No “E” needed in FZ: Side F (Review)

Editor’s Note: Hey everyone, Patrick here. After announcing that OSV would be going into a state of inactivity, I got an influx of support in the mailbox, including a lot of requests to write for the site. No one willing to take up the mantle of managing editor, mind you, but still plenty of great people with plenty to offer.

One of the people to write in was British composer/arranger Richard McDonald. I was excited by his passion, his thoughtfulness, and his taste in music.

So without further ado, I present to you Richard’s first of, hopefully, many articles on OSV. What we have here is a brief review of “FZ: Side F” (the first of two arrange albums for FEZ). Enjoy it, after the jump!

The original FEZ soundtrack, by Rich “Disasterpeace” Vreeland, took the indie gaming scene by storm (as did the game itself). An amazing game with a soundtrack that complemented it perfectly, and stands as amazing music in its own right. So, imagine my delight to hear that not one, but two remix albums based on the original soundtrack were soon going to be released via Joypad Records. The first, FZ: Side F … (okay, weird name but I’ll go with it), was released on the 20th April and I bought a digital download of it straight away.

My personal idea of a good remix is to take the original and completely make a new song out of it: or, conversely, to copy the original and completely re-orchestrate it (this is why I like orchestral game concerts so much). FZ: Side F (still not rolling off the tongue) is a mixture of both these aspects. It’s a remix album from an eclectic mix of high-profile composers (C418 of Minecraft fame and Hyperduck Soundworks, who are handling sound design for Mojang’s new Scrolls game) and includes many styles of music from 8-bit to rock and to Jazz to pop. As for the tracks themselves, Disasterpeace chips in with a couple of remixes of his own, both based on “Sync” from the original soundtrack. Actually this song is remixed several times, in the form of downtempo/lo-fi (Synchrosynct) and 80’s electronica, with echoes of funk (The Clock Master (Sync/Majesty)). This is not surprising, since it’s an amazing track and one of my favourites, and is included in this album in its original form (which you won’t find, strangely, on the OST).

Other standout tracks include the mellow jazzy groove of “The One-Two Quickstep Lighthouse Keeper” by Hyperduck Soundworks, which is a perfect re-orchestrated version of “Beacon,” and “Flow” by Stemage, which is a complete copy and paste of the original song but with electric guitars and acoustic percussion instead of synth and 8-bit, with amazing effect. So to sum up, as you’d expect from a remix album from various artists, you get a lot of different styles. Some you will love this album, and some you won’t. But the quality is high throughout with some top-notch names behind it. If you liked the original soundtrack (and who doesn’t), you will find something here you will like. Anyway, go listen to the whole thing on Bandcamp, it’s free to stream and you can also pick and choose the tracks you want to download, so there is no excuse! Purchase can be made via Bandcamp or Loudr.

A review of FZ: Side Z (I see a naming pattern here) will be coming soon.