ReMix: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest 'Castle Crescendo'
Download MP3
Play Preview
- Game: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (Nintendo, 1995, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): Sole Signal
- Composer(s): David Wise
- Song(s): 'DK Island Swing', 'K. Rool Returns (Title Theme)', 'Krook's March (Chain Link Chamber)', 'Mine Cart Madness'
- Posted: 2010-08-14, evaluated by djpretzel
- Album: Featured on Donkey Kong Country 2: Serious Monkey Business
Sole Signal writes:
"This represents my favorite source from the DKC2 soundtrack, which was happily available when I signed on to the DKC2 project. I had a blast putting this together, especially arranging the orchestral parts and the short nod to Jungle Hijinx. The low end saw a lot of attention, too, so owners of subs should find something to enjoy there. :)"
Hearing various artists talk about their contributions to Serious Monkey Business, one thing that strikes me is that a lot of people ended up arranging their personal favorite source from the soundtrack. I think that speaks to just how many standout compositions Mr. Wise threw down for this OST - it really is that good. Greg's blend of orchestral and electronica does right by both sides of the coin, with thick & heavy beats, a nasty synth bass, strings that dash and dart, winds, bells, and a nice rolling snare shuffle. Every patch gets used to its fullest as the arrangement oscillates between exposed and ensemble sections, half-tempo breakdowns and full-on, racing, beat-driven energetic flow. That pretty much says it all; great stuff from Sole Signal that added a lot to the album but also stands on its own as a fantastic track!
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the This may sound random but...a part of this mix reminds me of
MapleStory... O_O great job mixing orchestra and
electronica...mixed again with some rock lmao that's very unique
keep it up :)
- Codamadius on December 3, 2011
- Codamadius on December 3, 2011
The way this song progresses from a intro of melodic muscle into a
heavy beat driven beast is simply EPIC. It's almost as if this
whole thing is telling a story, and I am totally listening.
- mjwes on January 28, 2011
- mjwes on January 28, 2011
Oh my god, yes. Just... yes. This is Sole Signal's best work yet by
a wide margin (which is saying something because the rest of his
body of work is similarly amazing) thanks to the way he so adeptly
blends orchestral and electronic without ever missing a beat. A lot
of this has to do with the perfect source he chose and how he
adapted it to an arrangement that bounces back and forth between
styles and different ways of fusing the two styles. Each part of
the source seems perfectly suited for its role in the remix.
Really, nothing feels out of place or weak here, it's all
absolutely stellar, making for one of the most stunning and most
enjoyable songs on the whole project. Kudos on this Greg, you've
really outdone yourself this time! :-D
- Emunator on December 11, 2010
- Emunator on December 11, 2010
This mix just goes to show how amazing the DKC 2 Album turned out.
To take a dark song and make it even darker with a good beat is
amazing. The slow down was sweet and the way it builds back up
before hitting that cresendo is sick! Very enjoyable. Oh, BTW, this
is the first ReMix I've heard that was so good that someone else
made a mashup with it. It's alright, but between "Forgot about Dre"
and this, this ReMix is the real prize.
- Crulex on October 12, 2010
- Crulex on October 12, 2010
Word cannot describe how much I love this. It was outstanding, my
friend. Four thumbs up!
- Krypt222 on September 10, 2010
- Krypt222 on September 10, 2010
I loved this track, and Greg's effort on it - he scratched his
original approach to the source (which was substantial) and came up
with this.
The result is a unique fusion of orchestral & electronic. The combination of the beats with the strings really works wonders here.
- Bahamut on August 20, 2010
The result is a unique fusion of orchestral & electronic. The combination of the beats with the strings really works wonders here.
- Bahamut on August 20, 2010
That intro was deceiving, I was expecting something a bit more
faster paced, groovier, or maybe just... different. But this has a
nice factory feel to it, everything just clunks along at its own
pace, taking no shit from no... um... what would a factory take no
shit from?
Even the shift at 1:30 doesn't feel jarring, there is still that mechanical feel to it, even though things have loosened up and are now moving at full bore.
I love how you dress up your samples dude. They are really well layered, and the deficiencies in them are covered really nicely by some complimentary synth work.
My only gripe is that it feels a bit anti-climactic, the song just sort of falls off the end, rather than coming to a nice, well oiled stop. Still, that's not any form of major detraction from the work as a whole.
- Master_Yoshi on August 19, 2010
Even the shift at 1:30 doesn't feel jarring, there is still that mechanical feel to it, even though things have loosened up and are now moving at full bore.
I love how you dress up your samples dude. They are really well layered, and the deficiencies in them are covered really nicely by some complimentary synth work.
My only gripe is that it feels a bit anti-climactic, the song just sort of falls off the end, rather than coming to a nice, well oiled stop. Still, that's not any form of major detraction from the work as a whole.
- Master_Yoshi on August 19, 2010
Greg has the ability to make anything he does sound 'cool', and
this track is no exception. Usually some cool beats, some
orchestral hits and backing synths, and plenty of style go into the
mixing pot, and come out as a sophisticated and edgy song.
I really like the pacing and the interplay of parts on this one, and I recommend everyone to check it out.
- OA on August 16, 2010
I really like the pacing and the interplay of parts on this one, and I recommend everyone to check it out.
- OA on August 16, 2010
Well, I've already declared that Bramble Reprise is my fav track
from SeMoBu, but this is a close second. It captures the original
feel of the track perfectly while retaining that Sole Signal
feel.
I have to be honest here, I had no idea that Sole Signal WAS Audix; I thought it was some new guy who claimed it and made some badassery out of it. And then I found out about the name change, and I was even happier.
- Mirby on August 15, 2010
I have to be honest here, I had no idea that Sole Signal WAS Audix; I thought it was some new guy who claimed it and made some badassery out of it. And then I found out about the name change, and I was even happier.
- Mirby on August 15, 2010
I think this may be my favorite song from DKC2 as well, and this is
my favorite track from Greg so double plus. I love his style of
orchestral instrumentation, probably because of the lack of reverb
which makes it sound tighter and I'm assumin helps to blend in with
the electronic side of Greg. I love that contrast between the
orchestral parts from the electronic parts, at first it's kinda
slow but you know it's gonna build to somethin, then it does, a
nice electronic breakbeat section that's cohesive with the rest of
the track, overall outstanding piece, good shit sir.
- BlackPanther on August 15, 2010
- BlackPanther on August 15, 2010
I- I wish it was longer... That's not even a critique, but I do. I
think I may be a bit biased towards this mix, because I'm
automatically a fan of anything that combines orchestra with
rock/electronica, or really, anything more modern. It's these two
kinds of music with very different qualities that shouldn't really
blend, but when they do work together well... Yeah, it's pretty
fantastic.
- gildron on August 14, 2010
- gildron on August 14, 2010
Yeah, this was one of my absolute faves from the album too. This is
what I like in a remix - something that kind of keeps the original
vibe, but turns it up to 11. More often than not, the remixes where
Castlevania gets re-done as lounge piano or whatever just strike me
as novelties. I like to feel that you could take the remix and use
it to replace the original level music, and the level would still
work. This remix does that. It still sounds like a castle level. I
like that a lot.
- The Radical Sifu on August 14, 2010
- The Radical Sifu on August 14, 2010
I love everything about this mix. Probably my favorite mix on the
project.
Awesome work!
- Geoffrey Taucer on August 14, 2010
Awesome work!
- Geoffrey Taucer on August 14, 2010
This was also my fav track from DKC2, so I'm happy to see that it
made it =)
Enjoyed the track overall, I really liked the mood that the piece was heading for, meshing orchestra + more rock makes things all so much more epic, glad to see that it stayed true to the mood of the stage ^^
- Chris | Amaterasu on August 14, 2010
Enjoyed the track overall, I really liked the mood that the piece was heading for, meshing orchestra + more rock makes things all so much more epic, glad to see that it stayed true to the mood of the stage ^^
- Chris | Amaterasu on August 14, 2010
