ReMix:Super Mario Bros. 2 "Melancholy Dreams" 3:10

By Vurez

sitar strings woodwinds dark indian middle-eastern world

Arranging the music of one song...

"Underground BGM"

Primary Game: Super Mario Bros. 2 (Nintendo , 1988, NES), music by Koji Kondo

Posted 2010-10-23, evaluated by djpretzel

My good friend, the Super Mario Bros. 2 Underground BGM! It's been too long! You were last ReMixed way back in 2002, and then what? Not a word. No phone calls, no emails, not even a Tweet. And now you show up at my door and expect to just walk right in, as if nothing had happened? I thought what we shared was real, that the inner beauty of our inter-noun Man/BGM love was built to last, not some recurring tryst made for cheap hotels and awkward pre-dawn walks of shame. I'm married now, and I won't have your homewrecking hooks and catchy refrains jeopardizing our bliss...

Ah shit, I can't stay mad at you. Vurez writes:

"I originally made this track around 2006, but I recently went back and fixed it up a bit. I was inspired by McVaffe's cool take on this theme, however, I wanted to make my version a little more ethnic sounding. Some of the main instruments include sitars, duduks, middle eastern fiddle, saz, and tablas."

That's quite the sordid assortment of Middle Eastern mayhem, from an instrumentation perspective, but it's in good hands with Don, who's shown he can master all manner of multicultural motifs with aplomb. Though short, this mix dresses the source up to the nines and makes it the believable soundtrack to a dusty, side-street bazaar, transporting Mario into a universe that sounds more like Prince of Persia. Speaking of, I finally saw the PoP movie, and it wasn't half bad - I guess the bar for video game movies has been set low enough that my expectations were quite measured, but I rather enjoyed it.

Though I can see this arrangement being dreamlike, to me it's more of a fever dream than anything "melancholy," as the title suggests; I can feel the heat waves rise up from the serpentine, hypnotizing rhythms and ephemeral melodic textures. Vurez always creates great atmospheres, but also never skimps on the melody & harmony (aka "the notes"), which I love - great treatment of a classic source, which makes me want the big N to resuscitate the unique Doki Doki Panic gameplay mechanics for an updated incarnation on the DS, 3DS, or Wii sometime soon... and have music like this.

― djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Crulex
on 2012-09-20 14:24:52
Ah, this mix makes me feel like Mario crawled into his favorite cave to smoke some opium and watch Peach bellydance.

Please.....tell me more. :-)

On a more serious note, I love more Middle Eartern feeling of this ReMix rather than the endless droning that it usually conjures up. It's amazing how something so damn repetitive can be made into a long and elaborated ReMix like this. The ending is pretty abrupt, but honestly, that's about the only issue I have with this one. As I expected from Vurez, this is a terrific piece.

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Level 99
on 2010-11-15 15:01:32

Ah, this mix makes me feel like Mario crawled into his favorite cave to smoke some opium and watch Peach bellydance.

Fantastic conversion of the source to the genre, it shows a lot of imagination. The original parts that are in there are great, and the instrumentation....gorgeous and sounding 100% authentic. Really really nice layering too, but I guess due to the nature of the style and speed of this I found myself zoning out a good bit. If anything, I would say the ending could have been improved slightly but it does work as is.

Top notch, my friend.

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Martin Penwald
on 2010-11-05 13:54:01

I agree with djp; it's been far too long since this source was last remixed. Classic tune.

The choice of instruments is pretty much perfect for this arrangement. Doesn't sound melancholic at all, though; more like music you'd hear in a game based on Arabian Nights, sneaking around a bustling market or the king's palace.

Good stuff.

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Master_Yoshi
on 2010-11-04 17:03:50

Some of the instruments could have been brought in a bit more subtly, at the 58 second mark I found myself quite jarred by the entrance something high pitch and sort of squeaky. And then it settled in and all was right with the world again.

This is quite charming though, awesome take on the source, probably my favourite of all the ones I've heard, actually!

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ProjectSpam
on 2010-10-31 11:16:19

Vurez, I always love your music and this one is no different.

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dfcentre
on 2010-10-31 09:39:31

Stellar arrangement. Very filmic. I was absorbed into an atmosphere where cobras and masked enemies are hidden around every turn. This piece oozes with quality. Great work Vurez!

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halc
on 2010-10-28 03:21:22

continued awesome work by Vurez. this is an excellent arrangement of a classic theme. :nicework:

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genius11433
on 2010-10-26 20:41:50

I expect nothing less from the guy who remixed was able to remix MM6's FlameMan music! (If anyone is reading this and doesn't have "Flaming Desert Sand", I highly recommend that you download it from vurez.com.)

I can see it now: Mario somewhere in the desert: "I cannot-a believe-a that such-a hot-a place-a exists on the planet-a Earth-a!"

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luhny
on 2010-10-26 05:56:22

I am amazed of that talent to take a short original tune and mix it into a song that is over 3 minutes without getting boring or too repetitive - which is displayed here in all its might.

Great choice of instruments too, it fits all well together. A very fun mix to listen to, thanks for sharing this.

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stkyle
on 2010-10-25 21:37:56

DJP, you make my day, half the fun is reading your write ups. Vurez, this is a great mix, totally different, I love it. The music video made me lol several times. If i could say more I would, great job - Imma gonna play some mario now :D

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Holy Land
on 2010-10-25 12:21:34

This mix is a little on the repetitive side, but I suppose that's unavoidable with this particular theme. It's meant to be hypnotic and moody.

What else can I say? Vurez is really talented and versatile.

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Lint
on 2010-10-24 22:55:19

It's a really mellow piece. I like the sort of subtle intensity going on throughout it. It also feels really transitory (like the underground theme does) rather than leading into a climax. It all just sort of fits together and keeps flowing - or I could have just had it on repeat for a little bit and can barely tell where it begins and ends (I think if I crossfaded it I would have no idea).

I would meditate to this music. And your video was really eerie to watch, but also kind of heroic. Mario's enemies are finally rising up to defeat him!

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meboeck
on 2010-10-24 22:54:59

I'm not a fan of this style, but I am still very impressed by how well you pulled it off. I love it when an artist can make me appreciate a style that's not my usual cup of tea.

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CC Ricers
on 2010-10-24 22:39:35

Ah, remember this so long ago on the WIP boards. To be honest the way I remember it didn't sound too far off in quality from what is posted here. I'm always surprised as to what people can do with small source material like this.

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Vurez
on 2010-10-24 14:46:28

Hey nice to see this finally got posted :) Glad to see people are enjoying it.

To anyone interested, I made a little music video for this. Here's the link:

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Super Mario Bros. 2 (Nintendo , 1988, NES)
Music by Koji Kondo
Songs:
"Underground BGM"

Tags (7)


Genre:
Mood:
Dark
Instrumentation:
Sitar,Strings,Woodwinds
Additional:
Regional > Indian
Regional > Middle Eastern
Regional > World

File Information


Name:
Super_Mario_Bros_2_Melancholy_Dreams_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
4,641,129 bytes
MD5:
9f95f5eeaac6e048beebda803460bc59
Bitrate:
191Kbps
Duration:
3:10

Promotion

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