ReMix:Castlevania "Dracula's Madness" 3:36

Week ain't over yet! On Halloween we gave you "Dance of Maddness" as part of the Candy Corn album release, and NOW we round out the week with "Dracula's Madness" - clearly, there's a lot of mad(d)ness going about, and it all seems to center around this Dracula guy. Sir_NutS (Paul Michael Molina) offers up a funky-fresh, glitch-funk take on "Vampire Killer":

"Sup, guys. NutS here with another remix. I made this remix for the Castlevania competition Cacophony of Incarnation 2016. Initially, I had to mix "Vampire Killer" with "Wicked Child," but I ran out of time so I just made a WIP that was all "Vampire Killer." Later, I finished the song and decided not to include "Wicked Child" at all.

The process for creating this remix was a bit different than usual for me. Most of what you hear was performed by me on my MIDI controller. I'm not a keyboard player, but I've been trying to learn over the past two years. I learned how to play "Vampire Killer" to some extent in the first couple of days first, then I started playing around with 7th chords and its inversions based on VK's progressions. I used some placeholders for the sounds, then I performed all the piano chords, melodies, and solos, leaving only the bass and other minor things for sequencing. Some of it needed some quantizing, but I decided to leave some of the loose performances in. This remix has many inspirations, most prominent Michel Camilo's rendition of "Blue Bossa" for the piano sections and backing harmonies, and for everything else, many songs by Haywyre.

As always, the great majority of the sounds were created by me using Serum, Charlatan, Synth1 and also Super-7, the last three being some really awesome free VSTs. I like using as many free tools as I can, as I hope it inspires beginners who may not have much money to try their hand at learning how to remix. I had a lot of fun with this one and I think it shows in the end, and I hope you enjoy this glitch funk rendition of one of the most classic themes in all video game music."

Whereas Candy Corn walked a line that allowed it to still be spooky while also getting down, this joint is straight up funky - nothing blood-curdling, spine-tingling, or hair-raising, just a syncopated groove, some delicious solo work, and a boatload of bass FX. I've stated before how well I think glitch-funk & glitch-hop suit NutS' style, and it remains true in this case, injecting new life into a Castlevania classic we've heard cooked up dozens of ways. Larry nails it:

"Catchy stuff from the nutty one. I see a bit where some of the stylistic influences come from digging into Haywyre's music a bit. ("I Am You" off of Two Fold Pt. 2 was an awesome listen, by the way.) I agree that the piece was more than substantial enough without even going to "Wicked Child." That said, send us some "Wicked Child" some time. :-) Nice work making things busier at :56, and I just love the C64-esque leads at 1:29 & 2:14. The 90's-style whoops and Dracula speech SFX integrated nicely without being tacky, and the piece had nothing but power and energy.

If you like your tracks staid, this one isn't for you. But if you like 'em energetic and funky, this is your jam. It's easy to think this is too busy with the theme, but if you know "Vampire Killer" (and, really, who doesn't if they're a VGM fan?), the theme is used in a way that anchors the entire piece and maintains order despite the seeming appearance of chaos. Smart stuff from Mike!"

That sums it up pretty thoroughly, to be honest - funky jam, new take on an old classic, & unapologetically glitched, tweaked, & energized. Great work!