ReMix: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest 'Can't Stop the Hot-Head Bop'
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- Game: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (Nintendo, 1995, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): AMT
- Composer(s): David Wise
- Song(s): 'Hot-Head Bop (Hot-Head Hop)'
- Posted: 2010-12-17, evaluated by the judges
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!
Discussion: Latest 13 comments/reviews; view the 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.
- Daemos on April 2, 2012
Even considering those issues it's a really good mix, I love the funkat the beginning, and the rock portion close to the end.
- Daemos on April 2, 2012
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 :)
- Rexy on December 3, 2011
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 :)
- Rexy on December 3, 2011
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.
- Martin Penwald on January 6, 2011
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.
- Martin Penwald on January 6, 2011
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.
- Crulex on December 24, 2010
- Crulex on December 24, 2010
Really fantastic bass work! Definitely going on my new favorites
list for 2011.
- MechaFone on December 20, 2010
- MechaFone on December 20, 2010
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 :)
- DarkSim on December 20, 2010
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 :)
- DarkSim on December 20, 2010
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!
- Level 99 on December 19, 2010
- Level 99 on December 19, 2010
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.
- DragonAvenger on December 19, 2010
- DragonAvenger on December 19, 2010
Emunator;739017 wrote: 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.
- Master_Yoshi on December 19, 2010
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 :)
- WillRock on December 18, 2010
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 :)
- WillRock on December 18, 2010
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
- Emunator on December 18, 2010
- Emunator on December 18, 2010
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:
- halc on December 18, 2010
nice work! :nicework:
- halc on December 18, 2010
