Meet Alex Moukala, the bassist on a heroic quest to make Final Fantasy funky

Moukala is a composer who's determined to bring out the funk in the long-running RPG series

By Reid McCarter | July 19, 2021 | 5:30pm

Games Features Alex Moukala

Meet Alex Moukala, the bassist on a heroic quest to make Final Fantasy funky

A Vivi doll watches on, silently approving of the musical tribute. Screenshot: Warrior of Funk – Alex Moukala

Final Fantasy, the long-running RPG series, has featured a lot of good music over its many, many entries, but it wasn’t until musician Alex Moukala started to post funk-heavy remixes of its games’ soundtracks that these songs have finally, at long last, come into their own.

Here: Check out Moukala’s take on one of Final Fantasy X’s battle themes to see what we mean.

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Every essential element of Moukala’s videos is on display here. There’s a Final Fantasy IX Vivi doll serving as lone audience member. There’s a colorful shirt and some flashing lights. And, most importantly, there’s Moukala with a bass, playing the hell out of a Final Fantasy track.

His vision for X includes plenty of other music from the game, and it’s also wide-reaching enough to factor in non-instrumental memes.

On his journey through the Final Fantasy catalogue, Moukala has produced more remixes than we can cover here, but the best is probably his killer take on Final Fantasy VII’s operatic boss theme, “One-Winged Angel.” (The Vivi doll, in frame as always, is frozen in fear of this extra-intense encounter with the enemy.)

When he isn’t busy putting some extra backbone into Final Fantasy tracks, Moukala also creates other video game remixes in a similar style. (His Nier Replicant, Hades, and PlayStation One start-up sound videos are particularly good.)

In an effort to recruit others to his noble cause, Moukala doesn’t just show off his own remixes but devotes a bunch of time to creating YouTube music lessons and soundtrack analyses, too. This is important because every day new video games come out that must be funked up and, no matter how hyped up by the enervating power of a good bass line, he is only one man in the end. Join Moukala in his work and perhaps one day we’ll never have to hear an un-funked game track again.

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