ReMix: Castlevania 'Castlemania 2010'

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Castlevania

Did someone say WRESTLEMANIA 2010!?!

No, wait. Make that Castlemania 2010, my bad. While the prospect of large, sweaty men wrasslin' each other - platonically - would no doubt excite the ostensibly macho Larry Oji, we instead have Mr. Ben Briggs with some chippish Castlevania power-anthem mixage that adds in some Kirby source with an almost subliminal level of integration. chthonic writes:

"I had never really played a Castlevania game aside from a short experience with one of the GBA titles, but thanks to the Wii's Virtual Console, I was introduced to the very first title in the series and I was not disappointed. Aside from the solid gameplay and fairly impressive graphics, what most caught my attention was the fantastic chip soundtrack. After playing the game for about 30 minutes I turned the power off and made it my goal to obtain the OST and start my next solo remix. A month or so later, here it is. Try not to take it too seriously, but remember that I did put a large amount of effort into the production and arrangement. Hope you all love it, and it's good to be back."

Okay, on behalf of listeners everywhere, let me just thank Nintendo big time for the Virtual Console thing. While as a curmudgeonly old long-time emulation scener, I may scoff somewhat personally, there's NO denying that VC has brought the 8-bit classics - and their music - to the people. If that inspires mixes like this, it can't be wrong. Thumping, playful chip disco is the name of the game, and extensive use of filter sweeps, in and out, along with the time shift @ 3'07" throw some nice musical curveballs to change things up. Non-sequitir, but baseball metaphor reminds me: respects to the late, great Steinbrenner, definer of the modern Yankees success story. Of the mix, Vinnie writes:

"Feeling the groove bias pulling me in the direction of irrational YES... must fight....Nah, this is great stuff, rationally! Lots of fun little details thrown in, glued together with some massive compression. I really liked the weird transition to 6/8, didn't sound awkward to me, or maybe I mean that it sounded fine in the context of this song."

Deia adds:

"How you combined the two tracks is really commendable, since you did such a good job sewing the two tracks together. If I hadn't listened to the sources beforehand I would have not been able to tell you there were two different tracks in here, let alone from two different games/styles."

Too true, two true. Castlevania is a familiar source, and the melodies here are indeed familiar, but Ben has displaced them into something new, enjoyable, and fresh with both his arrangement and his production, and we can certainly dig that.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
I should have known better, but I still wasn't quite expecting that. I like these nice surprises. Very cool mixing Mt. DeDeDe and Wicked Child together in a cool little chip tune package. Good beat, great arrangement, very good ReMix indeed.

- Crulex on July 20, 2012
For some reason it never occurs to me to start mixes off with the beat in full swing, but whenever I listen to someone else's mix that does it I instantly keep it playing. Maybe I should try that myself. Anyway, I love the groove, the melodies, and the overall style of this track. It's sitting right underneath "Too Soon" from Ben Briggs' Attention Deficit EP and I think it's a great follow-on track to that. The transition to 6/8 I really enjoyed, I think it's really smooth and a nice change to finish. I actually changed to 6/8 for the final 2 bars in my Machinarium remix after listening to this quite a few times, so it's definitely been an influence.
My only gripe is that the filter seems to come up a little too quickly after it's swept down, but that's so small I feel a little bad for saying it, but there you go. SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT FOR NEXT TIME OK? Cheers :)

- DarkSim on December 4, 2011
OK.
(This text is here to fulfill character-count requirements.)

- blackspot on August 7, 2010
This is easily one of my favorite remixes of anything ever.

- Swann on August 3, 2010
Yeah, the intro owns; the phrase "Murder on the dancefloor" came to my mind when I listened to this remix for the first time.
Very nice arrangement. As anything chiptune(-y) by chthonic, it's just fun to listen to and to pick out all the elements that create the awesome soundscape.
The transition to 6/8 bothers me a little, but that's a rather minor complaint.

- Martin Penwald on August 3, 2010
This is a great fun tune, awesome to work to.
And I just want to say the intro is hilarious.

- Flare4War on July 26, 2010
Now this is a fun mix worth checking out.
*mostly the CV tribute's have been rock or symphony
This is a bit of a rarity, but defintely a fun tune.
*opening reminded me of some horror movie =D
**breakdowns are great too, who knew a cv mix could have a sound like this?

- Kadosho on July 20, 2010
Awesome stuff. Really like the ideas. Great to see more Wicked Child remixes.

- DjMystix on July 17, 2010
OA;697007 wrote: I was pretty hard on judging this, because I know what cthonic is capable of on a macro scale, but this is still a pretty awesome track. Great arrangement ideas with a lot of little mini-cameos of the themes, and a wide soundscape make this a pretty enjoyable 4 minutes. :-)

thanks andrew :)
but more importantly thanks for the criticism; it's more useful and in a way more motivating than just praise

- Benjamin Briggs on July 16, 2010
I was pretty hard on judging this, because I know what cthonic is capable of on a macro scale, but this is still a pretty awesome track. Great arrangement ideas with a lot of little mini-cameos of the themes, and a wide soundscape make this a pretty enjoyable 4 minutes. :-)

- OA on July 16, 2010
I'm liking this a lot - the DeDeDe theme really works well here, and I'm glad you made the connection. The only issue for me is the transition into 6/8 - it never sat well with me, and I can't really figure out why, I just don't like it very much. Regardless, this is still an excellent mix, and I totally agree about the Virtual Console thing. Keep up the great work!

- LuigiFan on July 15, 2010
Wow, that was quick!
Glad this is up so soon, I've got my next ReMix of the Week :D
Man, you know I love this one... YOU + CastleVania = NEEDS TO HAPPEN MORE OFTEN.
Top Stuff dude... love it.

- AkumajoBelmont on July 15, 2010
Even if you don't generally like this style of music, or cthonic's style of music, check this out - post haste! This song is just [b]pure fun[/b].
Also, is that a timbale? Yes it is. I can't believe djp didn't mention the rad timbale licks.

- Nobbynob Littlun on July 15, 2010
THIS REMIX IS AWESOME and now I wish I could play the game. Kirby is probably the last thing I would think to mix into Castlevania. It fits in there too well. (I think chthonic cheated XD)

- Pyrohazard on July 15, 2010
I would just like to note that this remix purposefully includes RAD TIMBALE LICKS for your health
thanks for the reviews everyone :)

- Benjamin Briggs on July 15, 2010