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OCR01571 - Donkey Kong Country 2 "Tricky Swamp Style"


djpretzel
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Haha nice stuff Siamey. This is alil departure for your usual style. It def carries a nice groove throughout. Lots of lil FX and shite all over the place def makes this a song to keep on listening too. I actually really liked the intro it caught my attention right away. You def used the source tune to your advantage. Def one of my favorite remixes I've heard in awhile. Good stuff dude.

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Sorry, I can't give this one the full review that it deserves right now, but I feel that I need to comment after immediately hearing this.

I'm really digging the grove here. I love the snare and the really deep synth. The higher pitched synth is prominent, but not over-powering. I really like the sound effects at around 2:30. They create an interesting percussive effect.

I didn't notice anything really remarkable melodically, but that's probably not what your were really focused on.

This mix is very easy listening. I look foward to more of your work.

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I love the thick sounds that I'm used to hearing from Siamey, and mixed with my guilty pleasure of liking LOTS of percussion (see mixes from Protricity, Sephfire, SGX, etc.), there's a whole lot to like about this one. From its thick bassline to those cheesy monkey samples, this will get heavy rotation in my playlists for many months. Nice work, Siamey.

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Wow, this is a difficult piece to analyze. I like a lot about it, and I think that's why its weaknesses are so disappointing to me, so please take this with a grain of salt.

That bass in the intro gives a pretty bad first impression. Things pick up quickly, but I don't really feel engaged by this track. The drum loops are excellent, but in many cases their tone and FX don't seem to gel with the synths; often there is too much reverb on the drums which distances them from the other instruments; the effects in general seem a little lopsided in their application. The ape noises are cute but don't seem to fit the vibe of the piece at all, and are painfully overused in some places. The sequences at 1:47 and 2:24 in particular are just unnecessary IMO and almost killed the mood for me.

Yet overall, I don't feel much emotional drive in this; it sounds like a bunch of cool sections stitched together with some less cool bits, with little variation in energy or sense of climax. The song is so uniformly loud and compressed to bursting punchiness that there's not really much room to breathe, to build to crescendo etc. I was also surprised that, while the drums are programmed very well (or are sliced loops?), there are almost no rolls or fills, a classic staple of creating climactic tension and release in electronic music; it sort of gives the impression that these are just loops being turned on and off. There is a definite lack of energy at the usual fill/roll spots at the end of every four, eight etc. bars. Apart from rhythm, the melodic and harmonic arrangement is solid and employs a great array of sounds and skillful filtering, although it also suffers from the inability to breathe, to rise and fall emotionally in the track.

This is a difficult piece to form a solid opinion on; I can see why the judging was split right down the middle. There are a lot of good elements in this and sections where things work wonderfully and the track recalls commercial bigbeat, but the weak spots are constantly marring the track as well. On the other hand, there's a huge palette of sounds in this, subtle effects and one-shots that keep things interesting; the production is at least big and full-sounding, despite its problems in that area. Ultimately, I like this and feel it's a keeper for its strengths, but also feel that there are a lot of flaws that hold it back. In judging terms, "borderline yes" seems appropriate.

Despite all that, I find myself listening to this on repeat, and really enjoying it as background music without focusing too hard on it. It leaves me looking forward to your future work, Siamey, as you'll certainly build on your strengths and overcome your weaknesses.

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I'm VERY fond of Protricity's "Mechanical Swamp" remix, so downloading this one was definitely a YES for me. However, I'll have to compare between both...

There's a huge difference in intepretation between Siamey and Protricity's versions. The former is more "heavy and fast-paced" while the latter sticks to slower electronica. Some parts in Siamey's track reminds me of Nine Inch Nails' work, which feature very heavy industrial and mechanical sounds. The Diddy sound synths are an interesting if not cheesy addition to the track. Quality wise, this sounds nice and catchy to my ears...yet it isn't as addicting to Protricity's track.

Nice work overall, though. Love the intrepretation. :)

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1) The song clearly ISN'T on Remix:ThaSauce.

2) Siamey IS XPA.

3) READ!

:tomatoface:

1. My mistake, VGMix. Regardless, I've heard it before.

2. Right, I can divine that just looking at their names.

3. Found the song, buried in with the files from another compy. This is definitely the same one, but from like two years ago. I stand corrected: another case where VGMix gets something before OCR.

EDIT: Wait, the original (To Save A Friend) is actually 4:23, while this version is only 4:12... hmm.

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1. My mistake, VGMix. Regardless, I've heard it before.

2. Right, I can divine that just looking at their names.

3. Found the song, buried in with the files from another compy. This is definitely the same one, but from like two years ago. I stand corrected: another case where VGMix gets something before OCR.

EDIT: Wait, the original (To Save A Friend) is actually 4:23, while this version is only 4:12... hmm.

No, you just didn't look at that aforementioned link from ThaSauce, a.k.a. "READ!" "Here, XPA – or the artist formerly known as Siamey..."

This version is 4:12 long because I personally clipped 11 seconds of silence off the end of the file.

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Every once in awhile, you get find an artist who knows they are making a good song they design it to be loop-friendly. What I mean by that is you can repeat the song over and over it is sounds like it is just one long song.

This is one of those songs. Excellent work.

11/10

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  • 2 weeks later...

I dig the style of this mix; the bass kicking in at 0:18 really does a lot for me.

The voice-samples used from 1:47 and 2:23 on don't fit in at all, though; I find them to be rather annoying. Furthermore, the latter half of the song could have used a bit more variation.

Good song, but it could have been better.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Siamey, great job. Truly. This remix kicks some serious butt.

When I first saw this remix on the new mixes list, I immediately got excited because I love DKC remixes and am always hoping new ones will be created. I started playing it, and skipped through it. My first impressions were 1) AWESOME drum syncopation (it's so much fun to air drum along to) and 2) are those sfx from the actual game? cheesy, but eh, still pretty cool!

I have to tell you...this remix is the most played OCR on my iPod and the most played song on my iPod. An earlier review said it was very loop-friendly. I wholeheartedly agree. Since the end of April, it's practically been the only song I listen to to and from class. It really sounds like one really long, awesome song when solo looped.

The other aspect of the song that I like is the energy you feel in the music. It's a good wake-me-up song, a good start-off-your-day-pumped song. And I love the way the melodies sound echoed, as though they're coming from in the distance. Though I haven't tried it, I suppose jogging while listening to the song (and even running through a forested trail or something) would be an extraordinary experience. At least that's what I think.

Well, I think I've gone on long enough but really, I just again want to say kudos. This is by far one of my favorite songs of all time (not exclusive to just OCRs), and most likely will be for quite some time. :-D

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  • 4 weeks later...

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