Wild Arms: ARMed and DANGerous ReMix Flood Comments from album director Jennifer Jade-Lee Aguirre (JaDE ARaN HaRuNo), assistant director Jordan Aguirre (bLiNd), and ReMixers Album freely available at http://armed.ocremix.org On December 20, 1996, a role-playing game called Wild Arms released in Japan. 15 years later, I am proud to announce the official OC ReMix album of ARMed and DANGerous. I never had intentions of directing this project. It was just a fan request in the beginning. The thread was old and dead, and after several months later it was revived. Suddenly, the support was pouring in and I took on the responsibility. I wanted this project to be different than the others and make it memorable. I wanted each artist to represent the meaning of the game and my feelings of what it meant to me. Directed by someone who is not an OC ReMixer, I want to thank those who believed in me that I could do this. Many years ago, I had a great circle of friends. We did everything together and depended on one another. As we got older, our lives started to change and many friendships ended in brokenness. I remained lost for a great amount of time hoping someday it would be the same again. Later I discovered Wild Arms because of the music and decided to buy it. I found myself and these old friends in Wild Arms. It was like replaying my past over with a soundtrack. The Western theme reminded me of my father, because of his admiration for Westerns. He passed away after I discovered the game, so it brought me some closure. The project is about the music, the fans and everyone's dedicated hard work. Though the reason why I chose Wild Arms is because I wanted to dedicate this to my husband, Jordan Aguirre (bLiNd). It is the very meaning of my love. What I needed and wanted was always right in front of me, not what I had before him. In the middle of making this, I wanted to give up on the project because of what occurred in 2010, but Stevo Bortz (Level 99) did not let me give up. Wes McDonald (Emunator) also joined to ensure the release. I thank those two for being my co-directors, because it would have not released today. Also, special thanks to James Joyner (Jewbei), Aaron Wu (Global-Trance), and Wesley Cho (Bahamut). After MAGFest 9, I learned who my friends are and what my life deserves the most. I had been separated for a year and a half and just recently we had our reunion. I am truly blessed and grateful that for Christmas of 2011, I get to spend it with my husband and his family while celebrating the release of this album and our reconciliation, despite of our sacrifices and pain. I am still making an effort to leave the past behind me and accept the present and future. The music is the whole explanation of this strife. I am grateful to those who succeeded in this specific sound. Wild ARMs is about love, emotion, tragedy, and adventure. Shine in all your glory. - Jennifer Jade-Lee Aguirre (JaDE ARaN HaRuNo) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I want to say as Jade's husband how proud I am of her and all the work she did to organize, inspire, and keep this project alive and everyone working in spite of all the struggles she went through these past couple of years. She worked her butt off to get this done and deserves a lot of praise for what she did. I have seen many projects come and go on OCR, but this one is different than the rest for one reason - Jade INSPIRED people. She used something she adored and loved and was inspired by and somehow got all sorts of musicians to feel the same way, even if they never played the game before; myself included... This project really stretched me as a musician, an artist, and a person. I took in a lot of music in the beginning and throughout the process learned I was probably capable of being a judge at OCR, as I was giving lots of feedback to people about their tracks and it was actually helping them! It's not a job I would probably want to take on as it is very time consuming and takes away from what I love to do most (make music), but I can say it was a good experience and I found it a joy to work with the artists. There are SO many talented people in this community and sometimes I think they are overlooked because of minor things like not knowing production as well as a professional or not knowing music theory enough to be considered "good enough" and they really just need a push in right direction. This project is a prime example of talent already acknowledged and overlooked talent that just needed some tender love and care and some motherly nurturing. Jade did a wonderful job of getting to know each artist's music before approaching them so she knew where to direct them and their talents. It was truly awesome to see how great things fell in place once everyone was on the same page. I am proud to be a part of this project as an artist and a co-director because of the sheer QUALITY I hear in the final result. The remixes I produced also stretched me as an artist and I can say I am very proud of the work I did for it. I am especially proud of "Fireflight" because it is the matured sound of bLiNd. But most of all, the "Ring and a Promise" tracks are what this project is about for me - my wife. I made that track for our 1 year wedding anniversary, so this project represents the love I have for my wife and we will look back on it as a shining moment in our marriage. Everyone give Jade your thanks, love, and support for making something this grand come to life... - Jordan Aguirre (bLiNd) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- • OCR02348: Level 99 - "Succumb to the Wilderness" http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02348/ Jade: The signature source of Wild Arms is "To the End of the Wilderness." I originally had this track in mind for another artist, but he declined. Stevo Bortz (Level 99) approached me later about the track and promised to deliver. All of my expectations were met. The track even made me cry. This song's meaning aligns perfectly with why I did the project, and Stevo's arrangement is exactly what I envisioned. While not the only contribution he made to the album, this track is the one that touched me the most. Let your music touch the souls of the fans. Level 99: I never played Wild Arms. However, when Jade re-started the Wild Arms project, I took a listen and fell for the song "To the End of the Wilderness." Originally, I had planned to turn this into a Morricone-style production, following in the steps of "The Ecstasy of Gold." Yeah, that didn't work out with my current grasp of orchestral arranging. Instead, I ended up with a track that, according to Jade, captures the feelings in context of the game. I don't think there's a higher compliment I could have asked for. *walks off into the sunset during the ending whistle part* • OCR02349: bLiNd - "Fireflight" http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02349/ Jade: This track is a jewel. It gives me goosebumps down my spine and makes me shiver. I have been a bLiNd fan for so many years prior to knowing him in person, and this demonstrates that the best of all his recent work. The breakdown at 2:30 gives the source a whole new perspective and feels like the Wild West of space. The sound design is astounding with milky textures and samples of the game. bLiNd never fails to impress, especially his wife. :) bLiNd: This track represents the end of an era for bLiNd and the start of a new one. Though the track was completed and titled over a year ago, it actually holds a lot of meaning for my life now. It starts off with how I viewed the world as a young boy. It has a sound of melancholy with a slight glimmer of hope. Sort of sad, but not completely. This is the sound I try to capture as bLiNd. It is also the sound I have developed at OCR over the past decade and "Fireflight" represents that best, in my opinion... It progresses and eventually breaks down completely at 2:30, just like my life did when I was a teenager. The darkness in my life began. I suffered year after year in a slow but louder progression. Many of you know the physical suffering I have endured. Some know the mental suffering, and some know the emotional suffering. I call this the fire. Many of you don't agree with my belief in God, but the only reason I am able to speak now, or even breathe, is because of Him. He has used this fire to shape my character and grow me into the man I am now and has shown me what I need to become. After the fire, at 3:45, comes Revelation. Clarity and vision for my future as a musician, a man, and a person in general. If any part of this song represents where I am at now, it is 4:15. This is what I call the flight. It represents the joy and energy I had as a young boy come full circle, but, instead of me crawling, I am flying. I had to grab a hold of the eagle's wing through the fire. That eagle's wing is my faith and it is what saved me. Next time you see me, I will be soaring, and OCR will be the first ones I look upon this next year. You guys are family to me and I love you all, and of course most of all, my wife Jade. This project and day is really about her, in my eyes of course, but I give every one of you who worked on this project a humble bow and thanks for all your hard work. Let me also say this. This project is a celebration of love. Jade and I are back together again after a long separation; nearly a year and a half! The joy we have of being together, especially for this project release, and Christmas, is overwhelming and simply amazing. We had paths to walk solo, to find ourselves again, and we did. Once we did, God put us back together and it seems like we are falling in love over and over again every day. So join us in our celebration by listening to all the hard work that was done and listen to one of my favorite remixes I have ever made. Join me in my fireflight... • OCR02350: Diggi Dis - "The Long Journey Ahead" http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02350/ Jade: It has been over a year since Diggi Dis has posted a track that isn't a collaboration. This solo piece does not disappoint. It is a laid back and catchy track for one of the ending themes. The first time I showed it to Emunator, he had it on repeat for hours. I love the female chants and that ravishing piano. Everything is simply marvelous. Frank was so easy to work with and he finished this track rather quickly. I hope to work with Frank again in the future projects! Diggi Dis: The moment I heard this song, I knew this had to be the one. In the process of transcribing the chords and melody, the ideas for the arrangement kind of just developed fluidly. Had a lot of fun working on this project knowing a lot of amazing artists are participating on it. Hope you will enjoy! (P.S. Props for the person that knows which video the female chants are from.) • OCR02351: Theophany, audio fidelity - "Godspeed" http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02351/ Jade: Theophany is 100% pure gold. Thanks to Kinslayer, who brought Theophany's attention to my project. I was fortunate to have him as a part, since he ended up contributing 4 tracks to this album. This track made me take a step back. I questioned why Theophany hasn't released more of his music, but that changes now. I really like this track because of its wintery feel. It is really appropriate for this time of year especially and does great justice to the original source. It is, of course, a huge improvement to the original and Theophany does an excellent job of expanding its ideas. audio fidelity's bowed guitar is the icing on the cake and makes the song sound bigger than life as the lead parts fade away with the huge tail of reverb. Theophany is on a number of upcoming projects, so keep an eye out for him! Theophany: This is the second of four tracks I've remixed for Wild Arms, and it's also my first collaboration here on OCR. Despite sharing names with another track by the Wingless, "Godspeed" is mainly titled as an homage to the post-rock influences of Sigur Rós and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. I've been wanting to remix something like this for ages, so I'm majorly indebted to audio fidelity for the bowed guitar and lead parts he wrote. Although my WIP was mostly orchestral, he immediately sensed the kind of sound I was going for and his delivery was extremely quick. I wasn't really familiar with his work before Wild Arms, but I'm really glad I had the opportunity to work with him. On a personal note, I'd like to thank Jade and bLiNd. While I've never played Wild Arms, I think I put more of myself into this project knowing that my work was appreciated early on. Congratulations on your first album. I'm glad I could be a part of it, and I encourage everyone to check it out. audio fidelity: When Jade first asked me to help out with the project, I had so much on my plate with school and other project tracks that I told her that I could only help collaboratively as a performer. I'm so glad that she got Theophany in contact with me. He came to me with proposition of doing bowed guitar, which I had never done before, but was very interested because of artists like Sigur Rós, which I could certainly tell he was inspired from. I tracked multiple takes and had fun adding just tons of reverb - I had an intense chain of verbs that was just feeding into the other. It took some strength in my left hand to hold those chords and bow all the strings. Then I improvised a line in one take that I gave him as extra that ended up be the focal part of the track. I'm very happy to have contributed to such a moving piece of music. Thanks, Theophany. Let's do it again sometime. • OCR02352: Stephen Kennedy, Level 99 - "Return to Dust" http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02352/ Jade: I discovered Stephen Kennedy in 2002 through OC ReMix. He was the founder of the fanmade album series Project Majestic Mix. I was extremely nervous to ask Stephen to join the project, but thanks to Jordan's help and support, he signed up for this epic track. The source is one of the highlights of the game, so I knew he would be perfect for the part. This has got to be his best track yet. I am honored that he is on ARMed and DANGerous, and at last officially a part of OC ReMix after 11 years of inactivity. Stevo Bortz (Level 99) also assisted with amazing guitars last minute to complete the track, despite his busy schedule. I thank the 3 marvelous artists for making a track come true. We've made HIStory. Stephen Kennedy: I am thankful to have been asked to come up with something for this project. One of my initial goals was to find the most lean track that I could, in order to challenge myself to come up with something with what little the original track offered. Not only was Wild Arms one of my favorite games as a kid, but it had a track that fit the bill in terms of sparseness. The original track, "Return to Ashes," presents an emphatic-sounding choir... in a track that's just over a minute long. In the end game, we have a moment where a giant earth golem makes a great sacrifice for the good of others. My version of the track starts with the same choir as the original and adds with it the nuances of machinery and soft energy to draw us towards a reflection of this moment. It's a moment of tenderness and sacrifice from an otherwise hard/mechanical character. Quickly ramping up, it devolves into a somewhat chaotic enmeshing/entwining of the chaos that takes place before bringing our golem to its final resting place. A key element with all things Wild Arms for me was always that wonderful acoustic guitar. After the track was "finished," Jade came back to me with the suggestion of redoing the guitars. At this point, I had had a several month hiatus from the piece and was in a good position to spend some much needed time reflecting on and reworking it. Enter Stevo. I wrote two guitar parts for this piece (acoustic and electric). I liked them, but that nice acoustic wasn't "human" enough. It needed the real thing. After some introductions, I sent both parts to Stevo and asked him to feel free to emulate or elaborate/change any of it he felt inspired to. I'm grateful to have had Stevo work on this piece with me. Although I used only his acoustic recordings in the end (I wanted the electric to stay more "mechanical"), he had some really great ideas and skill to contribute, which, in turn, led me to a better direction for mixing, arranging, and getting the piece where it is now. He was a great help to me creatively, and I am glad to have his acoustical arrangement part of my own. Thanks, Stevo! I realize my track imagines and elaborates quite a lot on the original's uncomplicated melody, but I really wanted to branch out and contribute something that was proportionally more my own work than the fundamental tune or a simple arrangement or even remix... all this while still paying homage to the original and its roots. The end result, I feel, pays homage to the original track, captures the essence of the in-game story unfolding, features some great collab between me and Stevo, and says Wild Arms! I hope you enjoy it. • OCR02353: E-Bison - "Holy Mother!" http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02353/ Jade: "Holy Mother!" is correct. E-Bison completed an intricate and extremely pleasing track. So much detail was worked into the song. I adored E-Bison's track for the Xenogears project, so I wanted him to have a similar approach, but with more diverse atmosphere added. Indeed, he took a big risk, but that's what makes it one of the best tracks on the album in my opinion. Feel the groove. E-Bison: Wild Arms was fascinating because of the intersection of Wild West fantasy, sci-fi and magic. These ideas, combined with the simplicity of the themes, ended up pushing the remix in a strange direction. I really wanted the machines to sound alive, and animate the images of twisted, god-like demon robots that made Wild Arms so bad ass. The OST themes are split apart and set against one another in various ways. Even if it sounds far removed from the source material, all the lines (bass, harmony, melody) are there. The only exception is the re-harmonization of the chant theme in the breakdown. I think I used a Renaissance counterpoint device for that part. All 6ths, 10ths and suspensions, but the arpeggiator kinda masks all that. The stylistic juxtapositions seem pretty crazy, but forcing a holy-sounding chant into a driving drum and bass track felt good. Hopefully, the mechanical textures and synth/sample work tie everything together. Also, this track broke in some new gear, including neat little analog vocoder. That's how the holy mother robot voices got in there. • OCR02354: Flexstyle - "Unstoppable" http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02354/ Jade: One word: FLAVORFUL. Flexstyle never ceases to amaze me. This is a fight that no one's backing down from! A false intro starts off with the captivating vinyl-sounding piano, followed by getting thrown for a loop as the track explodes. There are Pendulum influences all over this song, with its driving beat racing to end the battle with victory. The build at 1:54 ends with a slamming statement at 2:16 exploding in your face! OCR is in need of more Drum and Bass and Flexstyle is one of the guys to do it. This track is totally armed and dangerous! Flexstyle: Out of the three tracks I did for the Wild Arms project, this one is probably my favorite. Although it's not as technically polished as my other two tracks, I think it manages to convey some incredibly raw energy, especially during the breakdown. I probably had the most fun doing this one, as well—angry wobble basses with raucous supersaw arpeggios make me happy! As with most of my OCR works, I haven't actually played the game, but I hope this song conveys the sense of urgency present in the original source. • OCR02355: Jewbei - "Desirous Sacrifice" http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02355/ Jade: As one of the longest sources from the soundtrack, "Battle Demon" is also one of the most popular tracks among Wild Arms fans. I was honestly a little worried at first, because it began as a collab but one of the artists had to drop out. However, Jewbei's resultant track is the meaning of serendipity. Jewbei really impressed me and this track definitely is out of the ordinary for him. When I listened to the finished product, I shouted, "YES! HE FINALLY GOT IT! HE UNDERSTANDS NOW!" I am very happy he is finally getting out of his shell and starting to experiment. This source is known as Boomerang's second theme and, as one of my favorite Assassin villains, he says, quote, "If humans turn hope into power, then I can turn desire into a blade," so Jewbei and I thought "Desirous Sacrifice" was the perfect title for this awesome track. bLiNd and I am proud of you, my son. :) Jewbei: This originally started out as a collab with Tepid, but it fell through during the early stages, so I decided to continue on with the track. I worked really, REALLY hard on this track. It took me nearly 2 years to finish it, though this is by far my best remix I've ever written. I wanted to step out of my trance box and try something new. It was also suggested by both Jade & bLiNd that I do so, which I'd like to add they both played a very important part of this mix. The feedback that they gave me really helped me shape this into a good track. I don't know what I'd do without them, Pa and Mother Goose. I hope everyone here will enjoy this. I really had fun making this track. • OCR02356: Radiowar - "What's Left" http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02356/ Jade: Being a BIG fan of "Leafcutter," I knew Radiowar has expertise in sound design. This song is a great example of his source interpretation: he yields a talent of improving any source and making it solid. I can hear some Linkin Park and Nujabes influences, which enhances the experience for me. I can relate to this, inspiring me to feel I am in Japan on high land because of its dramatic and powerful climax. Thank you for making this song the essence of musical profusion in Wild Arms. :) Radiowar: Seems like I am drawn to these minimal sources lately. I think part of the fun of arranging tunes like "Agitation to Destruction" is finding out how much mileage you can get out of rearranging and expanding on a small number of musical ideas. On the other hand, there's a sense of desolation in the original that I wanted to retain in the remix as much as possible. Hopefully, the track manages to convey that sparse, bleak atmosphere while the added rhythmic and harmonic momentum brings out its emotional qualities. • OCR02357: Mike Saint-Jules - "Telepath Tower" http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02357/ Jade: As a big fan of not just electronic music, but of Tiësto, Armin van Buuren and Ferry Corsten, I'd like to announce the artist who is signed on their labels has joined us at OC ReMix. Thanks to Global-Trance for asking him to join this project and bLiNd for mastering, there's now a known producer on this site. I was delighted to hear Mike Saint-Jules was a big fan of Wild Arms, so he chose to make a club mix for us. Please be well informed that this was the "outsider secret" I didn't declare for 2 years. More producers should remix video game music, so let this be the first step to change! Mike Saint-Jules: For those that do not know, my name is Mike Saint-Jules, a Trance producer, who for the last couple of years has released Trance and Progressive-based productions through Ferry Corsten's label, Flashover, and a few others. I'm a huge RPG freak and have been a fan of the genre since 1996. The first true RPGs I played were Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy VI (III in the US). From then on, I moved to other timeless classics such as Suikoden, Grandia, and of course Wild Arms. My friend Aaron Wu approached me letting me know there was an announcement regarding remixes to the Wild Arms Original Soundtrack for OverClocked ReMix and I immediately told him that I'd want to do one. Choosing from the list, I decided to go with "Kishum Flame" (which is titled "Telepath Tower"). The original is epic in its own right. Rudy and Co. being able to travel through space to reach other parts in the world of Filgaia. It somehow relates to my own productions, because my works are related to Space in general. My works are dark, atmospheric, fused with Trance. I usually want to take you out of the Earth and experience the unknown during the duration of the track. And that's what I felt with the original. It's been a great experience playing the first Wild Arms title, and being able to remix an original work from the game is really a cool thing for me. I want to thank Aaron and crew for giving me the opportunity to use my production skills on such a fantastic game. Something that I'll remember for a long time!