A couple of hours in and it never really grabbed me, so that Gameboy pretty much became a Tetris machine (no regrets). And, like everyone in the world, I did a little bit of Pokemon Go at first but never actually understood what I was meant to be doing.
This vinyl, digital, tape and CD release comes to us from Firaga Records and Occult Cats Records. Firaga has a history in remix albums; a while back I reviewed RoBKTA's excellent Ridge Racer Infinity, which exhibited some lovely genre-hopping. There's not as much variety here, with an undercurrent of that mid-00s American EDM sound running through a lot of the album.
We kick off with RoboRob remixing Viridian Forest from Pokemon Red & Blue, a nice bouncy number that is one of the highlights of the album. Track 3 is a nice departure, with Mega Flare remixing Hall of Fame, also from Red & Blue, into a sped-up chiptune/synthwave hybrid that again will find its way onto my playlists.
It being the law that every game with a battle theme will see it remixed at one point, Stoobz brings us a new take on Red & Blue's version, with distorted synths over an 8-bitty break moving things along nicely. Side 1 ends with Team Skull Theme from Pokemon Sun & Moon getting a new treatment. This one starts nicely but then does that Skrillex-ish thing of halving the tempo for effect before a big, distorted bass drop. It's not bad, but the whole thing is a bit old now.
Side 2 starts with Lavender Town, remixed by T---, and honestly, this one commits a lot of the same bro step sins as Team Skull Theme, but more so. N's Castle is another one from RoboRob, with Kino, and has a good tech-housey breakbeat throughout with some nice bass and chiptune stylings, before a big cartoony buildup and drop that's just a lot of fun.
Flash forward a few years and now I have kids, and they like Pokemon, so my proper exposure has come later in life than most. One thing I have noticed is that the cartoon series has really good theme music. The original theme, The Journey Starts Today, Pokerap, all certified bangers. OK, maybe not the last one. So I was quite excited to get Pokemon Remixed to review.
This vinyl, digital, tape and CD release comes to us from Firaga Records and Occult Cats Records. Firaga has a history in remix albums; a while back I reviewed RoBKTA's excellent Ridge Racer Infinity, which exhibited some lovely genre-hopping. There's not as much variety here, with an undercurrent of that mid-00s American EDM sound running through a lot of the album.
We kick off with RoboRob remixing Viridian Forest from Pokemon Red & Blue, a nice bouncy number that is one of the highlights of the album. Track 3 is a nice departure, with Mega Flare remixing Hall of Fame, also from Red & Blue, into a sped-up chiptune/synthwave hybrid that again will find its way onto my playlists.
It being the law that every game with a battle theme will see it remixed at one point, Stoobz brings us a new take on Red & Blue's version, with distorted synths over an 8-bitty break moving things along nicely. Side 1 ends with Team Skull Theme from Pokemon Sun & Moon getting a new treatment. This one starts nicely but then does that Skrillex-ish thing of halving the tempo for effect before a big, distorted bass drop. It's not bad, but the whole thing is a bit old now.
Side 2 starts with Lavender Town, remixed by T---, and honestly, this one commits a lot of the same bro step sins as Team Skull Theme, but more so. N's Castle is another one from RoboRob, with Kino, and has a good tech-housey breakbeat throughout with some nice bass and chiptune stylings, before a big cartoony buildup and drop that's just a lot of fun.
Next up is my kids' favourite: Battle Elite Four from Sun & Moon, given a makeover by Celeri. This one is properly mental old-school boss fight music, the sort of thing Nobuo Uematsu used to do in the old Final Fantasy games when he really took the gloves off (see Necron's Theme from FFIX for a great example).
We finish up with Threeway Cuddle Fest's (I know) Mahalo Trail from Sun & Moon, a late-night dancefloor mover with cracking bass, and Lazer Kitten's excellent UK garage-tastic take on Pokemon Center from Red & Blue.
SUMMARY:
Coming in at $28 on black vinyl with a standard sleeve ($10 digital, $15 tape and CD, all on Firaga Records' Bandcamp page), this is a little bit pricey, although if you're a fan of the series and the sounds within then it's worth a look.
Coming in at $28 on black vinyl with a standard sleeve ($10 digital, $15 tape and CD, all on Firaga Records' Bandcamp page), this is a little bit pricey, although if you're a fan of the series and the sounds within then it's worth a look.
It's also on streaming services, so check it out there, but as always, the artists get way more from sales, so if you end up hammering it on Spotify then please remember to put your hand in your pocket.
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