ReMix: Mega Man 9 'Smooth As Honey'

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Mega Man 9: Back in BlueMega Man 9

And now for something completely different... our Back in Blue flood continues with the debut of Sir Jordanius, and I gotta say... WTF? Where you been all our life, man? This arrangement comes entirely out of left field and offers something quite unique: a funk/disco jazz vocal. And NOT a shy one, either. This is the type of vocal that allows zero tolerance for uncertainty, hesitation, or half-heartedness - you gotta sell it, regardless of your abilities. The ReMixer may not have the sheer vocal prowess of someone like Terence Trent D'Arby, whose music the arrangement at times evokes, but DAMN if he doesn't sell it, hook, line, and synthesizer. The barrier to entry on a concept like this is ridiculously high, and none of us are claiming the execution is perfect - there are some timing issues & looseness on the instrumentation, and performing/mixing this type of vocal is tricky - but I love that Sir J. said "F it" and just went on his merry. He writes:

"yeah, so a quick thing about the track:
"Get off your butt and go dance."
That is all. Feel free to embellish that to your heart's content."

This'll no doubt be at least somewhat polarizing, as vocal mixes almost always are, but for my money it's so damn unexpected, and has so much going for it - the synthsploitation solos, the brass writing, the deep & funky bass, the sheer mojo - that it's hard not to appreciate on SOME level. The scatting (get your mind out of the gutter) adds that over-the-top, "God DAMN I really AM Smooth as Honey, bitches!" attitude, and later on I hear what I'm going to describe as "Michael Jacksonesque mouth sounds," and they sound awesome. The first iteration of the chorus was a little over-the-top major-key/anthemic for me, but I dig the vocoded reprise later on, and Mr. Jordanius achieved an excellent balance between the vocal bits and those brassy, oily, retro synth solos. Lyrics are appropriate for the song, and again, it's all about execution - if you had Chris Walken read 'em out loud, with no melody, of course they'd sound goofy, but mad props to the artist for believing in himself and his work, because that's the only way you make a track like this happen.

I'm really interested in what y'all think; personally, it's such a distinct debut, and such a surprise on an album I originally thought was going to be 99% electronica, that I had to do a double-take. Regardless of whether you hate all vocals, hate THESE vocals, or don't care for the style, the part writing, arrangement, synth solos, the vision to bring everything together, and the conviction to execute it, those have got to mean something. I think this track adds a whole other dimension to Back in Blue, and I'm now super-psyched to hear more from Jordanius. There's room for improvement, but he's already got some killer moves that are nigh impossible to teach, and I wanna hear where he goes from here. In the meantime, don't be a wallflower - do like the man says, get off your butt, and dance!

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
Shame on you for almost got me to dance in my sportstudio when i first listened to BiB while my training!
This song is a stand out and really lives upon the fact that your vocals are so damn enthusiastic. I love the "smooth as honey"-line after the breakdown when you get really energetic and drag it from low to high!
Keep on groovin'!

- Truemas on December 31, 2012
Wha.....what the hell.....? Those vocals are awesome! Hahaha! Oh dear god how did I miss this song!? Oh, man, this is way too funny because I had no idea. I simply wasn't ready for it, and yet it sounds terrific! Smooth, funky, a bit of a surprise and it just gets you moving and grooving with its infectious beat! No, seriously, Sir Jordanius, this made my day! This is a track you play when you walk down the hall and want to feel like a badass. Break it down now, y'all

- Crulex on November 8, 2012
Master_Yoshi;862894 wrote: get off the wall and get on the dance floor

i see what you did there :D

- Mirby on May 26, 2012
I can't really express in words how awesome this mix is. It makes me actually want to get off the wall and get on the dance floor. And it is seriously the only track on the album that I can really consider a standout, and the album has so many established and amazing remixers. Wow. Well done, good sir!

- Master_Yoshi on May 26, 2012
Well, this mix can be pretty much summed up by the title phrase: Smooth as Honneeeeeeeh!! Keep on... smoothing?8)

- RiverSound on May 13, 2012
This is just too fantastic. One of the best OCRemixes I've ever heard, and I'm not a big fan of vocal ones. Like djpretzel said, WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN ALL THIS TIME? Damn, GREAT job, Sir.

- moonra on May 4, 2012
This mix is absolutely fantastic. It caught me off-guard on the MM9 album, and I initially wasn't a huge fan of it when I first heard it. But then I listened to it again. And again. And then all of a sudden, it was all I wanted to listen to, and now it's been stuck in my head for the past week. All the energy brought to the table really makes this listenable, and it helps that it's catchy as all hell, too. Such a unique ReMix, and definitely one of my favorites from this year.

- ProjectSpam on December 16, 2011
Jeebus, I never posted on this mix either? This mix is gorgeous, we need more of your funk around. I can't believe it's a one man show.

- Bahamut on December 7, 2011
oh youre posted!
not much of a surprise either :)
i'll listen when i have dsl again (which should be this afternoon, yay.)

- Nase on October 15, 2011
This, The Skull Fortress, and Astro Fusion are my favorite songs on the album. Great job on both the vocals and the instrumentation! BiB is definitely the best album yet, in part because of this song.

- Ragnarock on October 14, 2011
thanks for all the feedback!
i unfortunately don't have an alternate for this version, but here's the original instrumental rough draft i sent to k-wix for whoever is interested.
http://soundcloud.com/darkmoocher/hive-jive-1st-wip

- Damashii!! on October 8, 2011
This mix has been entertaining the hell out of me for days now, excellent, unique stuff. I really can't hand it to Sir Jordanius more for just laying it all on the line and doing his thing on this one... the enthusiasm, energy, and humor just shines on so many levels, definitely my favorite track from the album, and a very unique mix any way you slice it.

- ZealPath on October 8, 2011
Great track, probably the best in the album. Sure, every song in the album was amazing, but they were all too predictable, and didn't really try to explore outside of the genre box, despite having multiple opportunities to change up their style based on their respective stages, whereas this track really captures the feel of Hornet Man while being a real remix. There were a few problems I had with the vocals, but I think that has more to do with the style than his voice. Vunderbar.

- Orangedragan on September 18, 2011
Wtf, dude! Where has your FUNK been all my LIFE? 8)

- Monobrow on September 18, 2011
So I posted the album over at Rockman PM. Finally getting some responses. Why am I posting this in the Smooth as Honey thread, you ask?
Krystal wrote:
Smooth as Honey is the best track by far. I almost jumped out of my seat when it first came up but I listened to it till the end and whoa, did not expect something like that from OC Remix. Ever.

Blackhook wrote:
And Smooth as honey is surprisingly awesome.

That's why. I like it too, but more on that in the review. Once I write it. XD

- Mirby on September 12, 2011