🐣 CHRONO TRIGGER OST — SECRET OF THE FOREST (LEON EDIT)

The slow and breezy original 'Secret of the Forest' is a track taken from SNES game Chrono Trigger, playing in Guardia Forest; it conjures the freshness of nature and its greenery, the dappled light and leaf shadows faintly swaying on the ground mirrored in the glistening arpeggio that chimes throughout, spreading at the same time with its ambivalent pattern of notes a veil of mystery; the piano midway is steady with jazz flavour, reflecting a sort of laid-back tranquillity that goes with chilled nature; there's wheeling high-pitched melody with lingering glissando that feels like birds swooping and singing. It's almost spiritual.

But there's this deep fragmented bass and a semblance of percussion that gives it this poised edge, like something's about to kick in—the dense forest as not only chilled hideaway for humans, but a place of vague looming danger, too. And that's where Leon comes in. Increasing the tempo of the track, this musicmaker introduces a robust boom-bap flavoured beat to the gleaming soundscape, picking out the distinct but sparse groove of the bassline and carving into something full-bodied with thudding kicks and abrasive snares; turntablist edits pockmark the new jogging-paced 'Secret of the Forest' for extra texture, the swing-beat breeziness matching the irresolute magic of the glittering florafauna conjured in the instrumental.

---

• 🔔 Little thing: the description for Leon's edit simply reads: items: strength capsule (2), shelter — Nice inventory~
• 🔔 The creator of the Chrono Trigger soundtrack, Yasunori Mitsuda, got the job after he told then-Square vice president Hironobu Sakaguchi that he would quit if he couldn't compose (he had worked on sound design for previous titles such as Final Fantasy V and Secret of Mana). Sakaguchi agreed, and Mitsuda ended up composing all 54 tracks for the Chrono Trigger OST, working so hard on it that he gave himself stomach ulcers.
• 🔔 For a masterpiece from Leon you should check out his album bird world, made especially for a game that had been imagined but never made; and it makes you think of that uncreated game and how it would be to play it. Listen to that splendidly fun soundtrack over on Leon's SoundCloud.

---

---

📠
☟ Leon Internet Presence ☟
soundcloud ⚘ bandcamp ⚘ twitter ⚘ instagram ⚘ spotify

---

---

LES BICYCLETTES DE BELSIZE SEBASTIAN (NAITSABES) [FREE DOWNLOAD]

I'm a little confused about where this song is coming from. But I did my best and I think I can explain it. So. Originally there was a song by a duo called Charlie and Paisley called 'Sebastian' in which they were backed by the band, Les Bicyclettes de Belsize Park. Les Bicyclettes de Belsize then practically remixed the song, which consisted of setting it to reverse and putting in some nice samples in the form of snippets of dialogue from classic British films.

I suppose it wasn't really that confusing in the end. But still, it's a lot easier to get your head around things when you write them down, don't you find? Well, for me, it helps.

The reverse quality to the song is what gives it an equal dosage of beauty and strangeness - the latter mainly in the reverse vocals that now say "Na-it-sabes..." instead of "Sebastian" as they do in the original. The beat, now in reverse, takes on the mantle of an off-beat trip-hop rhythm and, together with the winsome lilts of the instruments of the song, the whole thing turns into quite a life-affirming piece that - for me at least - calls to mind the Baz Luhrmann song 'Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)'. Although that song used to leave me a little depressed because it was literally taking you through the future of your life.

Thankfully, 'Sebastian (Naitsabes)' isn't quite as polemic as that "feel-good" diatribe. It's much more subtle, mainly heard in the resulting effect of the ambient backwards sounds and the samples. For instance, the samples I most connected were from Billy Liar - a Keith Waterhouse novel, play, then film: "It's the town. It's the people we know. I don't like knowing everybody - or becoming a part of things. Do you see what I mean?" Being from the homely-homely suburbs of Surrey, I can understand that.

Anyway, it's a well chosen set of samples, all from the old British "kitchen sink" dramas of the 1960s. Gives it an Englishness that makes me feel nostalgic. Nice, whimsically winsome (I've used that before and I'll used it again), unique sound. BTW their name comes from a 1968 British musical film of the same name.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like Les Bicyclettes de Belsize on Facebook
Listen to Les Bicyclettes de Belsize on Soundcloud
Hear more Les Bicyclettes de Belsize on Myspace
Follow Les Bicyclettes de Belsize on Twitter
Check Les Bicyclettes de Belsize on Tumblr
Watch Les Bicyclettes de Belsize on YouTube

2MORROWS VICTORY LIFT OFF (TROPICS EDIT)

When is a remix not a remix?

When it's an edit, or a rerub, rework, refix, or some other name - that's when. I'm sure there is some tiny particular detail of difference between all these different terms, and maybe I'm just stupid, but to be honest I kinda don't particularly care what you call it. But then again maybe I AM just stupid. You tell me.

In any case, I went straight from Gang Colours' 'Man Up Girl! Open For Business' mix to this. Chris Ward, aka Tropics, is friends with Will Ozanne, aka Gang Colours. It was a natural progression to check out what Mr Tropics was up to after I finished writing about GC. And he musta heard the the 'Open For Business' mix cause what I saw was that Tropics had done an edit of 'Lift Off' by 2morrows Victory, a song that features as the opening for said mix. It's a great song - a kind of spacey foray into rap via soulful 'n' beatless skater vibes.

That's where the Tropics edit changes things. Keeping that ambient drone on which the original drifted like a few rapscallions on a magic carpet, he pulls those mellow chords to where he wants them, chopping them where necessary. He gives legs to a song which before was in danger of floating away.

It's now endowed with a slightly glitchy beat that's at once busy and balanced, snares and claps battling for power as hi-hats spazz electrically behind them, hemming in the essential organs of the original with a beautiful bone structure. He takes sections of the original husky vocal, too, and loops them to great effect. Though the original is a very good song, Tropics' version of it might as well basically be a Tropics song - this also means a very good song. His fingerprints are all over it. Shuffling and bouncy without being obvious, taking care of the original samples but not letting them overpower his own additions, it's an exercise in harmony and it works very well indeed.

I was very happy to hear this because I was amazingly happy with Tropics' recent Home & Consonance EP. You should, if you haven't, probably go and listen to that.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
LikeTropics on Facebook
Tropics on SoundCloud
Tropics on Twitter
Tropics on Tumblr

Check the 2morrows Victory official site
Follow 2morrows Victory on Twitter

PARA ONE YOU TOO [FREE DOWNLOAD]

Just saw this on Twitter and had to write about it. Coming from co-founder of Marble records Jean Baptiste de Laubier, aka Para One, it is a wonderful song that incorporates elements of classic dance numbers to create a pretty euphoric vibe. It's called 'You Too' and you too should listen to it most definitely.

It's come just at the right time of year, especially taking into consideration the recent VERY NICE WEATHER that we're seeing in the South of England (yeah, we can say that too y'know, just like South of France... kind of) - that's because it's a pretty much a summer anthem. There's so much in it that just screams "fun in the sun", a Balearic atmosphere that only the most hardy detractors of dance music are immune to - in these instances it's like using Earthquake against a Flying-type Pokémon: not gonna work. But that's them. To each their own.

In essence, 'You Too' is basically a live edit of Para One's 'You' that he has been slipping into his late night DJ sets recently. The original bubbled along with soft watery synth, produced with cutting attention. 'You Too', however, goes a little differently.

Keeping the original chord progression of the original, the song begins with stuttering synth supported by a skipping beat and booming bass that soon give way to house piano chords. What a nostalgic feeling these evoke, even though I am not old enough to remember when this kind of sound was new. These are not the lifeforce of the song, however: warm synth rises up out of the bashing rhythm of the piano. The twisted vocal sample from the original still comes back, having pride of place when the atmosphere in the song plateaus out as well as before its mountainous build-ups.

It continues like this, Para One altering the dynamics of the song throughout to provide a luminary experience for all who hear the song, chilling them out one minute before getting them to jump on their feet - all without telling them to do so. It's the kind of song that a lot of people will say belongs only in clubs and that's it, but I can already imagine hearing this in the sweltering streets, in gardens fogged with barbecue smoke and the glint of the sun through half-frozen beer bottles. It's for summer.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Listen to Para One on SoundCloud
Like Para One on Facebook
Learn about Para One on Wikipedia!
Hear some Para One on Myspace
Follow Para One on Twitter
VisitPara One's official site