ReMix:Super Mario Bros. "Moisturor" 3:55

By ilp0

Arranging the music of one song...

"Swimming BGM"

Primary Game: Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo , 1985, NES), music by Koji Kondo

Posted 2006-10-18, evaluated by djpretzel


I saw Aerosmith, Nine Inch Nails, The Strokes, and Steely Dan in concert this summer, and from a sheer musicianship perspective, nothing came close to touching Steely Dan. Those were also the cheapest tickets, as we paid $10 for lawn seating at Nissan. Every single one of the numerous instrumentalists were fantastic, and the music was written around their skills; it never felt like they were just trying to sound impressive, but rather that their abilities factored into the songs themselves. This is relevant because when I compared ilp0's first ReMix to Donald Fagen and company, for me it was a pretty big compliment. Well, I'm happy to report that Finn Ilari Nieminen loses none of that uniqueness and vitality in his second mix, a 3/4 rock ballad instrumental - of sorts. It's yet another arrangement of SMB, coming back to back with Neskvartetten's take on the main theme, but in this instance covers the wonderfully floating and serendipitous water music. The beauty of this arrangement isn't in the notes playing the melody, but the swimming, circumscribing accompaniment. Although, actually, the melody's pretty darn good, too; with a few key interpretive and bridging passages, Ilari has extended Kondo-san's lovely but brief melody into a four-minute piece. Brad Smith's shorter, acoustic guitar rendition from '02 is still charmingly succinct, but ilp0's managed to milk more length from the material, without any signs of stretching it thin; that's quite an accomplishment in and of itself. The guitar performances are great, but I really don't wanna undersell the piano here - it's not as dominant, sure, but the parts are lovely, flowing, and most importantly impeccably pertinent to the direction of the piece. It's the type of thing Steely Dan always excelled at, in my opinion, so the comparison still resonates for me, and I can't wait to see what ilp0 will cook up next.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
avatar
BLAHMASTER
on 2017-09-22 15:05:57

I'm not sure what I expected based on the source material, but it certainly not this. My familiarity with the source was working against me on this one, but the remix is done so well that eventually I snapped out of it and actually listened to what I was hearing. Waaaay deeper than I though this was going to be! Excellent!

avatar
Crulex
on 2010-02-27 13:24:05

Light, bouncy, peaceful and overall, an instant classic. Just being able to make a theme that seemed to loop every thirty seconds last about four minutes sound this good is almost criminal. The piano and guitars bring on that great idea that someone else said about being a hidden track on Brawl. Great job!

avatar
Marmiduke
on 2009-04-25 03:06:15

If this was made to loop successfully, you could have convinced me this was a track from Smash Bros. Brawl I haven't unlocked yet. The quality of arrangement is as professional as you can get. And like a lot of tracks from Brawl, it's taken something quite simple yet iconic and turned it into something that holds a crystal clear memory of the music it is covering, while also building some damn fine new musical memories for the future.

A prime example on how to handle a remix of a track known and loved for its simplicity. Not an easy thing to tamper with, but the payoff is brilliant.

avatar
OA
on 2008-04-29 10:53:36

Ilp0's music style is sortof like audio steampunk. All kinds of seemingly random elements thrown together to make a completely amazing finished work that sounds meticulously planned, and beautiful to behold.

I especially like how each phrase is played with slides down on the guitar, making it seem like the passage is sinking back into the water, only to be buoyed up again by the next one. It's like the musical version of the game's actual swimming mechanics.

The drums are varied and creative without becoming too busy, and there are lots of great panned elements that swirl around the song's core. The original B section was fantastic, and all of the arrangement ideas worked well.

Complete genius. Highly recommended.

avatar
Benjamin Briggs
on 2007-03-11 11:46:26

This remix is so awesome. So awesome! It's like if Genesis and Pink Floyd were locked in a room with nothing but twelve televisions and a giant hookah, got high and played video games nonstop for three weeks, went directly to a studio, decided that Phil Collins wasn't allowed to sing, and vomited all of their pent-up musicianship into the glorious paper bag we call ocremix.

At any rate, after listening to what you have to offer here... you need to start songwriting, if you haven't already. I mean, with the kind of theory knowledge and talent you display with just these three songs... it's mind-blowing, it really is. Keep up the great work.

P.S. I've just made it a life goal to jam with you.

avatar
Abadoss
on 2006-12-28 01:07:39

This piece really makes me think of something off of Monty Python. It really does. :P

That's not necessarily a bad thing...

avatar
KWarp
on 2006-10-27 00:31:09

This is seriously one of the best songs I've ever heard. Absolutely excellent. :D

avatar
MrBogus
on 2006-10-23 18:42:41
I like the MacGyver ending :wink:

Stole the words right out of my mouth.

I had the biggest shit-eating grin the second this baby started rolling.

avatar
pu_freak
on 2006-10-21 12:24:59

Wow... an awesome remix, the best I've heard in quite some time! The ambience is great and I like the MacGyver ending :wink:

avatar
bladiator
on 2006-10-20 22:30:21

Win. Total friggin win.

avatar
lady zelda
on 2006-10-20 17:46:11

I love the feel of this mix, that soaring feeling you get from the guitar and the percussion fits very well with it. Keep these coming and keep mixing, ilp0!

avatar
Bummer
on 2006-10-20 09:51:48

Oh man, this is friggin sweet. Piano, guitar, strings, it's all in there. The feeling changes though the whole arrangement, but overall it's mellow but at the same time energic.

This remix envoked the true potentials of Koji's water theme, and made no errors along the way. Excellent job.

avatar
Master_Yoshi
on 2006-10-19 23:37:36

The Underwater theme was so short and repeditive. So glad you have given us all a song that isnt the same. While repeating the theme over and over again, I'm still digging it every time. Good job on not letting it get boring :D

avatar
ktriton
on 2006-10-19 16:23:00

Niiiice, this is some real classy stuff.

One for the books, bro!

avatar
Pink
on 2006-10-19 11:56:41

Hahaha, now THIS is a pretty cool remix. That light and bouncy underwater theme that we all can probably recognize so easily. I swear the underwater theme sticks in my head a lot easier than the main theme does.

Despite the mainly guitar lead in this song, the remix still keeps that light and bouncy feel the surce had as it bounds along into harder and softer areas. There's a decent amount of original work in here to help stretch out the remix some more and make it more interesting to listen to. This is one of those remixes that you could just picture being used as a song for something's credits to scroll by to.

As with almost all the remixes that I really like on this site, the production quality is high and everything goes together quite smoothly. I really like the parts during the sound where the guitar takes those three ascending notes of the main melody. It sounds kinda like Mario's swimming upward to the rhythm.

I'm quite happy to finally see an exceptional remix of this source tune. It's pretty well my favourite from the original game and to give it such a well-deserved reworking pleases me greatly.

Congrats to the remixer on putting together a fine arrangement indeed. I recommend this to everyone since it has a nice and unique feel to it. You've got to at least listen to it once.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo , 1985, NES)
Music by Koji Kondo
Songs:
"Swimming BGM"

Tags (3)


Genre:
Pop
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Electric Guitar,Piano
Additional:

File Information


Name:
Super_Mario_Bros_Moisturor_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,736,472 bytes
MD5:
8ad0b936bd226e6b6e5e1435304c38c6
Bitrate:
192Kbps
Duration:
3:55

Promotion

8-bit Jazz Heroes - Press Start
View All

Latest Albums

View All

Latest ReMixes