ReMix:Sonic the Hedgehog "Speeding Towards Adventure" 3:32

We are proud to announce the release of our 62nd FREE community arrangement album, Speeding Towards Adventures: 25 Years of Sonic the Hedgehog!!

Celebrating a quarter-century of the Blue Blur with ReMixes from games throughout the series' history, Speeding Towards Adventures features 23 tracks from 30 artists and can be downloaded TODAY from http://sonic25.ocremix.org, so spindash, don't walk, and check it out! Of our first flood mix, which bears a singular permutation of the album moniker, director Black_Doom (Stepan Sudilovskiy) writes:

"Ah, the lovely "Green Hill Zone," one of the most recognizable VGM tunes and probably one of the most recognizable Sonic tunes in particular. It's been covered so many times in so many genres, so it's almost impossible to create a refreshing take on this classic theme. Initially, "GHZ" was claimed by Eino Keskitalo, along with "Bridge Zone," but he quickly dropped it. Then Jorrith asked whether he could claim this track, and I agreed, of course, but I didn't know what to expect. So when I heard what he had done, I was simply awestruck. The guitars, the drums, the vocals, the whistling - everything clicked immediately. It's certainly one of those cases that make you ask "Could you ever imagine this track remixed this way?" Well, I guess there's now one more awesome take on "Green Hill Zone." :)"

This is a REALLY creative, memorable, & new take on GHZ, and a great way to introduce the album. In so many cases, musical whistling can be... questionable... but when it works, it WORKS, and I think this was one of many good decisions that ReMixer & fellow director Jorito (Jorrith Schaap) made when putting this arrangement collaboration together:

"Since "Green Hill Zone" has been remixed a gazillion times already, it was hard to to try to add something new to it. Inspired by Pharrell William's song "Happy," I thought a upbeat vocal pop track in that style might just work. The initial MIDI mock-up was finished quickly, but for this kind of track MIDI ain't good enough. So I went on a recruiting spree on the OCR forums, starting with the vocals. I luckily found Final Kingdom willing to sing on the track, and she also was a tremendous help in the lyrics. It was also a good excuse to team up again with my regular collaborators Tuberz McGee on guitars and Furilas on bass. Last but not least is Azzykay316, who offered his services as a drummer on the forums and really made the track groove and the drum solo rock.

Many thanks to my temp bandmates that were so cool to hop on this adventure with me and really make the track shine. I hope we managed to give a fresh take on "Green Hill Zone" and that you'll enjoy it a lot!"

Big fan of Pharrell; everyone knows his hits, but almost everything he writes is pretty solid/catchy and well-conceived. It doesn't hurt that Esther loves Despicable Me & the sequel, both of which we've seen a zillion times. I love that Jorrith went in this direction with the source, because I think it works well & yielded some very effective downstream arrangement decisions. Of course, this wouldn't have happened without the right collaborators, and Britney/Mac/Callum all brought their unique talents to bear to make this vision a reality. Final Kingdom (Britney Blevins) writes:

"This is my first collaboration on- or offline, and it was a great experience! I learned a lot about recording do's and don'ts and how to contribute to someone else's vision while still maintaining my own style. I've become more confident in my singing, thanks to Jorito's absolute faith in me delivering a good performance. Because the Sonic series holds a special place in my heart, I'm glad that my first contribution to this site could be this ReMix."

Really good job on the vocals; I might prefer a bit more vibrato, in general, but this vocal performance was critical to the mix working on the level it needed to, and Britney came through - definitely hope to hear more from her in the future! Another key component which makes the mix shine is the bass writing & performance, which were an unexpected surprise and probably better than they "needed" to be - always a good thing. Furilas (Mac Hunter) writes:

"This was fun. I'll be pleased to groove along to it as I drive down the summer highways of Colorado in my Mustang convertible, both of which Jorrith said he'd pay me with. What a sport!"

I used to drive a Mustang convertible... now it's a minivan :) Seriously, ace-of-bass job on the low end from Mac, which really improves the overall experience & gets especially delicious @ 2'03" in the context of a processed-vocal & sweet drum breakdown. Finally, acoustic guitar from Tuberz McGee (Callum Kennedy):

"Jorrith called me in for the strumma strumma and I had a great time. <3 For a Sonic tune that I groan at whenever I hear it, this is a really fresh take on it. It's cool stuff. I love working with Jorrith, his arrangements are so dope and always find myself groovin' to them. This is no exception.

Plus, that B section with the 3, 3, 3, 3, 2, 2 subdivision is soooooo cool. No way I could pass that up."

I love it when a plan comes together... and this one certainly did. A new high-water mark for Jorrith as an arranger, this is accessible pop/rock that blends in some funky drums & bass and which wields the considerable talents of its collaborators to great effect; a new & very fitting vision for GHZ, and a great entrance for Speeding Towards Adventures!!