Posted 2014-12-03, evaluated by the judges panel

Happy 20th Birthday to the PlayStation!!

To celebrate, we've got out FIRST ReMix from the Spyro series, as Arceace offers up a bass-driven EDM arrangement from Spyro: Year of the Dragon, the third & final outing for the series on the PS1, where it began back in 1998. Ben writes:

"I find it rather surprising that there isn't a single Spyro the Dragon remix on OC ReMix. The original Spyro trilogy holds many fond memories for me growing up. The music was always my favorite part of the games, and I sometimes enjoy playing those old soundtracks when I'm busy with my school assignments. "Midday Gardens" was a rather odd song out of Spyro 3, but that doesn't make it any less awesome! The seemingly random assortment of instruments seem to work together perfectly to create a cool, chilled out atmosphere. In this remix, I just wanted to enhance some of the cool drum patterns, and give it a more melodic spin. Enjoy!"

First off, a quick word about Stewart Copeland, one of the two composers of this specific Spyro game, along with Ryan Beveridge. The Police are one of my favorite bands, a huge part of their sound was Copeland's impeccable & brilliant drum work, and his post-band career as a composer has been really successful, with excellent work in both film & games. I was psyched to see a member of one of my favorite bands of all time pursue composing for games, and at the time I think his doing so actually had a legitimizing effect for the profession. I'm glad to have both him & the Spyro series finally represented on OCR!

As for the mix, not quite sure why the title is "Acoustic Fields," as this is a slower house/chillout sorta jam, with organ stabs & riffs peppering a four-on-the-floor kick groove, syncopated percussion, & an unapologetic saw bass that filters, bends, and remains a focus for the majority of the track. Liontamer writes:

"Texturally, the opening layerered claps were a lil' thin, but serviceable. I really appreciated Justin's arrangement breakdown, which made it easy to clarify and co-sign on the source usage. Writing-wise, the dynamics were subtle but solid. The overall energy here was pretty understated, but the elements that were there glued together nicely for a reasonably full soundscape. Nice job, Ben!"

Agreed; this isn't an aggressive/foreground ReMix that demands your undivided attention per se, but it's got a very comfortable groove that it works with, modernizing the source tune's jazzier atmosphere & centering attention around DAT BASS. Good, unexpected stuff from Arceace, just in time to ring in 20 years of PlayStation!!