Super Mario Land: Chai Kingdom

[Patrick Burns]

remix: www.patrickburns.us/just/Chai_Kingdom_WIP.mp3

source:

This arrangement is from waaay back in 2007. I just never got around to finishing it.

Solo guitar, fingerstyle. It's hard for me to record a really good performance -- so I'm not too keen on re-recording this. I might submit it, but I mostly just wanted it off my to-do list.

[One-Winged Angle]

Patrick,

First of all, Patrick, I just gotta say, I enjoyed "Rare Respite" from "Serious Monkey Business" a lot. I thought that was a really interesting and fun take on the source.

Anyway, full disclosure: I am in China right now and don't have a good VPN yet, so I can't get on YouTube to listen to the original song. BUT, I really like Chai Kingdom anyway. This is a really chill, relaxing song that made me smile when it got moving.

The good: I really, REALLY like solo acoustic guitar. The intro is bluesy, and projects an image of a sleepy Western town that got left behind by the march of progress. When the song starts moving faster about a third of the way through, it feels like the last train pulling out of the station. I really like music that transports me to another place, and I feel like I'm somewhere else when I listen to this song. Big plus. Also, I like the Oriental motifs towards the end of "Chai Kingdom," and not just because I'm in China right now. By the end of the song, I feel like I've gone from my Western town to the kingdom you're describing with your music. It's a cool feeling.

The bad: The performance seems to lack energy. It does have a "check-this-off-my-list" vibe. Perhaps if the tempo change were increased, it would contribute more to the sense of going from the sleepy town to the mystical kingdom - at the end, I feel like I have gone to a sleepy kingdom.

However, I think this song has a lot of great ideas - and like I said, that feeling of being transported to a different place is really, really fun. I think this should be submitted. I think we need more solo guitar on OCRemix and this is a great piece to do it with. Would you mind if I downloaded your WIP file? I definitely enjoy it that much.

[Patrick Burns]

Thank you One Wing -- reading your narration of it makes me happy. Your criticisms basically confirm some of my thoughts. I get pretty self-conscious and when recording and I have a hard time not getting angry having to start over, so by the time I record a take without too many 'mistakes,' all the energy is gone, energy that's there at the beginning of the session when there's no pressure. Basically I should probably just practice more, slowly and expressively -- no pressure.

I also agree that maybe a speed increase would be best -- I slowed it down a little hoping to improve my chances of getting something not too sloppy.

Of course you can dl the wip

[Gario]

This is very calming. It's different and refreshing. I'd like to see what more you have in store for this song.