cyber beatnation 1st conclusion
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Album Title: cyber beatnation 1st conclusion |
| Record Label: beatnation Records |
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| Catalog No.: LC-1519 |
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| Release Date: December 4, 2006 |
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| Purchase: Buy at Amazon.co.jp |
Overview
cyber beatnation 1st conclusion is a remix album of songs from the Playstation 2 release of beatmania IIDX 12 HAPPY SKY, and it is one of the earlier releases of the beatnation Records label. A variety of regular BEMANI composers take their hand at remixing other artists’ tracks, while others offer extended versions of their own works. The album was bundled with the limited edition of the game’s release, and sold for a limited time separately. The album is rather diverse and mostly upbeat, making for a fun experience that showcases a lot of the strength of BEMANI artists, alongside some of their weaknesses.
Body
The album opens with two remixes of vocal tracks. Ryu☆’s “Under the Sky” is a happy hardcore remix of the popular track, leaving the vocals intact with a fairly standard instrumental as far as Nakahara’s work goes. Unfortunately it doesn’t get the second verse found in the BeForU II version of the song, instead getting an instrumental extension and a repeat of the chorus. It’s predictable as a Ryu☆ remix, but that also means it’s reasonably fun. PINK PONG and dj TAKA team up for a faster trance remix of “SPARK!”. Kanako Hoshino’s vocals do sound a tad rushed at the faster speed, and the track loses the more interesting points in the original instruments in favour of more typical trance work. I certainly don’t mind listening to this remix, but it isn’t quite as fun or layered as the original.
Later on DJ TECHNORCH remixes “SigSig”. He’s an interesting choice to take on kors k’s bubbly makina track, and at times TECHNORCH’s darker hardcore elements don’t quite seem to jive as well in the remix. But for the most part the remix works, though at times it seems a bit long. kors k remixes the infamous boss track “Mei”. He opens the song slowly with some new piano lines, light drums, and atmospheric synth. The track then picks up the pace leaning more toward drum’n’bass, building things up before stripping things down and focusing on the piano. Finally the original melody comes in recognizably, though it comes on a rather odd synth that I don’t think entirely fits the original melody or the style of the remix. It isn’t soon before Saito swaps out this synth for the piano for the remainder of the melody, which is clearly a much better choice. I’ll admit this was definitely not what I would have expected out of a kors k remix, and despite some missteps it feels fairly unique, and certainly grew on me after time.
The remainder of the album features extensions and full versions of tracks from HAPPY SKY, including some of the console version exclusives. DJ CHUCKY’s “BLUE MIRAGE” is one of these, a nu-style gabba track. The short game version is a solid track, but unfortunately the long edit is a copy-and-paste that highlights the repetitive aspects of the original in a terrible way. L.E.D.-G’s “LOVELY STORM” is a similar offender though it isn’t as noticeable and can still be enjoyed. There isn’t really anything to be found in the long version that isn’t in the short version, but there’s enough going on with the fun melody to keep the track up. DJ YOSHITAKA’s “SPRING RAIN (LLUVIA DE PRIMAVERA)” is another pointlessly extended track, but this one lacks the benefit of having a decent original. It has some solid ideas, but nothing really goes anywhere in the track.
The other extensions thankfully fare much better. Sota Fujimori’s “Andromeda” is a great track with some a catchy beat and plenty of the great synth work that we’ve come to expect from him. The extension admittedly doesn’t add much new, but it does have some nice breakdowns and builds partway through. ELEKTEL’s “MOON RACE” in an intriguing house track with a mix of folk and contemporary influences. The extension allows for some solo improv and new instruments, further filling out the already-busy arrangement. Zektbach’s “Blind Justice” gets a great new haunting introduction on top of what was already a strong and epic track with great instrumentation and good variety throughout (and later expanded on a bit more on The Epic of Zektbach -Ristaccia-). These tracks were already great as far as IIDX tracks go, and these full versions only improve on them.
Summary
Overall cyber beatnation 1st conclusion is a fairly solid but mixed bag of tracks, with some fresh experiences and others that are more typical fare. The remixes work well enough and are enjoyable but don’t really surpass the original tracks. Some of the extended tracks are quite good, adding meaningful sections to tracks that were already great, while others receive unnecessary lengthening to their detriment. Overall, the album is still pretty fun and energetic and should satisfy anyone who is able to get their hands on this limited album, as long as they don’t shell out too much for it.
Do you agree with the review and score? Let us know in the comments below!
3.5
Posted on June 9, 2015 by Christopher Huynh. Last modified on June 9, 2015.
About the Author
Christopher Huynh recently finished an undergraduate degree in Physics at McMaster University. He has some proficiency in singing, piano, organ, cello, and gaming. He hopes to continue exploring the vast world of music while sharing it with others however possible.
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