ReMix:Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest "Forest Blast" 7:02

Following one VGM classic up with another, our second ReMix today from Rebecca E. Tripp is a mellow, seven-minute new age homage to DKC2, with similar instrumentation to her preceding Chrono Trigger arrangement:

"This is the finale of my Donkey Kong Country 2 epic orchestral medley. There will be many parts to it, but this excerpt just worked so well on its own that I figured I'd make it a standalone track. I call the track "Forest Blast" in honor of "Forest Interlude" and "Bramble Blast." I also considered calling it "Web Symphony" to mix up "Web Woods" and "Stickerbrush Symphony." The original tracks were composed by David Wise. The full medley is done now! :D"

I love the more sparse, open intro, where you can really appreciate the interplay between wind leads & the differences in panning, and the choir fades in gradually; very nice. I dig that she mixed in some fills on the hand percussion; some of these are sequenced more naturally than others, but it's good to change things up either way. The rising string elements at 3'16" achieve an interesting chromaticism, and I really dig the staccato flute bits that follow. Bassoon and bass clarinet later on; Rebecca is doing great things for solo woodwinds, and I'm glad she gives the lower end some spotlight. Nice ping-pong cymbal hits, too; I feel like she really uses the extended duration on this arrangement to try some different ideas, intonations, & techniques, and the mix is better for it. Gario writes:

"The arrangement of Stickerbrush Symphony is pretty interesting, as the instrumentation is very pointillistic. This makes the arrangement sound pretty light, but the soundscape doesn't sound empty to my ears. The pointillist background instruments in this second section do tend to get drown by the sweeping strings in the mix, though, so you would do well to tone down the dominant string harmonies to give your more interesting background textures some room to pop through in the mix.

It's conservative, but I think the harmonizations, the instrumentation and overall pacing of the track has enough personalization to it to help it shine. The production is well done, if a little quiet, and I personally enjoy this style quite a bit. Nice work!"

Indeed; I'm glad we're posting these two mixes side-by-side, because they feel like spiritual partners; both are extremely popular & mellow VGM classics from the SNES era written by amazing composers, and both have been given a new age & orchestral makeover in Rebecca's particular style, resulting in over eleven combined minutes of chill, serene groove!