentioned that the amount of protricitic tracks is IIRC due to the failure of other remixers to devote the necessary time and energy, or skill, to the project.

 

RotC is a good album with scary, alien music. While not all players can play .ogg files, which the project was released in, several of the tracks are available on OCR, and those should get you interested enough to find yourself an ogg player.

 

My lawyer didn’t, tho.

 

The Mandatory Genre Bias Post

Since my lawyer had advised me not to speculate in the dealings of humongous companies with prepostorous resources and lawyers enough to fill an oil tanker, I thought I’d get back to OCReMix, since my lawyer suggested I focus on a “non-profit organization” with less legal resources. I’ve come to believe OCR is responsible for a significant amount of “music” that is meant to be felt while high.

 

It goes without saying that video game music has evolved from bleeps and bips to quality electronica, but here lies the crux. Trance artists like Blind make their living on recruiting “agents” among people who “want to help out another remixer” in an attempt to buy themselves some higher status through association with celebrated remixers in the inbred community. The result is that the artist gains gigs and fame, while his “agents” remain insufferable sycophants pestering others on the OCR boards.

 

Let’s test this hypothesis by listening to three random remixes from OCR. The first one is a Chrono Trigger piano piece by Suzumebachi, called Forever. The second one is a Breath of Fire piece by Ghetto Lee Lewis. The third is a Mega Man X4 remix by the artist formerly known as DJ Terra.

 

The mixes speak for themselves.

 

OCR has previously been accused of being a techno site, and is often found favoring electronica over, say, viking metal. No doubt numerous remixers rely on electronica to produce their works, but when the focus goes from audible harmonic vibrations in the air to vibrations in the floor and in the spines and hearts of all junkies soon to suffer from arrhythmia and whatever the drugs themselves cause.

 

I’ll give OCR one more chance to redeem itself, one last random remix. What does that tell you?