ReMix: Wario Land II 'Syrup's Secret Stash'

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Wario Land II

Our first Wario Land 2 ReMix arrives courtesy newcomer Max Coburn, alias Maxo, who in his resubmission email wrote:

"Ok, so I finally resubmitted this (now that I have time over the break), and a changed some crucial elements. I made the drums a lot thicker and more lifelike, and added a bunch more beats in place of the old one. I also fattened the bass and played it through (didn't really loop anything). I fixed the general volume issues, and from what I can tell there's no clipping. It seems to have more energy, and variety then the old one. I'm pretty confident in this one, looking forward to what you have to say about it."

Apparently such confidence was well-founded; I know I sound like a broken record, but it's nice to see the resubmission process successfully result in an improved piece of music being posted. This reminds me to a large extent of Yuzo Koshiro's sound/compositional style; the intro in particular evokes Streets of Rage, while the funky breakdown that constitutes the majority of the arrangement might have been comfortable in Revenge of Shinobi contexts. There's soundtrack, jazz, funk, prog, and lounge elements, with electric piano (love the cross-panning), organ, distorted electric and clean wah guitar taking lead on some funkalicious solos. The brass stabs used aren't breaking the is-it-live-or-is-it-memorex bank on realism, but that sorta adds to the kitschy, solo-laden, indulgent methodology. Larry writes:

"The sample quality was spotty in some places and the textures were a lil' rough around the edges, but the arrangement is gold and the sounds here were used pretty well. Still some things I'd touch up, sure, but this piece is on solid ground baby. Really glad to receive a resub of this one, Max. The extra effort was well worth it, and I'm glad you took the criticism of the last sub in stride and came back with an even stronger result. Looking forward to more subs in the future, bro."

With Jesse adding:

"This track is incredibly tight. Crisp production; excellent use of the stereo field, effects processing, and what I will fondly refer to as "moodular delivery." Some of the ducklike samples in the middle, and the guitar are kind of in questionable taste, but it's nothing bad enough to bring the mix below the line. Arrangement is lean and effective. No fat to trim. The track as a whole is well put-together."

Great and unique first sub from Maxo, showing quite versatile and creative arranging concepts and production that takes some risks and is overall rather keen; very interested in seeing what's next.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
Oh hey now...this is...mmmm yeahhhh. Very sexy.
Normally I'm not a fan of wild panning on the lead, but it works in context here. Plus the lead performance is so awesome that it would take a whole lot to ruin it. Great use of FX to keep everything dynamic. Love the drum programming too - clean, simple, and tight.
Late 70's sitcom background music ftw!

- Harmony on February 3, 2009
Really awesome funkness here. Don't know the source, but I can tell this is a great adaption. Really makes me think of Wario, too. Great work.

- DragonAvenger on September 17, 2008
Absolutely smashing!

- Txai on June 7, 2008
HEEEEELL YEAAAAH.
Now this mix is GROOVY. Funktastic, even. I'm unfamiliar with the source, so I'm not sure how well the interpretation is, but that does not stop this from being so funky. One of my new favorite mixes, for sure.

- Jaybell on July 31, 2007
Excellent. Some tasty sexy funk here, with a bit a prog flavor. Good source tune choice as well.
The bossanova groove solo is absolutely sweet.

- Mr. Fox on April 21, 2007
This song just made my day. Kudos, to you sir, for that is a difficult task! Thank you sir, may I have another?

- suzumebachi on April 16, 2007
Very funky blend of Funk, Acid Jazz, and Electronica! 9/10
-1 for too much wah/phase/flange.
The first bit reminded me of Super Metriod, but then the quirky feel of Warioness came into play at 1:20.
This is excellent. Perfect for dancing with that conservative Mennonite girl you have a thing for...oh wait, do Mennonites even dance?

- A-RoN on April 14, 2007
Dude.
Rad.
Great work! Love this arrangement. Keep 'em comin' - your style is fresh and so clean clean.

- Mustin on April 7, 2007
Wow... I didn't know it was possible, but I guess you can make great remixes using Garageband. Yeah, I can tell with the style and instruments that its GB. To tell you the truth, this remix has given me new light, and I'm gonna go back to my GB and try and make one as good as this.

- mjanzen128 on April 7, 2007
One of those mixes I feel I need to comment on. Tasty work here Maxo, the instrumentation and interpretation is prime. Full of character. A+

- Less Ashamed Of Self on April 5, 2007
funkalicious. wario is a pimp, and this is fair homage to his game he be spittin'.

- big giant circles on April 5, 2007
I'm diggin the funkification here, a lot of variety and some great choices in sound. It reminds me of some of the earlier OCR style with a stronger funk feel, but updated qualitywise in the production area.
Kick ass work. :)

- OA on April 5, 2007
First of all: YES - thank you for at last providing me with Wario goodness - maybe someday I can follow suit. Second - this is a pretty badass interpretation of this song. I never would have expected this style to be applied to it, especially because the original song, while awesome, was pretty bizarre. Anyway, other than your awesome game and style choices, you've actually got a lot of cool stuff packed into this groovy little tune. Your solos are a nice highlight, which reminds me - I think my favorite part of your arrangement was at 3:18 when those "melody chords" come in overlayed on your solo - took me by surprise, right at a time when I was wondering how you'd work the melody back in into the groove.
This is really difficult source material, but you took it and ran with it.
Awesomeness abound.

- Antipode on April 5, 2007
The intro reminds me a lot of the "Burg Lost" theme from the original Lunar. Once this gets going, it's incredible. The wah guitar is utterly pimp. This whole track evokes the 70s - as DJP said, running the gamut from funk to prog and hitting various other genres along the way. It's just bursting with creativity and ideas and a complete blast to listen to. A couple of the pad and arp sweeps hit piercing levels, and the volume of the mix as a whole feels inconsistent, but it's not enough to detract from the overall badassedness of the mix. This is a great piece of music.

- Villainelle on April 5, 2007
What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

- djpretzel on April 5, 2007

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