Talking about remixes: The World Ends with You, "Calling (1960s)"

I'm not sure why remixers haven't played around more with the sounds of different eras. We get a lot of piano, a good deal of chiptune nowadays, and the electric guitar and dance remixes are, of course, endless. Is it because so many games take place in these alternate fantasy realities, and the vocabulary of pop music seems just too mundane in comparison? The World Ends with You evades this question nicely by taking place in an alternate fantasy version of a real-world city, where trends are king and pop music forms the borders of the teen hero's universe.

The version of "Calling" on the TWEwY remix album doesn't at first seem like a dramatic departure from the original, but close attention reveals a really commanding about-face. The most obvious change thanks to the '60's treatment is the heavy beat stamped out in the foreground, which takes over in the sound mixing and shoves the vocals a bit to the backseat. It's somewhat overplayed, but it gives the song not only a slightly different rhythm but a grind, a strength & power that anchors the composition. While the original spirals up and up, "climbing the stairway to some new and unseen paradise," this remix is defiantly earthbound. Other elements emphasize this contrast: the raspy washboard sound behind the chorus; the girl-group backup and reverb on the vocals, sung with more force than finesse.

The second concession to the era is the loss or downplay of much of "Calling"'s trademark techy synth. (Most of what's left is the bit from :15 to :30, but it's overwhelmed by the beat; bold, period-appropriate sound takes over elsewhere.) This is big for "Calling," which could be considered the real main theme of TWEwY and whose use of synth accentuates the story's modern setting and its reflections on how everyday technology can facilitate or frustrate human connection. The synth in the original-recipe comp, though, also serves to give the song a certain airiness - that "climbing upward" feel again - and that would mesh poorly with the remix's change in direction. The original is positive and uplifting; the remix is assertive and aggressive. For what the composition loses in fragile wonder and aspiration, it gains a certain warmth and solidness, perhaps best embodied by the periodic punctuation of those smooth and exuberant backup vocals.

I find myself in listening to the 1960's "Calling" struck by how dramatically just a few elements of retro sound can take a song to such a different place. I use the words "assertive" and "aggressive," but I don't mean to say the remixed "Calling" is mean-spirited; I think it realizes the song's theme of engagement with the outside world in a different way, by emphasizing the force of the love out there, the power of emotion and the human tapestry. You don't make friends by being timid and reserved, the song says; this is a vibrant, dynamic world, and it demands bold, grand gestures.
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