ReMix: Super Mario Bros. 'Moisturor'
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- Game: Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo, 1985, NES)
- ReMixer(s): ilp0
- Composer(s): Koji Kondo
- Song(s): 'Swimming BGM'
- Posted: 2006-10-18, evaluated by djpretzel
I saw Aerosmith, Nine Inch Nails, The Strokes, and Steely Dan in concert this summer, and from a sheer musicianship perspective, nothing came close to touching Steely Dan. Those were also the cheapest tickets, as we paid $10 for lawn seating at Nissan. Every single one of the numerous instrumentalists were fantastic, and the music was written around their skills; it never felt like they were just trying to sound impressive, but rather that their abilities factored into the songs themselves. This is relevant because when I compared ilp0's first ReMix to Donald Fagen and company, for me it was a pretty big compliment. Well, I'm happy to report that Finn Ilari Nieminen loses none of that uniqueness and vitality in his second mix, a 3/4 rock ballad instrumental - of sorts. It's yet another arrangement of SMB, coming back to back with Neskvartetten's take on the main theme, but in this instance covers the wonderfully floating and serendipitous water music. The beauty of this arrangement isn't in the notes playing the melody, but the swimming, circumscribing accompaniment. Although, actually, the melody's pretty darn good, too; with a few key interpretive and bridging passages, Ilari has extended Kondo-san's lovely but brief melody into a four-minute piece. Brad Smith's shorter, acoustic guitar rendition from '02 is still charmingly succinct, but ilp0's managed to milk more length from the material, without any signs of stretching it thin; that's quite an accomplishment in and of itself. The guitar performances are great, but I really don't wanna undersell the piano here - it's not as dominant, sure, but the parts are lovely, flowing, and most importantly impeccably pertinent to the direction of the piece. It's the type of thing Steely Dan always excelled at, in my opinion, so the comparison still resonates for me, and I can't wait to see what ilp0 will cook up next.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the A prime example on how to handle a remix of a track known and loved for its simplicity. Not an easy thing to tamper with, but the payoff is brilliant.
- Marmiduke on April 25, 2009
I especially like how each phrase is played with slides down on the guitar, making it seem like the passage is sinking back into the water, only to be buoyed up again by the next one. It's like the musical version of the game's actual swimming mechanics.
The drums are varied and creative without becoming too busy, and there are lots of great panned elements that swirl around the song's core. The original B section was fantastic, and all of the arrangement ideas worked well.
Complete genius. Highly recommended.
- OA on April 29, 2008
At any rate, after listening to what you have to offer here... you need to start songwriting, if you haven't already. I mean, with the kind of theory knowledge and talent you display with just these three songs... it's mind-blowing, it really is. Keep up the great work.
P.S. I've just made it a life goal to jam with you.
- chthonic on March 11, 2007
That's not necessarily a bad thing...
- Abadoss on December 28, 2006
- KWarp on October 27, 2006
pu_freak wrote: I like the MacGyver ending :wink:
Stole the words right out of my mouth.
I had the biggest shit-eating grin the second this baby started rolling.
- MrBogus on October 23, 2006
- pu_freak on October 21, 2006
- lady zelda on October 20, 2006
This remix envoked the true potentials of Koji's water theme, and made no errors along the way. Excellent job.
- Bummerdude on October 20, 2006
- Master_Yoshi on October 19, 2006
Despite the mainly guitar lead in this song, the remix still keeps that light and bouncy feel the surce had as it bounds along into harder and softer areas. There's a decent amount of original work in here to help stretch out the remix some more and make it more interesting to listen to. This is one of those remixes that you could just picture being used as a song for something's credits to scroll by to.
As with almost all the remixes that I really like on this site, the production quality is high and everything goes together quite smoothly. I really like the parts during the sound where the guitar takes those three ascending notes of the main melody. It sounds kinda like Mario's swimming upward to the rhythm.
I'm quite happy to finally see an exceptional remix of this source tune. It's pretty well my favourite from the original game and to give it such a well-deserved reworking pleases me greatly.
Congrats to the remixer on putting together a fine arrangement indeed. I recommend this to everyone since it has a nice and unique feel to it. You've got to at least listen to it once.
- Pink on October 19, 2006
There's more remixes on his site, btw. (URL in the id3 tag).
- klm09 on October 19, 2006
- NuGeo on October 19, 2006
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