OCR01249 - *YES* Donkey Kong Country 2 'From Within'

[djpretzel]

ReMixer name: Darangen
Real Name: Michael Boyd
Email: darangen@hotmail.com

Name of Game: Donkey Kong Country 2
Songs remixed: Mine Theme
URL:
My Comments:

I've always wanted to hear a good guitar arrangement of the Mine Theme from DKC2, but whenever I'd look I'd either be disappointed or find something thats note for note with the original. That was about a month ago.

Then last week my girlfriend and I decided it was best that we split up before we ruin the friendship we had before we were together, but no matter how or when you break up there is always that feeling of pain and sorrow. So I picked up my guitar and started playing around with writing a song, and sooner or later I got the basic foundation of the song written and recorded.

Then came the hardest part for me, writing the lyrics (which I still haven't been able to do). No, this isn't a vocal mix at all. Anyways, first I had to come up with a melody line, and I usually start with the chorus for that. I already had the solo (1:53-2:22) written and all the other musical parts except for a melody. So I started playing around on my guitar for a chorus melody so I could figure out what I wanted the chorus to sound like to make it easier to fill in the verses afterwards. While playing, I suddenly started playing what sounded VERY much like the Mines from DKC2. I didn't originally intend for this song to be a remix, but they just sounded so good together I couldn't resist, so I filled in the chorus with the Mine Theme and the verses with a call/answer type deal which I intended to be a male and female echo originally and in any other place that would've had vocals I put the Mine Theme with some new spins on it. I still plan on writing lyrics and doing what I originally intended for this song, but that will be later and for a different audience.

Hope you enjoy :)

Thanks for your time
-Michael 'Darangen' Boyd

[Protricity]

I think I heard this on the wip forum.

FINALLY! A good dkc2 remix on this site for once. Its about time.

YES

But yea, nothing too impressive, but at the same time, its a definate rearrangement, well done, well mastered, well played, and creative in several regards, and ofcourse my favorite atribute: good soloing.

[GrayLightning]

I love this, it reminds me of sting/police. Will comment more on this later. Without a question, YES.

[Liontamer]

http://www.alpha-ii.com/snesmusic/spcsets/dkq.rsn - "Kannon's Klaim" (dkq-s-01.spc)

I haven't listened to the source tune in a little while, but it really kicks ass. I also pimped this one back in early August for VG Frequency:

Darangen - Donkey Kong Country 2 "From Within" [VGMix2 #1988]
Here's a pretty solid rock mix of Dave Wise's mines theme for DKC2 by a name I've seen around VGMix but haven't had the opportunity to review much, Michael Boyd. As with many rock mixes, the percussion can be pretty straightforward and thus uninteresting, and I believe that's the case, but Darangen's electric guitar work here is alright, and the music here sets a somewhat despondent tone, which you'll understand more once you read the details Mike gave in his mix description. This one's faring very, very well over at VGMix, currently standing in Tier 1. A little inflated of a ranking? Frankly, yes. But this one has interesting ideas and makes a whole new piece out of the original, so it's a good first look at Darangen if you're unfamiliar with his stuff.
With that said, yeah, the percussion wasn't particularly engaging, but like Ari said, the arrangement here was pretty good and really gave the original a new dimension, especially considering that Mike remixed a section of the original (:35-:55 / 1:24-1:45) more promimently, while subtlely altering/referencing others (the countermelodic synth support from :15-:25). Not my cup of tea, personally, but very solid work regardless.

We might get into the same situation as Bladiator's recent rejection (http://www.ocremix.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=42774) where others may feel not enough of the original is being used here to fulfill the submissions standards, so I encourage all of you to compare with the source material, but, as I felt with Bladiator's mix, Daragen did a good job of taking a small section from the original and simply working within the framework of that. As long as I'm able to make tangible, significant enough connections to the source material, I'm willing to approve fairly liberal ideas like that.

YES

[Digital Coma]

FINALLY! A good dkc2 remix on this site for once. Its about time.
No shit, now stop submitting.

The Police fans are going to love this. Very cool to hear their influence in a mix. More of the original mine theme should have been used here to great effect; this could have easily reached a level of excellence with more rearrangement of the awesome theme, instead of simply incorporating only part of the melody and soloing for the rest of the song.

As it is, this is good. YES