Another Mega Man fan album. Cynical people like myself will likely look at this release and think ‘’Do remixers only play the same games?’’ Still, it’s Mega Man music so let’s all open our minds as well as our ears!
Frequent OCR contributor Joshua Morse (Castlevania: Symphony of the Damned, Heroes vs. Villains, Bound Together) has taken one song from each original Mega Man game and has the unenviable task of turning them into themes for a ‘Robot Museum.’ Points for originality at least.
Read the review after the jump!
Before moving on to the music, the design of the mini-site deserves praise. It genuinely contributes to the music if you browse through the wonderful mesh of retro images presented in a modern way (like a museum!). It’s an easily overlooked aspect of the project, given that the link to the site is on the same page as the Torrent link, and deserves credit as being one of the better OCR mini-sites.
The first game gives us “Thunder Beam (Elec Man).” One of my personal favourite Mega Man songs, Morse arranges the song in a lounge style that strangely fits the track. The laid-back, slow tempo is the recurrent theme for the rest of the album which makes sense for a Robot Museum. The first three minutes of “Air Shooter (Air Man)” continues this same style, but with far too many extra instruments thrown in. Whereas “Thunder Beam” sticks with a lounge style, “Air Shooter” picks every instrument and runs to the bank with them. While I am not a fan of this practice (I personally think there are too many remixers who simply play the original tune with more noises over the top), I don’t have a vendetta against people who do it, as long as the song sounds good. Sadly, the bass in particular sounds far too ‘cheap’ and detracts from the song.
“Spark Shock (Spark Man)” gets back on track as it sticks with mostly the ‘extra’ instruments. When the album goes for a more minimal and ‘clean’ sound, the tracks sound their best. When the opposite occurs it just sounds like two songs playing at once. The piano breakdown is a nice touch here. “Dust Crusher (Dust Man)” is agreeable in this sense in that it’s much more minimal than the earlier tracks. The vocoder noises cheapen the effect, but the choice of instruments (the Japanese chime things from Akira, for example) make up for it.
Sounding like a long lost Streets of Rage track, “Power Stone (Stone Man)” starts with a shed-load of bass and is considerably more upbeat than the rest, to the point where I couldn’t hear the original much in the song (which is a good thing). It’s my personal favorite until it sort of fizzles out near the end and the song refuses to admit it finished thirty seconds ago. Next, “Yamato Spear (Yamato Man)” is probably Mega Man 6’s best song. Here, it’s the best example of the album trying to do too much at once. It gives you the feeling that Morse has loads of ideas and he’s trying to fit all of them into this trick. I also caught what is seemingly a reference to Aphex Twin’s “Windowlicker” at 2:53, although it doesn’t last long.
“Slash Claw (Slash Man)” takes on a samba style, making for a nice twist to an already mellow track, but the song does admittedly sound like one long intro after some of the more active tracks that appeared before. Morse’s “Astro Crush (Astro Man)” works in a tub-thumping moon base way, and is almost a remix of a remix given that the original sounds like something off of OCR to begin with.
The album finishes with “Data Base Accessed (Data Base).” The original is from Mega Man & Bass, so I had to re-listen to remember it. It’s even slower than the original and is similar to Morse’s previous Sonic 3 “Marble Garden Mix.” There’s actually very little tune to mix here, but it still manages to work.
To conclude… one of the reasons why I like Mega Man music so much is the beauty of the NES sound chip. It’s a nice sound and it’s just the sound. No trumpets, no bagpipes, just 8-bit noise. The majority of this album was like trying to eat a sandwich with too many ingredients. This is a shame, as the songs here that stick to just one simple idea sound really great, including “Data Base Accessed,” “Power Stone” and “Thunder Beam.” The rest? ‘MOAR NOISES’ is like the OCR equivalent to auto-tune.
Robot Museum? Sounds like ‘Robot Elevator’ to me.
Tags: Arrangements, Capcom, Joshua Morse, Mega Man, Music Reviews, OCR, OCRemix, Remixes, Reviews, The Robot Museum
I like how the editor’s notes are still at the end. 😛
A good first review, I think. Hope to see more from Maffew!
Great review and i really enjoyed the Astro Man theme in particular so thanks for bringing it to my attention!
Huh, yeah. This was NOT intended to be published in that form… or on top of the other review we published today. Sorry about that!
I personally really dig the entire album. Throw jazz in anything, and I’m pretty much guaranteed to love it though. Huge fan of Morse, and this is free, so no excuse not to check it out!
What an ignorant review. It really sounds like you have issues comprehending anything musical beyond 4 channels, and even then, I’d question your ability. I’d be very surprised if you listen to any jazz by choice.
Saying that you don’t like the “extra” instruments in a musical piece is akin to me saying that I don’t like the “extra” words in your review. There are times that the extra words are needed to convey a particular message, no? The same applies to music. To say that they “don’t work” because they don’t adhere to your credibility-free, narrow-minded musical taste is quite ignorant.
I’d expect ignorance like this from a 13-year-old kid on Digg or something, but not from an OSV-contributor. Just because a musical piece uses a form of jazz does *not* mean that it’s “elevator music”. Calling something elevator music is ignorant to begin with, seeing as how it’s not an actual genre of music. I could throw jazz chords on top of death metal and you’d still label it so. It really makes you look ignorant to the people who’ve studied jazz.
If your personal tastes are going to detract from the review, strongly consider passing on it in favor of not looking like a douche bag. Also, for god’s sake, do a little research on the genre/s at hand in the future, even if you *think* you know what you’re talking about. Though, in your case, to be safe, just assume that you don’t.
In summary, a really ignorant review. Pretty disappointed this got published on OSV, as I’m a regular reader, and have held a high opinion of the material put out in the past. This review sadly throws a wrench in that mix. 🙁
Wow, Joshua Morse is kind of a big baby boofuls.
“To conclude… one of the reasons why I like Mega Man music so much is the beauty of the NES sound chip. It’s a nice sound and it’s just the sound.”
That’s a fair statement, but it also applies to all NES music. Ever. It’s admitting a personal preference for the original in ALL situations regarding the NES, in which case, why on Earth would you be the one writing this review? It’s inserting an open admission of blanket bias right in plain sight and attempting to pass it off as journalism/criticism.
“The rest? ‘MOAR NOISES’ is like the OCR equivalent to auto-tune.”
Where to begin… Joshua Morse is one of hundreds of artists that contribute to OCR, and his style is very distinct. Your critique of ‘MOAR NOISES’ – which I assume was capitalized and misspelt as sort of a condescending insult, but instead comes off as ignorant since what you really MEANT was ‘MOAR INSTRUMENTZ’ – well, have you seen the film ‘Amadeus’? Do you remember the infamous ‘too many notes’ comment? Same thing.
Equating elaborate, layered arrangement – even if you legitimately prefer minimalism – to auto-tune, as a gimmick, makes very little sense. There are entire genres of music that rely on a certain degree of complexity; few, if any, truly rely on auto-tuned vocals.
Making generalized observations about 2000+ arrangements from 500+ ReMixers makes equally little sense in a review that is ostensibly about THIS particular album. OSV should really endeavor not to turn every last OC ReMix album review into a referendum on the entire site. Joshua Morse is his own artist with his own sound. We’re happy to make room for him and MANY others like him, with distinct voices, and to help promote their music. If you could stop this fashion of snide aside and focus on the album – this being an album review, not a site review – I think that’d be more professional. Heck, forget professional… it would have more integrity.
“Robot Museum? Sounds like ‘Robot Elevator’ to me.”
Seriously?
Jayson, how about getting reviewers who appreciate/understand jazz – on some level – to write the reviews on jazz albums?
Well I think when you present an album as an official OCR release, it’s reasonable to expect people to treat it as representative in some fashion.
That said, this review is lol. Joshua Morse is considered by his peers to be one of the most talented arrangers in the community BECAUSE he’s able to create such complex arrangements, and in mere days if not hours. Nothing wrong with good ol’ PB&J, but I’ll take a gourmet burger over that any time.
In some fashion, yes. It’s representative of what we think sounds awesome and is worth promoting and which meets our standards. That degree of connectivity & representation does not justify carte blanche statements about the entirety of OCR, as it compares to an album that – while awesome – is only the tip of a very large iceberg.
Also, omitted thought from previous comments: I would LOVE to be in an elevator that actually played anything remotely as funky as most of this album. I’d find excuses just to go between floors. I’d work on the 4th floor and pee on the 25th.
First off, I stand by everything published on this site.
Unfortunately this is the Internet, and people will often have opinions that do not coincide with your own. I personally disagree with what Matthew has to say about this album, but he’s entitled to his opinion. Maybe he could have been more descriptive about the elements he didn’t enjoy (he’s still learning), but the bottom line is he doesn’t like it, and berating him isn’t going to change his mind.
You have to consider who these remixes are written for. Maybe Matthew doesn’t like jazz. Does that matter? Does that disqualify him from writing about this release? Not at all. It’s written for fans of Mega Man music, and that’s what Matthew is. It’s fine that he doesn’t like it. Plenty of other people will.
Also regarding OCR, again, Matthew is entitled to his opinion, and this is an official release from the site, and he has every right to comment on the content there.
Anyway, the bottom line is that this commenting system is to promote discussion, and not to berate the staff for their opinions. If you can’t disagree and comment in a constructive manner from here on out, I will disable comments for this post.
Thanks.
“If you can’t disagree and comment in a constructive manner from here on out, I will disable comments for this post.”
Jayson, part of my point was that “‘MOAR NOISES’ is like the OCR equivalent to auto-tune.” is not a constructive (or particularly supported) comment itself. It sounds very much to me like you just set a double-standard: you’ll stand by anything published by anyone on OSV, no matter what, but all comments made on such articles have to be constructive, even if the review/criticism itself was not.
You used the “this is the Internet” defense and then in the very same post threatened to disable comments. Does that make any sense to you?
I love Mega Man music, and I love VG remixes, but I’m not even going to bother downloading this album because OCR consistently puts out incredibly “meh” productions.
Good point. But yeah, it makes sense to me.
How is this not promoting discussion? It’s OK for you to review releases but it’s not OK for us to review your reviews? Come on now, that’s just silly. 🙂
It’s perfectly fine if the kid doesn’t like the release. It’s also fine if he doesn’t like the genre. But it’s not fine for him to write a negative review because of an ignorant genre-bias. This paired with the blanket statements about OCR and the release itself makes *everyone* involved look bad.
Agreed. I think it’s important to recognize that even if you don’t like a genre or style, that others out there just might, and to be able to appreciate the music in that capacity. You should note, however, that he did have overwhelmingly positive things to say about half of the individual tracks, even if his conclusion is that he doesn’t like the release overall.
Generalizations are not a good idea, but I think we all agree that the content on OCR is pretty polarizing. There are diehard fans as well as people who despise it. I’m personally pretty indifferent, but despite the incredible depth of content there from every genre imaginable, I think it’s possible for somebody to not like the majority of what’s there for legitimate reasons that extend beyond, “I just don’t like remixes” or “I don’t like the website.”
My mom has told me I’m very important ever since I was a kid so I should say something here. I personally loved the release, and have always been a big fan of Morse. I also like OCR’s music output 8 out of 10 times, I just poke fun at the hardcore kids who kinda get uptight, but it’s always with a wink and honk and sloppy blowjob behind the barn where you coincidentally lost your virginity, but I didn’t know that when I dragged you behind there so I was like OMG really?! That’s sooooo funny!
But back to the article, well the kid has only written one review, and he didn’t like the album. It happens. If its ignorant, just ignore the review.
I don’t like your comment, so I’m going to ignore that too.
On that note, I think we need to implement a “like” system on OSV like Facebook has.
I know someone who lost his virginity in the pig-pen instead of the baaaaarn 😉
You said we’d never talk about that again, Audi.
Okay, Audi’s weighing in is basically the greatest thing ever.
A part of me is surprised/frustrated to see Morse coming out of the gate attacking the review for its ignorance. Not because Morse is necessarily wrong: just that he’s publicly defending his own work against a critic. Often, artists rely on their fans to do that work for them. Not saying it’s WRONG … just, I suppose, somewhat uncommon. Not unheard of. Just uncommon.
THAT SAID, I haven’t even listened to Robot Museum yet. I was just excited to see the release because I have really enjoyed Morse’s arrangements in the past (Bad Dudes Chronotorious arrangement of Black Omen is pimp!). So I want to listen to this. I doubt I’ll come to the same conclusions as Matthew, but I also wanted to throw my hat in the ring as a former editor of the site (left only due to time constraints and family reasons) and say I support OSV too and am glad this discussion is happening. *wink*
Most controversial OSV post ever.
Wow, this review changed quite a bit from the original version posted. I don’t necessarily agree with it because I’m a big fan of Morse’s stuff, but I’m not going to say Maffew shouldn’t write reviews. With some polish, he could be a great writer, and I do hope to see more from him in the future.
Josh, WHY YOU SO MAD BRO?
The Review is ignorant?
You forget one thing.
Every non musically inclined person is ignorant.
And if a fan of the original music can’t identify and enjoy an arrangement. Then it’s a failure.
LOL then why do a remix review if you only like the 8-bit original music?
Isn’t that a little controversial?
Also, it’s shameful to see someone in charge of a site like this doing such a lame defense of an error ha ha.
The review WAS fine until it started going the “cynical, sarcastic critic” way and let me tell you that’s an awful cliché.
But everyone is free to give their opinion… It’s the internet anyway no?
And I don’t think this review will really do something to OCR and Morse, they are in a freaking good standing and that won’t change =)
People coming over to attack someone’s opinion just because they don’t agree with it?
Stay classy OCR.
Music doesn’t even
need critics or connoisseurs;
it speaks for itself.
I’m downloading this album just to hear what all of the sobbing was about in the comments section.
Thanks for weeping loud enough to draw my attention, guys!
The tears that flooded the ages.
It’s good to see he hasn’t written any more reviews.