That's All

OLRmageddon LV ushered in the winter season using a “snow and ice” theme. Entrants had the option of remixing games that featured a snow or ice level theme. For bonus points, one could also include a live recorded element. One entrant took his clarinet and turned a Mario Kart: Super Circuit tune into a mildly discordant romp that fades out in the midst of woodwind screeches. In “Clowns” a Sonic 3D Blast track is reconstituted into a mostly unrecognizable form with the subliminal message “I will win this contest”.

Jildon channeled his inner Beatdrop for his take on Ice Cap Zone that pounds the dancefloor for three minutes. A Mega Max X track was strummed along with vocals in something resembling a rhythm under the name “My Heart Is an Icy Land”. Donkey Kong Country 3 underwent a surf rock transformation under the well thought out title “Skidda’s Skid Marks”. Perhaps a more direct title came out of a remix of Donkey Kong Country 2 called “Winter’s Cold”, delivering the message with over-compressed electro.

JHCompo on Tuesday similarly brought the participants into the realm of the cold, offering “Warmth” as a theme to remedy the situation. SonicThHedgog apparently decided to upload a song by “Jefferson ft Aires” instead of creating an entry, giving a “marry christmas” with autotuned rap. Maraki made an unusual heart[h] pun for his ambient take on the theme incorporating glass bells and sax. “For Warmth” MandraSigma performed his standup routine gaining enthusiasm from a canned crowd. Duosis cut up a sample and worked in into a funk beat with alternating hi-hat patterns in “I’m Ever Cold”. liquid wind also brought in bells for his tale of prehistoric men huddled around a fire. 

nikola cranked up his Game Boy for an 8-bit cover of Katy Perry’s “Hot and Cold” to warm the listening party. Shadix initiated a “Fire Dance” declaring that he needed more timber as burning crackles permeated his entry. swordofdestiny returned to JHCompo with a quick, fanciful dance track that he described as “stupidly happy house”. jophish attenuated his warm synths for his composition full of “Color” and bloops. Kay Faraday took his piano and oboe and riffed out a brief entry to make his “Return to the World in My Dreams”. Rounding out the entries with a late upload was housethegrate, who served out mellow funk rock to heat up the night.

Thursday’s OHC seemingly had no theme as the round began, although this was remedied in a few minutes as "The Big Finale" was set in place. My introduction included a clip of the singer Annette Hanshaw saying "That's all," a signature ending of her recordings. CJthemusicdude's entry consisted of rhythmic chords that lead to two uncredited music segments. MandraSigma declared that "Gobbler's gettin' terminated..." as he makes the hunt for wild turkey. nikola majestically made his exit among brass and orchestral percussion fitting for "An Outroduction". 

JackShine submitted his first OHC track in under the space of fifteen seconds of vocal utterings. elsalluz returned to compo with perhaps his most ornate composition yet, displaying his tribal "Coconuts" with pride. Forty-Two showed off his chilled pop music containing a central synth arp and peripheral harmonies. DDRKirby(ISQ) harkened back the round's "Theme is TBD" roots by traveling to a place "No one knows!" other than a familiar chippy off-road. While also serving as backup organizer for OHC, Fusion2004 composed a vibraphone tune that opens up to an orchestra and a fair amount of blips.  

BrownPony carried the bleeping over to his own track and verified its functionality with a "Hello world!" Foozogz promptly made the dance floor collapse with a final boss encounter with no regard for mastering. sci apparently had the theme of JHCompo in mind when he decided to start a campfire, and wrote his ambient piece accordingly. Zovi on the other hand disregarded any adherence to theme, and simply made a beat he could jam to. munchi put up a practice run he made prior to the round, while Duosis wrapped things up by slicing a horn-filled riff as the "End Credits" rolled.

Everyone Knows It's Windy

People’s Remixing Competition 208 marked the eighth anniversary of PRC, and with it a free round. Participants were free to arrange any video game tune not covered on OverClocked ReMix, with particular emphasis on the Warlords III source material that had been neglected in PRC207. sggod89 chose to remix Killer Instinct in a heavier guitar-laden style complete with his gritty vocals. chroxic took a Kirby 64 tune and gave it the dancefloor treatment, titling his work “Kirby Benassi” due to its bass sound. marcusg’s “Kirby Save Hut” slid around for a session of slick electro before he left for vacation.  

Binweasel combined Codename: Iceman with Phoenix Wright and Battlefield 1942 for an audacious mashup transposing the all the material to the same key. DjMokram was the only one to tackle Warlords III, and he did so by working it into a more cinematic, percussive piece incorporating a variety of styles. Finally evktalo elected to remix Death Track by replacing the jazzy noir vibe with electronic bass and Rhodes piano. 

JHCompo on Tuesday dealt with affection in all its forms, with a theme “About Love”. After my opening narration, nikola professed his love for 8-bit video game music and LSDJ. Under the clever alias "fibre", fivre sneaked in a bit of punk rock from the Kids film soundtrack. Duosis chopped up an orchestra-hit and layered in acid bass along with some funk drum loops to express hate. coda walked in an e-piano wonderland with warm synths evoking the love of nostalgia. Andy Kelley opted to go for seriousness with moody electro with a chintzy sliding lead. housethegrate returned to celebrate the holiday season using piano octave riffs, arps and a bevy of guitars. 

Kay Faraday activated his “Kawaii Love Robot 3000” for an efficient, bouncy series of sensations. Maraki plugged in for an ambient session of strumming and plucking in the desolate sound field. SonicThHedgog rode off on a yellow creature that was confirmed to not be equine, but nevertheless speedy. MandraSigma built levels of keyboard riff, and then settled on a hip hop beat with an unexpected verse of rapping. At the end of the listening party, Evil Shrubbery wubbed briefly with some sporadic drums and an untz outro.

Thursday’s OHC featured "Howling Wind", which I replicated with the sounds of my mouth. After my uncanny sound effect, DDRKirby(ISQ) detailed the harrowing experience of the "Cave Wind" by way of compressed drums and lo-bit riffs. nikola perhaps picked up on the 8-bit and submitted some chip music of his own, at a speedy pace. Draconiator returned for compo with thudding trance, wondering if some cobwebs had accumulated in his absence. dusthillguy needed to download more RAM, but nevertheless uploaded a brief entry in his unique style with samples of my voice. Scootabag provided somber acoustic guitaring to signal the onset of "Sunset Winds".

Obtuse crashed onto the scene with a wall of white noise and made use of Famitracker for the night. Flik came out of OHC retirement clutching his sitar, ethnic percussion and itchy throat. Bartekko altered a cliche to create his song title, and brought in oon-tiss to compensate. Shadix sequenced a piano composition for "Wind Town" and provided an adequate explanation for why starla was away for the round. LyokoFreaks worked his guitar along several chords before a searing lead comes in over a bed of hiss. MandraSigma offered a spastic tune incorporating pitch vocal sounds rising from the "Ashes in the Wind".

Forty-Two's choir pads bring to mind rubbed wine glasses as the harmonies elevate through time. DDRKirbyISQ uploaded the second of his two entries for the round, a field recording that falls away in favor of delay-piano, incisive synth patterns, and pounding beats. sci's piece is covered in a glaze of compression and breakbeat, topped with hints of singing. Acuity served up a dissonant beginning filled with wind chimes, and then switches to a vgm selection of instruments propelled by thick drums. munchi wrapped things up with by wandering drunkenly through a bunch of glitches, perhaps hitting the eggnog too early.

The Me Is

The Fake Infomercial Challenge by virt prompted participants to sell a product by way of music and a message. bjkmenu asked his audience if they had tried “Jacobsen Pork Rinds” to which they replied with a resounding “no”. coda promoted his foley-recording business with a dense portfolio of sound effects at a million-dollar value. Flik gave a convincing narration to his ad for the PubeDragon personal hair groomer, bookended by a soap opera. Inspired Chaos kept it short and simple by asking “are you tired of doin’ stuff?” and providing a concise answer. mad pitched a “super hyper” microphone of some sort, detailing the technical specifications and running out of material toward the end.
 

nobody must have tried “Abberall” before selling it, seemingly bouncing off the walls as he described the product. Prince of Darkness warned not to shake a baby, and instead urged customers to buy the Baby Shaker 9000. surasshu started by asking a common questions about toast, complete with a sad trombone cue. virt himself entered with an infomercial about Sticky Icky, a substance that may or may not be illegal to possess and sell. Finally xaimus served as a spokesperson for Nut Rivers International, saying “I don’t know about you, but…” and suddenly realizing that he actually doesn’t know about you.

For JHCompo on Tuesday I selected a “Fruit Paradise” theme that resulted in varied interpretations. Suggestions of how to tackle it included "a field of oranges", "a field of habaneroes" and "a bunch of gay dudes". Following my introductory narration, coda’s “doggleberries” laid down fat electro with tinges of a bygone chip age. Scootabag wondered whether his paradise was real or a mirage, using a Rhodes-centric backing for support. Evil Shrubbery stumbled upon the fruit of the gods as well as plucked acoustic bass with a series of drum fills. 

The temptation rose for Duosis incorporating chopped orchestral samples, set in bed of flanging and breaks. housethegrate evoked memories of Super Mario Sunshine, particularly in the use of bongos that sound like fruit being dropped into a basket. mu chose to “swim” in a sea of bright synthesizers elevated by piano and guitar chords. SonicThHedgog loaded up Fruit Farm Zone, Act 1 propelled by brassy riffs and a fair amount of distorted guitar. At the end of the listening party, ProjektZero made his return to JHCompo with an improvised love song containing plenty of groove.

 

Thursday’s OHC had a minor typo in “The Distance” theme description: “theme is” was typed as “the me is” which caused me to stumble on mic when reading it. Arcana is bound to get sued by George Lucas for tinkering with his intellectual property, although Lucas has done a lot of that on his own. CJthemusicdude opted to cover one of DDRKirby's past entries, taking the arps on a similar compelling journey. LuketheXjesse took his guitar and his laptop on "The Long Road Ahead" laden with metal. General Mumble sifted through ambience for much of his tune, and then met up with a funky beat. sci dusted off an old record and put it through the sampler-o-matic for a dance session. Forty-Two had his microphone just close enough to the "End of the Tunnel" to capture his mellow composition filled with piano and woodwinds.

Scootabag showed his way around a repeating chord progression topped with extensive keyboard soloing. Jakesnke17 traveled to "Trazodonia" for a field recording of local sounds, then took a moment to write some trip-hop over it. DDRKirby(ISQ) dripped into a soundscape broken up by staccato chiptunage. Shadix traversed a landscape of layered chordal instruments and effective dissonance, but decided against walking into Mordor. munchi dedicated most of the allotted time chatting with his brother; the piece manages to resemble a song despite all the things that could have gone wrong. Finally MandraSigma slid his un-tiss track in, but nevertheless missed the planet speeding away from him.

Compo Harder

Wily Castle Remix Gauntlet’s fifth round resulted in twelve entries containing a variety of styles. The theme chosen was of Wily Tower 2 from Mega Man 8. A small debate also brewed over Ben Brigg's team being designated as "The Mega Ballers" instead "The Hard Men". DarkSword, in typical fashion, corrected the name and obfuscated further conflict. The Soundevotion Competition also reached the end of round 62 after suffering a delay due to bugs. Despite the glitch issues, eleven tracks were uploaded before the deadline.

JHCompo on Tuesday had a humble turnout based on its “Shark Waters” theme. coda made the unusual move of not referencing a dog in his track title, opting for a fanciful tune reflecting his “shark friend”. Torzelan pulled out his e-rock riffs as became one with nature for “Dancing with Fishes X”. Newcomer rkmusic suffered a crash or two, but came through with a sweeping cinematic piece. SonicThHedgog beamed with pride at the fact that he “I escapez shark in liek few level WOO!” using layered guitars, topped with some strings and switching to a slower electro beat. Finally MandraSigma picked up coda’s slack by naming his entry “dogfish” and submitting mellow funk.

Thursday’s OHC raised the question "Of What Remains" 10,000 years into the future. Following my vocal introduction, MandraSigma offered an answer in the form of "industrial old growth" replacing the Earth's vegetation with endless fields of un-tiss. Scootabag wondered who really won after the dust settled, starting off with reflective strings before venturing in to wub-wub bass. LuketheXjesse made a rare OHC appearance and put up metallic riffs whilst wondering how the compo regulars got so good since the last time he entered. CJthemusicdude played around with automation and a hammering beat, ending with fading delay. Fusion2004 established his chord progression early on with searing lead, and then settled into pads and soloing for the duration.  

Bren warned of the hodgepodgery of his composition, but pulled through with his distinctive collection of synthesizers. Acuity shook the dancefloor for an esoteric look at the distant future, pausing momentarily for a piano and organ session. sci unearthed "the last surviving compo entry" awash in white noise and cracking, but addible enough to discern tickled ivories and a repeating word. Forty-Two was concerned about the issue of being "On Your Own" by way of plinking keys and sustained chords. General Mumble insisted that the year 12,011 will consist of a four-letter word being pitch-shifted to resemble the Windmill Hut theme from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.  

Arcana's track brought to mind SimCity during the listening party, as well as traces of Ice Cap Zone topped with untz. DDRKirby(ISQ) discussed the remaining robots look over the settlement of dust, and sent along heavily affected lo-fi dance music. replacer collaborated with stablefree for a jovial session of electronic, shrugging of the quick piece with a "Whatever". Hapi-San imagined the BBC News Theme in the far-off future surrounded by lush nature sounds and trance. munchi's echoing bursts of synth are guided along with piano arpeggios and a spaced out snare. Finally Duosis altered a cha-cha clip for a minimal headbobbing tune with choir and acid bass. 

The Beginning

Wily Castle Remix Gauntlet reached the end of its fourth round this past Saturday with 12 entries. The Wily Theme selected, Mr. X Fortress came from Mega Man 6. Among other interesting developments, the round brought about a rare vocal appearance from Rexy, who did her best growl for her and Brandon’s metal take on the material. OLRmageddon LIV featured a sports theme for contestants to tackle: remixers could choose any sports game to remix, excluding fighters and driving games. Perhaps not surprisingly, considering the limited choices, zero entries were submitted. 

JHCompo on Tuesday had “The Grind” as its theme prompting participants to either get down to business, or be lazy. The SolidComposer founder superjoe submitted a quick musical piece with his usual pop-punk chord progression, this time set to a swung percussion. Newcomer LyokoFreaks melded distant lo-fi percussion with flute before laying down rock drums and guitar chords. Obtuse created a session of 8-bit, explaining that “This is how it feels when I check my email when i get in during the morning.” SonicThHedgog attempted to troll the listening party by starting quietly and bursting to maximum volume, not realizing that the waveform of the track was visible to all. Finally MandraSigma uploaded a chill electronic composition with a bit of record scratching, admitting that he was “Hardly Working”.

Thursday’s OHC made the unusual choice of a musical-specific theme: "Compose a song for an early 90s 2D platform game." On that note I appended my vocal narration with an 8-bit rendition of an old composition of mine, "The Beginning". On the flip side, dusthillguy avoided chips by submiting guitar strums under the title "sadsong". frkygp brought things back to form with a conceptual piece that goes from a happy-go-lucky vibe to a menacing bass line. CJthemusicdude entered a 16-bit cavernous zone that holds some mysticism, if not plagiarism. Doctor Arcana fired up synth brass and an assortment of elements for "Space Jump 16", raising the question of where the previous 15 installments went.

Forty-Two made a rough estimate of the length of his "2-minute-ish loop" entry, a driving electro tune laced with piano. sci took his chiptune leanings to epic heights as appropriate for being inside "the biggest space castle of the fleet." jarski had perhaps the most distinctive song description of the night for his dancefloor shaking chip music, consisting of a series of emotions. munchi's biggest selling point for his game was the "SUPER-" prefix, suggesting his product is merely a repackaged cash-in. MandraSigma sent along a chill composition defying the "Shred the Beast" title: maybe this was the edgy Americanized title of the game. 

Hapi-San succeeded in beating all the levels and reveled in his victory by using major-key arpeggios. Destroid dived into a sea of ambiance as well as a plot twist in the narrative description. ancara22 rushed in with bit of banjo enveloped in strings and broad piano chords. At the end of the listening party, the setting of DDRKirby(ISQ)'s headbobbing entry is vague enough to be placed anywhere between 2090 to 2099, explaining the various sounds that no early 1990s console could possibly produce.