C05 White Skies/Marshall Sir Kirby/Your Vibe/Wicked Child

Please choose one of the following:

130 - Project Majestic Mix Trance Album - White Skies
154 - Peach Mold - Marshall Sir Kirby
194 - Rouge Racer - Your Vibe (Rose Rouge Mix)
210 - K-Style Konami Arrange - Wicked Child


Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: 130 Project Majestic Mix Trance Album - White Skies
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: 154 Peach Mold - Marshall Sir Kirby
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: 194 - Rouge Racer - Your Vibe (Rose Rouge Mix)
Get the Flash Player to play this audio file: 210 - K-Style Konami Arrange - Wicked Child

ATTENTION: TOP NOM BIAS ALERT!!!!

Actually, this is a fairly respectable bracket, and Marshall Sir Kirby or Wicked Child could have merited a vote under different circumstances.

But this is easy. bLiNd is the pinnacle of trance/techno VGM arrangement in the western world, and this may be his apex: a highlight of The Trance Album and his career as a whole. White Skies, quite simply, is unparalleled from start to finish. I won't even waste time trying to describe its perfection; words would fail.

ROFL at "Marshall Sir Kirby". It's got some pretty generic breakbeat loops in there that I recognize, so that's always good. The sound/sample quality definitely took a hit here, though the energy was good and I could see how it was Kirby material with the woodwind melody. The execution was too haphazard, IMO.

"Your Vibe (Rose Rouge Mix)" has the freebie sax sample that DarkeSword used all the time. A bit thin in terms of the textures, but otherwise well put together. Great beat-driven jazzy flavor here with solid voice sampling. Not "amazing" level, but pretty strong, IMO. That being said, there are so many closed-minded people around here, that this track would have absolutely no chance. :-D

The synthy instrumentation of "Wicked Child" was pretty lame, IMO. It's different, and I'm not afraid of different, but I thought the textures created by the synth leads weren't particularly cohesive. Probably doesn't help that straightforward arranges of this theme are a dime a dozen since it's such a great source tune to begin with. The soloing, as with other arrangements of this one, was excellent, but the handling of the source was generic. When it used more creative liberty, it was good.

"White Skies" adapted the FF10 original to the trance genre well, while sounding very polished. Especially for a 6min+ track, that it was able to develop the theme and evolve was a pleasant surprise even though I know this track well regardless. Would have been very easy instead to just make a 3 minute track, loop it and call it a trance piece. Easy call on this with the R4 mix a good 2nd.

Hard vote in that I liked everything I heard here but didn't love any of it. Song selection is also varied. Marshal Sir Kirby is a low key off the wall, but still does enough to maybe stand out for it to be my favorite here. I know I'll be wasting my vote on it though, it has no chance to move on I don't think, but so be it.

: 194 - Rouge Racer - Your Vibe (Rose Rouge Mix)
: 130 - Project Majestic Mix Trance Album - White Skies
: 210 - K-Style Konami Arrange - Wicked Child
: 154 - Peach Mold - Marshall Sir Kirby

Marshal Sir Kirby is just way too awkward.

Wicked Child is a pretty straightforward cover, but the solos are really good. Nothing but love.

White Skies is a very nice bLiNd piece, but I'd be lying if I said he was close to my list of top remixers. Still, good build without too much repetition and some excellent breaks.

Looks like I should grab Rouge Racer, because Your Vibe (Rose Rouge Remix) is the second song from it that I've been impressed by. Could do with more variation in the beats throughout, but everything else is nicely constructed for the minimal groove. Digging the vocal samples as well.

So I was not that far off for liking what sounds like standard trance. White Skies was also quite interesting considering it's source material, it preserves some of the mood but still gave it a new direction. Your Vibe was very close.

130 - Project Majestic Mix Trance Album - White Skies
A trance arrangement of the Gagazet theme? Stranger things have happened. It holds together rather well for being, well, trance.

154 - Peach Mold - Marshall Sir Kirby
Not the standard cutsey-cutsey Kirby fare, which is refreshing. Some parts are quite nice, but it doesn't quite gel together as a cohesive listening experience.

194 - Rouge Racer - Your Vibe (Rose Rouge Mix)
Like the sax, hate the samples.

210 - K-Style Konami Arrange - Wicked Child
Some neat parts here, even if it's a bit loud for my taste.

Trance gets it here.

Project Majestic Mix Trance Album - White Skies
It's simply dance, quarter beat bass, and what have you, but for some terrifyingly strange reason, it sounds good >=O Simple and effective I guess? Not one for the genre haters.

Peach Mold - Marshall Sir Kirby
Ooh~ This almost reminds me of the version of the Metaknight Ship theme that's on the Super Smash Bros. Brawl website. Although, the sound sample quality is questionable, and it is somewhat messy throughout.

Rouge Racer - Your Vibe (Rose Rouge Mix)
Pretty groovy and slightly sultry. The bass beat accentuates it nicely.

K-Style Konami Arrange - Wicked Child
Standard rock fare.