Rambling Fox

A selection of Sonic music remixes and reworks (with no AI)

sonicdj

I've been in a bit of Sonic hyperfixation mood for the past... a bit and as a music-oriented fellow, that's meant spending a lot of time with the music of the series. It's also meant that I've been keeping my eye out for various types of reinterpretations of the series' music, to hear these familiar songs in interesting and exciting new ways. This habit actually goes way, way back but thanks to the advantages of modern recording processes and the ease of sharing your art to the world (plus the Sonic series being cool again in the cynical mainstream eyes), the modern internet is practically exploding with various tributes, remix albums, etc. The problem is, I've started to get really frustrated with getting AI "covers" shoved in front of me at every goddamn opportunity. The Youtube algorithm is particularly bad about this - I get recommended a lot of Sonic music in my YT recommendations, and nearly every week I spot a brand new video or a channel that seems to have made it a point to churn out AI-generated "remixes" of the songs to unsuspecting fans (hi to all those "Sonic City Pop Remix" videos). Some of this has even infiltrated places like Bandcamp, and quite often these "artists" go out of their way to downplay or hide the involvement of GenAI.

So I decided to create this vetted list of some of the Sonic remixes and reworks I've discovered over the years, to provide a handy-dandy summary of some particularly neat reinterpretations that others might find useful as well, with no trace of GenAI (based on my own research - if someone wants to point out I'm wrong, please do say so). This is obviously heavily biased towards my personal tastes and so it's a very limited scope, but hopefully some might find it useful. I've also limited this to fan works alone rather than any official remix releases, or albums from people officially adjacent to the series and who've covered songs from Sonic's history on the side.

Let's chill

Let's start with some chill lo-fi beats to eat chili dogs to, because that's the side tract I've been on for the past few months. There is a whole wealth of chill-hop Sonic remixes out there (and a 24/7 Youtube stream dedicated for them, but it's more difficult to find neat compilations or albums dedicated for them. The video game chill-hop enterpreneur Lost:Tree has done a couple of short ones, of which Video Game Lo-Fi: Sonic in particular is a short and sweet selection with some lovely cuts. Particularly dig the remixes of "Friends" and "Dreams of an Absolution".

Another mainstay of the Sonic Chill-hop "scene" is Hotline Sehwani, who's basically made video game lo-fi remixes their day job. A lot of it is found as random drops and singles across the board and can't be found on digital distros (fit for the streaming age I guess), but the Dozes in the Dusk Sonic Adventure 2 remix album is one of the few actual albums of his. While the main attraction are the various downtempo reworks, it's got a bit of a range to it and goes through dark electro, synth wave and - sigh - generic VG metal too. Worth a check regardless.

If you want to get really chill and cosy, Super Piano 64 has a long (nearly 2 hours) album full of beautiful piano instrumental versions of various songs across the series' history. I'm a sucker for solo piano compositions and I've been addicted to Sonic & Sleep since discovering it: the arrangements are gorgeous, wistful and peaceful. Everything one could ask for when it comes to solo piano arrangements.

One of last year's surprise hits in the video game music hipster circles was Funk Fiction's Sonic & Chill - as its name alludes the album has got a relaxing, nostalgic atmosphere to it, but underneath those chillwave synth pads it's powered by tightly funky grooves and snappy rhythms. A little bit city-pop, a little bit future funk, yet still relaxed - it's a hypnotic listen. This year a sequel album came out from the same label, but this time around Sonic & Chill 2 is headed by Pete Frogs and offers a bit more of a definitive dance vibe to it, while still retaining that haziness that made the first S&C album so memorable; the remix of "Ice Cap Zone" is particularly banging.

One more shout-out to the short and sweet Sonic Lofia by Probe, which has the lo-fi aesthetic but with a bit more pep in its step. Why I'm bringing this up specifically is the fantastic "Fist Bump With Friends", which mashes together said songs and it works immaculately. When the drop transition from "Friends" to "Fist Bump" happens, you're in hedgehog heaven.

Let's rock

If you're looking for something a little more high energy, and you're not averse to get your 90s scenester clothes on, Skanic the Hedgehog is exactly what it says on the label. I'm a little hit and miss on the vocalists throughout the various artists style releases, but the arrangements are a lot of fun throughout; and to be honest at least 50% of the reason I'm mentioning this is because a ska take on Crisis City really shouldn't work but it really, really does.

Out of the many straightforward tributes out there, I want to highlight the Live and Learn SA2 tribute album duology; the former focusing on the hero side with "softer" arrangements, while the latter goes through the dark side score with an emphasis on heavier guitars and louder arrangements. They are by and large mostly faithful re-arrangements of selected parts of the original score, but they feature some excellent performances throughout and if you're looking for a more live, rock feel into your Sonic fan re-interpretations instead of the usual synth-based vibes, this might tick the box. I don't come to these often, but sometimes it's just nice to hear a good earnest cover, right?

I would also be amiss not to mention (promote) my friends, as I have a number of cool people in my social circles who are both musicians and hedgehog appreciators. They frequently collaborate on a number of covers and e.g. this 15-minute Shadow the Hedgehog medley released to celebrate the Year of Shadow, headed by Regdeh and Damian and featuring many more talented peeps, is particularly good. There's a lot more on that Bandcamp as well to dig into and it's super worth the check if you like some good ol' RAWK covers.

OverClocked Remix

If you are a fan of video game music, and you are a bit of an old internet-dwelling millennial, OverClocked Remix (OC Remix) is likely a familiar name to you. OC Remix has served as a hub for video game remixes since the early 2000s, fostering a community of musicians eager to reinterpret their favourite songs in a myriad of creative ways and providing a supportive, inspiring atmosphere with theme competitions, constructive feedback, and of course the front of the site itself where all these remixes are stored. There's a light amount of curation going on as well so not just everything gets officially uploaded, but the breadth of style and genre is immense. Fun fact: Bentley Jones started out their path in music in OC Remix under LeeBro!

I've been collecting OC Remixes since the early 2000s and have a handful of DIY compilations under various themes that have become a listening staple over the years. Underneath is a list of some of my favourite Sonic reinterpretations, but I highly urge anyone interested to dive deeper into OC Remix to discover more - after all, this is only my taste!

In order of games and then alphabetized by artist, as that just seems to make some sense.

OC Remix have also done a number of concept albums over the years, including a good few dedicated to the Sonic series. My particular favourites are the series' 25th anniversary project Speeding Towards Adventure and the Sonic 1 celebration project The Sound of Speed. And who could forget & Knuckles...

////

If you know of any other neat Sonic cover/remix projects, always excited to get recommendations - leave a comment in the box!

#music #sonical