PenguinLover

First of all, let me just say I am deeply offended that you felt the need to question my profession as a music teacher. I am a fabulous teacher. Since 1997, I've facilitated general music instruction to hundreds of children. I’ve provided guidance, mentoring, and motivation to troublesome hip-hop-loving (or nowadays it seems to be dubstep-loving) hooligans who now appreciate the beauty of classical music (although I do tolerate and profess other styles). I’ve had students approach me and say “thank you” for correcting their terrible taste and setting them on a path to a better musical future. Flexstyle, I do have an appreciation for musical innovation, but not de-evolution. I stand by the opinion that dubstep is a hideous “genre” that does nothing except add noise to a perfectly acceptable piece of music. I just can’t see the musical basis in dubstep. Furthermore, I do have a sense of humor. But music is not a joke. It is to be admired, studied, and appreciated as an enjoyable part of human culture. The notion that I’m close-minded when it comes to music is simply ridiculous. I did admit, and will continue to admit, that some artists worked with the source very well. Monobrow’s “Exploration C” emphasizes the mood of “Cavern Caprice” whereas Archangel’s “Shenanigans Bananigans” orchestrates "Jungle Jitter" in an interesting manner. Ergosonic’s “Cliffside Clamber” is essentially a “Rockface Rumble” cover with neat Latin diversions. Other tracks, like “Low Life” (which I’m listening to right now) and “Krematoa Inferno” only had a fleeting connection to the original. “Krematoa” is what set off the sparks for my first post so to speak. “Mill Fever” had the perfect elements for an interesting jazz piece unlike anything else I’ve heard on OC ReMix: trumpets, trombones, saxophones, clarinets, double bass, drums, piano, jazz flutes, and perhaps xylophones and marimbas for the climax. Instead we got yet another hollow-sounding dubstep-induced piece with the only connection to the original being a repetitive melody (out of several from the original). OC ReMix delivered with Kong in Concert, and Serious Monkey Business was exceptional. Why did Double the Trouble have to get the short end of the stick is what I’m wondering? I mentioned previously I was disappointed with the vocals and lyrics in DKC3. As a vocalist I found the performances in Donkey Kong Country 2’s “Trapped in the Minds” to be quite orgasmic. I wish Geoffrey Taucer and friends would work with those production issues because it is most definitely my favorite ReMix. At any rate, it was a song DKC3 should’ve aspired to, and attempted to improve upon if at all possible. I’m shocked at the site owner himself responding to my comments in such an unprofessional way. I am not some sort of example of what a poster should not be; I should be looked upon as an example of valid criticism and my posts should be taken more seriously than the standard glowing praise from those who couldn’t tell an augmented chord from a diminished chord. I really am sorry if I hurt anyone’s feelings, but keep in mind this could be a learning experience and you could take my teachings as guidelines for what to do going forward. I’m positive that with a little more practice, and directors who are actually passionate about the music of DKC3, you guys can deliver a truly satisfying album worthy of the game it is based upon.

OC ReMix is a place I visit once in a while to check out the latest mixes, and it has always saddened me that DKC3 (my favorite DKC game) had always been shafted with only a couple tracks. That’s why I don’t think ANYTHING could have topped the excitement and shock I felt when I found out about this album. I loved Kong in Concert and Serious Monkey Business, so much that I downloaded this album immediately and set aside the whole day to dive into the world of Double the Trouble! I even registered on here a day ago hoping to talk about how much of a masterpiece the album is. ...and um.... I’m sorry, but I’m just really angry that OC ReMix did this, because many tracks completely stripped the souls of the originals, and it pains me to say this because I love OCR. I want to love this album too, but I can’t. I’m just saying my opinion. I respect the work put into this album, but you can tell that, for the most part, it’s just too amateurish and not up to par with what you’d expect from OC ReMix. Now, I don’t think the whole thing is like that. I liked Joe Elm (it’s very Crazy Calypso...y), Bash the Bastards!, Unfinished Business, Exploration C, Shenanigans, and Cliffside Clamber (which was AMAZING. I cried), these I’m keeping those on my playlist because they’re just like the originals. Good job, seriously. But others... let’s take the opening track, “Road to Double Trouble” for instance. The original intro fanfare was zany, a good way to emerge yourself in the game with some xylophone and trumpets. This mix completely takes that away and changes it into a “moody” original track...and not only did directors Emulator and Cody do this track, but producer Flexstyle helped out too? The entire staff couldn’t even tell that it didn’t sound anything like the original? If they haven’t even played DKC3 or listened to its music I honestly wouldn’t be surprised. Another good example is the “Funky’s Joint” track which starts out with.... a bong rip. This is a family game, so why taint it with drug references resembling the activities of some high school drop-out stoner? The other two albums didn’t have drug references, why start now? “Don’t Drink the Water” turns the beautiful riverside music into some generic, upbeat “club-dance” mix that doesn’t sound anything like the original. I’m wondering how this got past the developers, because I don’t hear the original at all here. I’m starting to see a trend here. “Banana Revolution (Live in Kongcert)”..is...um...interesting. Adding vocals in a video game remix can enhance the experience (I really liked the K. Rool death metal from DKC2 and I was anticipating “Enchanted” based on the preview). But adding druggy vocals (“Everything we know is gone / All that's left is just to move on,” None of it will matter in the end, wo-ah”) is enough for me to seriously consider having my ears stapled shut. Again, this is a family game. That and Cranky’s Showdown is the last track you’d imagine vocals on. “Deep Sea Lights” had promise and... it turned into dubstep. In my eyes, dubstep is the lowest form of “music” in the world, if it can even be considered music as that would be too much of a compliment. The artist Theophany evidently has talent, considering he matched the mood of “Water World” adequately before the wubbadubbawub elements came into play. I’m sorry man, I want to like this but I cannot because I’m not deaf. I *know* you can do better. And oh boy, this is just the first disc. Disc 2 was even worse honestly. Half of the time I wondered whether or not the actual remixes were replaced with scrapped original tracks. For the most part, this album was the biggest disappointment of my life and I can’t believe I downloaded this multi-hundred megabyte album expecting a masterpiece, when I personally think it could’ve been much better knowing DKC3’s awesome music. To Directors Emunator and Cody Wedel, instead of envisioning the DKC3 soundtrack in a “new” way like you seemingly intended, you should have taken some pointers from Kong in Concert and Serious Monkey Business. The latter one was the best album off the site, every track was just like the original including fan favorites like Bramble Scramble and Mining Melancholy (which had very good vocals that fit perfectly). I didn’t have to strain to recognize the original in any track like I did here. As someone who didn’t even own a GBA or know DKC3 had a new soundtrack, Discs 3 and 4 sounded droned out and slightly boring with a few good tracks spread throughout. I only added 4 to my playlist: All Mixxed Up, Cranky’s Mojo, Distant Dreams on Stormy Seas (which is the DKC theme, right?) and "The Paper Chase" (the "Hit me's" sounded corny and reeked of a bad rapper trying to mask bad music with generic catch phrases, but I kept it). No offense to the artists, some were pretty enjoyable but simply not on par with “Serious Monkey Business Master Race.” Hopefully my comments will be taken into serious consideration and OC ReMix makes a real DKC3 album sometime reasonably soon, not like the gargantuan wait for this disappointment. Thanks.