ReMix:Sonic the Hedgehog 3 "Mystical Groove" 3:25

Arceace (Ben Clifton) made an impressive debut last year with some serious bass action on his Sonic CD: Temporal Duality flood mix, and now he returns with more Sonic action, this time focusing on 'Marble Garden' from 3:

"Ever since I was a kid, I've always wanted to be able to sit down for a couple of days, and come up with a song on the spot. That was exactly the case behind this remix. I believe I spent around 12 hours total completing the arrangement, and a few more mastering the track. I really wanted to give the song a feeling of space, so there are a lot of subtle sounds in the background working to support the various melodies in the song.

This was actually one of my favorite levels from the Sonic franchise. The whole concept of Marble Garden was really interesting to me as a kid, and I would often times play to hear the music from this level. I even remember when I first came across OC ReMix that I wanted to try my own take on the theme, and here I am today, actually doing so. Hope it's a pleasure to listen to!"

Always nice when things come full circle :) This is a popular source that we've heard a number of ways, but this happy-go-lucky electronic jam plays with timing and brings something fresh to the table. Let's run the judge quotes; first up is Vig:

"Sonically very smooth. Nice production. I think your melodic adaptation of the source to 6/8 is a bit clunky. The melody sounds choppy, like you just shoehorned it into the new time signature. That said, the groove is fairly cool, and you do a good job of keeping the track fresh."

"Clunky" seems harsh to me; it works better at some points than others, but the timing shifts are actually what help differentiate this arrangement, which is a little more important given the prevalence of mixes already out there, and I think Ben achieves a feeling of space & floatiness in part due to this particular aspect. DarkeSword agrees. In sentence fragments:

"This is pretty groovy. I don't think the melodic adaptation to the new time sig is awkward at all. Sounds great. Nice sounds. I like your pads in the background. Really nice dreamy sound."

Last but never least, it's Fishy:

"Yeah really diggin' this. Nice groove to it, very spacey dreamy sounds with a little bit of a chippy approach. However, -10 points from Gryffindor for the fadeout."

All in all, a clever, unexpected, but still very accessible & enjoyable take on a popular Sonic classic from Ben, fulfilling the promise of his debut mix with more great EDM VGM!