ReMix:Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest "Can't Stop the Hot-Head Bop" 4:07

By AMT

Arranging the music of one song...

"Hot-Head Bop (Hot-Head Hop)"

Primary Game: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (Nintendo , 1995, SNES), music by David Wise

Posted 2010-12-17, evaluated by the judges panel


Hey, 2010 still has time for ANOTHER DKC2 ReMix, right? This has certainly been the year of Diddy's Kong Quest; in addition to the numerous amazing Serious Monkey Business submissions, we've also gotten some great non-album mixes of the legendary OST. And here's another - AMT, who debuted in February of this year with a great Mega Man Zero 2 ReMix, sends in his follow-up:

"I've always loved the DKC2 soundtrack and being a bass player this song is one that really stood out to me. Bass is my first choice of instrument, so I figured I'd give this one a shot. I hope you enjoy it!"

Of course, Nicole, Starla, and M.J. did a great electronica vocal take on this theme that'll probably always be in the back of my head whenever I hear it, but Austin's rock/funk arrangement works really well, bass is front and center, and while it's initially fairly conservative, it funks out & gets a lot edgier in the second half. Judges cited some mixing issues; nothing bothered me much, although there are some (similarly nitpicky) timing issues on some elements that I noticed. Overall, I think the mix works better when it's rocking out and filling up the soundscape a bit more. Mattias writes:

"Groovy track! Like OA mentioned the mixing is a bit off and there are some minor tuning issues with the guitar. To me that's outshined by the groovy performance and good (but slightly conservative) personalization of the source though. I don't have much to add really. Overall a good track."

Pretty much; it's loose, funky, and instrumental, actually providing a nice contrast to the aforementioned SMB mix posted back in March. Solid stuff from Austin, providing a different take on one of the game's more popular songs!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 14 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Black_Doom
on 2014-06-01 02:04:05

I'm sure I hear Hidden Palace (Sonic Knuckles) cameo here. Anyway, great song! :smile:

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Daemos
on 2012-04-02 13:22:56

I like the funk for the first 2 min or so, but after that it seems like it just kinda dies off, almost as if it does not want to progress to the next part of the song. then the "rock" portion of the song comes in at 2:25. and then the song ends weak.

Even considering those issues it's a really good mix, I love the funkat the beginning, and the rock portion close to the end.

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Rexy
on 2011-12-03 18:31:38

I am pretty much feeling the bass love here, even within the original material; so I can understand how it ended up going for more of a funk approach. While I had indeed heard this source being done to death in the past, the arrangement done ended up taking it in a much fresher direction than what I'd normally expect with people that attempted it, complete with some quality live instruments that even bear a light Hendrix influence in a way. Very neat.

I'm gonna have to say though that you may need to watch your timing a big with the wah; sometimes it may end up coming a bit loose, particularly going past the 2 minute mark. Though, after hearing some of your later works I've heard that you've been making steady improvements to your writing, so it may not be too much of a big deal.

Generally I dig the direction, and let's hope to hear more bass-centric work (whether in this style or not) from your end Austin, whether solo or with the OC Plaid Muffins :)

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Martin Penwald
on 2011-01-06 12:50:57

First off, the bass is incredibly funky.

Don't really like the sound of the lead guitar coming in at 0:10, but that's personal preference.

The breakdown around the 2 minute mark is kinda boring; there's absolutely nothing that holds your attention in that section.

Fortunately, the remix picks up at 2:25 and becomes interesting once again; the climax is pretty sweet.

As quite a few posters before said, this is sort of a mixed bag. Looking forward to your future remixes, though.

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Crulex
on 2010-12-24 14:30:20

It's an impressive ReMix for sure. The funky bass and the stronger drums lead the way. The only nitpick I'd have is that it seemed to take a long time to get to that sweet 2:23 point of the mix where everything turns gold. I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I kinda felt that maybe a slight switch up was in order somewhere in there to keep interest before the climax. Still, great stuff on a good source and it really shows how good you are. I'm loving the RHCP vibe I get from it as well.

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MechaFone
on 2010-12-20 09:48:00

Really fantastic bass work! Definitely going on my new favorites list for 2011.

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DarkSim
on 2010-12-20 06:33:20

It's a song of two halves - I absolutely love it from 2:24; it feels like the song really finds its groove. This is probably intentional, but I just found that it needed to get to that point sooner and the track didn't hold my attention too well until then. The melody lead especially felt pretty weak in the beginning section.

Some high harmonics might have been nice in the section from 1:07-1:24, and like WillRock said, a solo could have been implemented somewhere in the middle. Solid percussion throughout though, nice work there.

Overall a mixed bag for me, will be nice to hear some more work from you as you improve :)

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Level 99
on 2010-12-19 11:03:24

AMT is ridiculous with his bass stuff. Funky bass work with very competent performances on the guitars driving this song forward. I can clearly hear the original parts inbetween the source tune sections, and to be honest it feels like you really had to try hard to hold back while making this. Like it is primed to explode but takes its time to get there, and I think it is better for it. Makes the latter half of the track that much more interesting, and your drum work has actually significantly improved from last hearing your MMZ2 track. Great to hear how you're constantly improving!

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DragonAvenger
on 2010-12-19 10:46:22

Nice bass work overall, really like some of those riffs near the beginning. Little on the conservative side, but there's definitely a lot of little details that add up here.

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Master_Yoshi
on 2010-12-19 04:41:56
Perhaps I'm just being picky, but I took more of an issue with the guitar tone than most of the judges, I felt it was a little bit underwhelming. Still, this song's not without its charm; it channels a pretty neat RHCP vibe, especially with the great bass performance that AMT always seems to excel at. Overall, to me, I feel like this has a lot of room for improvement but it's quite a fun little ditty nonetheless. Great to see this source getting more love too :-D

Haha, you've pretty much articulated my criticisms with the track better than I could. To me, it sounds "thin," like butter spread over too much bread. And, I've noticed that once I hear a vocal mix of any song, that tends to be rocking around the back of my head when I hear an instrumental.

Maybe that's the other part of this to me. I can hear the vocals in the back of my head, so when I hear the actual track, it sounds like something is missing.

Still, this was enjoyable, and while it's not going to top anyone's charts, it'll still entertain the masses.

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WillRock
on 2010-12-18 21:33:00

I found this to be enjoyable. Pretty sweet arrangement, can't comment on source usage tho, seeing as I don't know the source. I found the guitar tone to be a little too gritty for my tastes but whatever.

Nice bass playing, got boring in the middle where a guitar solo could have and perhaps should have gone, and and mixing was off in places, mainly the intro with the lead being buried by the rhythm slightly at 0:28 onwards along with the the two rhythm parts (the chords on one side, and the clean guitar melody on the other) sharing similar frequency ranges.

Good quality sounds tho, and overall well mixed, the mixing got better after the first minute imo.

Good stuff overall, seems to hit shaky ground at points with production and arrangement , but overall this is solid work, and i'm sure AMT is only going to improve with time :)

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Emunator
on 2010-12-18 21:18:02

Perhaps I'm just being picky, but I took more of an issue with the guitar tone than most of the judges, I felt it was a little bit underwhelming. Still, this song's not without its charm; it channels a pretty neat RHCP vibe, especially with the great bass performance that AMT always seems to excel at. Overall, to me, I feel like this has a lot of room for improvement but it's quite a fun little ditty nonetheless. Great to see this source getting more love too :-D

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halc
on 2010-12-18 15:22:35

glad to see this posted! i remember commenting on this a few times during the wip stages; it definitely came out well. i loved Nicole and co's take on this source (one of my favorites), and this is a great contrast to it in style.. happy to see it get some good love this year.

nice work! :nicework:

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djpretzel
on 2010-12-17 21:30:17

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (Nintendo , 1995, SNES)
Music by David Wise
Songs:
"Hot-Head Bop (Hot-Head Hop)"

Tags (2)


Genre:
Rock
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Electric Guitar
Additional:

File Information


Name:
Donkey_Kong_Country_2_Can't_Stop_the_Hot-Head_Bop_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
6,019,815 bytes
MD5:
1a93569f92b62f2a388c36b71d0ddef3
Bitrate:
192Kbps
Duration:
4:07

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