Osaka was amazing. I saw incredible castles, temples, shrines. I went to two amazing aquariums. I ate so much wonderful food that my stomach is still angry with me. And, of course, I went to as many record stores as possible and bought a billion records and CDs.

Almost everything I bought was obscure and out-of-print. It looks like I have plenty of material for this site for the next few months if not a year. However, very little of it was “traditional” Lost Turntable content. Only got one 12″ single of an artist any of you have probably heard of. The rest of what I found was either obscure electronic music, Japanese prog, Japanese jazz/funk or video game soundtracks. So I hope at least some of that sounds interesting to you, because that’s what you got coming up for the next few months most likely.

Y’know, stuff like this.

Konami
Famicom Arranged Medley
Famicom Original Remix Medley
Famicom Super Medley
All of these are “arranged” and/or “remixed” so I don’t understand the names behind these tracks. The opening “Arranged Medley” is probably the worst of the three though. It just takes a bunch of arranged versions of Konami tracks and mixes them together while an horribly bland backbeat plays throughout. I mean, it’s not terrible, the source material is certainly great, but when compared to the tracks that follow it certainly falls flat.

Because the other tracks are really great. The “Original Remix Medley” is a much more pure presentation of the source material, using the original game audio alongside some added sound effects and beats. It’s not as smooth as the “Arranged Medley,” some of the cuts are a bit jarring, but the overall experience is much better. The original tunes are so strong that they stand on their own, they don’t need the lame backbeat of the “Arranged Medley’ to support them.

That’s not to say they can’t benefit from the remix or arrangement treatment, because they certainly do with the “Super Medley.” This track takes the most liberties with the original songs, re-recording them entirely with new instrumentation and accompaniment. Of the three, it is the most fun, and works the best as a proper medley. The segues between the tracks are smooth and natural, lacking the out-of-place cuts of the “Original Remix Medley” and not relying on a tired backing track like the “Arranged Medley” does. It’s also super energetic, almost like a stadium house track. If The KLF were given orders to rework Famicom tracks, I think it might sound something like this track. Dope shit all around.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 11th, 2018 at 10:37 pm and is filed under Complete Albums, Game Music, remixes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.