Sometimes, you really can have too much of a good thing
I definitely have a soft spot for OverClocked ReMix, partly because I'm a gigantic nerd who loves him some videogame music, but also because it's a fascinating experiment in producing a crowd-sourced music label. Not that it is a label, per say, but with over thirty albums under their belt, complete with album art and all created by an immensely talented and enthusiastic community who sweat blood and tears for moderate fame and zero pay, it's clearly a model that has something to it.
The thirty third album release on the site, Maverick Rising is a sixty two-track beast that rarely lets up the pace; even the quieter tracks manage to sound quite punchy, while complex guitar riffs and grimy bass lines abound. The prevalence of wailing guitars is going to grate with some - myself included - and on occasions the album feels like a game of finger-shredding one-upmanship, but I guess that's par for the course with the Mega Man X series. It does keep what amounts to a sizeable collection of tunes extremely unified, as an album should, but it would have been nice to cut down on the filler - individuality has always been a hallmark of OC Remix, but is occasionally lost here in a sea of screeching guitar riffs.
Nonetheless, there are some excellent tracks on offer, three of which are scattered about this very page. Hell, they may be the three greatest tracks I've ever come across on OC ReMix; they're powerful, they're gripping and convey through sheer force and personality just why videogame music has such a popular following. VGM tracks are a strange breed when all is said and done, fulfilling much the same role as background music in cinema, yet needing to stand out and justify themselves as standalone tracks in a way that film doesn't require. Videogame music isn't a genre in its own right, but its stylistic features make it remarkably distinct; Maverick Rising may contain more filler than some of its OverClocked stablemates, but slightly more than two hours of quality music found itself cherry-picked for my iPod, and if that isn't an endorsement then I don't know what is.
Fast, frantic and ostentatious is the order of the day here and that simply isn't going to appeal to everyone, no matter how competent the technical skill; I can't offer my firm recommendation for the whole album, but a sizeable collection of stand-out tracks make it worth checking out, even if you find yourself skipping a few. Maverick Rising maintains the same quality control that has made the reputation of OC Remix, but an enormous track list occasionally makes it a slog to get through; here's hoping for a smaller, more focused selection for the next release.
Maverick Rising's homepage can be found here and my personal selection, a staggering twenty-six tracks strong, can be found here.
I definitely have a soft spot for OverClocked ReMix, partly because I'm a gigantic nerd who loves him some videogame music, but also because it's a fascinating experiment in producing a crowd-sourced music label. Not that it is a label, per say, but with over thirty albums under their belt, complete with album art and all created by an immensely talented and enthusiastic community who sweat blood and tears for moderate fame and zero pay, it's clearly a model that has something to it.
The thirty third album release on the site, Maverick Rising is a sixty two-track beast that rarely lets up the pace; even the quieter tracks manage to sound quite punchy, while complex guitar riffs and grimy bass lines abound. The prevalence of wailing guitars is going to grate with some - myself included - and on occasions the album feels like a game of finger-shredding one-upmanship, but I guess that's par for the course with the Mega Man X series. It does keep what amounts to a sizeable collection of tunes extremely unified, as an album should, but it would have been nice to cut down on the filler - individuality has always been a hallmark of OC Remix, but is occasionally lost here in a sea of screeching guitar riffs.
Nonetheless, there are some excellent tracks on offer, three of which are scattered about this very page. Hell, they may be the three greatest tracks I've ever come across on OC ReMix; they're powerful, they're gripping and convey through sheer force and personality just why videogame music has such a popular following. VGM tracks are a strange breed when all is said and done, fulfilling much the same role as background music in cinema, yet needing to stand out and justify themselves as standalone tracks in a way that film doesn't require. Videogame music isn't a genre in its own right, but its stylistic features make it remarkably distinct; Maverick Rising may contain more filler than some of its OverClocked stablemates, but slightly more than two hours of quality music found itself cherry-picked for my iPod, and if that isn't an endorsement then I don't know what is.
Fast, frantic and ostentatious is the order of the day here and that simply isn't going to appeal to everyone, no matter how competent the technical skill; I can't offer my firm recommendation for the whole album, but a sizeable collection of stand-out tracks make it worth checking out, even if you find yourself skipping a few. Maverick Rising maintains the same quality control that has made the reputation of OC Remix, but an enormous track list occasionally makes it a slog to get through; here's hoping for a smaller, more focused selection for the next release.
Maverick Rising's homepage can be found here and my personal selection, a staggering twenty-six tracks strong, can be found here.
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