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Kansai - Rococco (Original Mix)
This is one of the more underrated tunes I've heard in the past few months, and it's been rated pretty highly. It's a rare example of a highly beautiful melody that is also extremely unique and innovative. The result is a tune that takes a long, long time to get old.
I feel in love with this tune the first time I heard Armin drop it on ASOT. A fairly traditional but energetic bassline and some very innovative sound effects bring us into the tune nicely, then just before the one minute mark, we get another layer which brings a lot more energy to the tune. A nice chime sound effect begins shortly thereafter, which really starts to build anticipation. Then just after two minutes into the tune, we shift down the energy a bit to start preparing us for the main melody with a very simple, but pleasant memory that takes us into the breakdown, where we will first hear the brilliant melody of this highly beautiful and innovative track. The main melody is hard to adequately describe. It's powerfully emotional, like a cross between Solar Stone and Ferry Corsten. The melody itself is beautiful, but the instrumentation in which it is manifested is beautiful as well. As the climax begins, the melody shifts from momentary to constant, and sounds even better as the energetic bassline perfectly augments the powerful beauty of the melody.
This tune really has everything you could ask for in a trance production. It has clear, crisp sounds that work very well together in several layers. It has a main melody that is beautiful, and not the least bit cheesy. It has a bassline that makes you want to dance. It's truly a great piece of work from Kansai.
The Arbiter's Verdict: 10/10
Kansai - Roccoco (Kansai's Chilled Mix)
I wish more tunes had ambient mixes, especially if they were going to be this good. This mix brings in enough new sounds that it doesn't feel at all like a beatless version of the original. Because its almost pure ambient, it doesn't have the energy of the original, but it may in fact be a tad bit more beautiful.
The opening is a bit confusing, as it doesn't sound like the beginning of as chilled a song as that which is to come. In fact, I'd go so far as to say the opening is the worst part of this mix. But once we get about 40 seconds in, the beautiful atmosphere generated by the song, and the rythmic sound effects which are being repeated pulls you away from any doubts about what kind of tune you're listening to. The song doesn't really go through any classifiable phases, but it doesn't fade into pure redundancy either. It's really a great job of making a wonderful song fit a whole new genre perfectly.
The only thing I really missed in this mix was the continuous part of the melody in the climax of the original. It may have been out of place in an ambient mix, but after hearing the original and listening to this mix, it seemed like it didn't take it to quite the same level. Nevertheless, this will be in my chillout playlist for a long time.
The Arbiter's Verdict: 10/10
Kansai - Roccoco (Neo & Farina Remix)
This remix didn't really add much new to the track. For me, I usually don't like a remix better than the original unless it makes a lot of new innovations, because if it's too similar to the original it usually means that the remixer merely added elements that they thought would be nice without considering their effect on the continuity of the song as a whole.
I'm not sure that Neo & Farina made that mistake exactly. Because really, I like a lot of what they tried to do. The bassline was nothing new, which disappointed me a bit right off the bat, and the buildup seemed to be a bit cluttered with all the new sound effects that were added. The breakdown is nice, but tries to do too much, as the simpler breakdown of the original just seems to work better. They added a little swirling synth in the background of the climax, which I actually like a lot, but the volume of the main synth was lowered and it seems to have to compete with the other layers for attention, which is really a shame IMHO.
When you have a tune that did everything right to begin with, it's hard to remix because almost any change you make will end up disturbing some element of the song that previously made it great. Neo & Farina have made a very good tune. But after listening to the original, I don't really feel the need to have this one.
The Arbiter's Verdict: 7/10
Kansai - Roccoco (Fire & Ice Remix)
Fire & Ice did a good job of remixing a fairly hard to remix tune. They added a slightly harder touch to it without costing much in terms of making it less melodic. Still, this remix didn't really innovate, only changing a few elements of the original to better fit the Fire & Ice style. That's ok, I suppose, given that it was already a great tune, but I wish they would have done something different because I think this tune could have been the basis for a truly inspiring remix.
I like the new bassline, but the tune just doesn't have the same flow or beauty as the original, and seems to be lacking direction for most of the early part of the song. About 2 minutes in, a new sythn comes in the background which provides good atmosphere and starts to build some anticipation. Nothing much noteworthy happens after that, until the breakdown, which again has been overcomplicated IMO. The simplicity of the breakdown in the original highlighted the beauty and innovation of the melody. But this remix fails to do so to as great an extent. The main synth then kicks in over the hard bassline, and what I notice is that the bassline doesn't really sound like it was designed for this melody. I don't know, it could just be me, but I don't think there is any feeling of continuity between the two. Again, I think the lead synth is too quiet, and we lose some of the atmosphere it created in the original, although this isn't true to the same extent as in the Neo & Farina remix.
After listening to this, I almost feel like Fire & Ice didn't really give their best effort in crafting this remix, which is really sad, considering the material they had to work with. It is certainly a viable alternative to the original, if merely for variety, but it just doesn't seem to maintain the same level of emotion throughout the entire track.
The Arbiter's Verdict: 8/10
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