ReMix:Shovel Knight "Shovel Power" 4:11

With epic Shovel Knight synthwave vocoder goodness from Jorito (Jorrith Schaap), you really can't go wrong:

"Howdy! Here's another remix I did for the Robots vs. Knights competition on OverClocked ReMix. Initially, I had some problems coming up with an arrangement for the 2 tracks. After a first few sketches, I ultimately decided to take a shot at making a synthwave track, pretty much inspired by the artist Mitch Murder.

It was quite a fight to get the track to flow well and suit the genre well enough. Only when I got to the stage where I nicked part of the second part of Tinker Knight, incorporated it as the chorus of my track and added the vocoded vocals, the track finally found enough shape and direction that it inspired me enough and made it less of a struggle.

Even though the result matters just as much as the journey, I'm glad that the track is finished and I'm happy with how it turned out. So, I guess I ultimately won, thanks to the Power of the Shovel! And some tips from in-house synthwave and Italo expert Sir_NutS (thanks, dude!)."

I appreciate such arrangement struggles, with firsthand experience aplenty, and yet you'd never guess, as this comes off as a completely killer, fun, upbeat synthwave EXPLOSION that's infectious, a little funky, chock full o' synths, and totally rad. Synthwave/Retrowave strike me as genres that are just plain HARD to strongly dislike; maybe it's my "eighties kid bias" kicking in, but the staple ingredients are satisfying, the synths are plentiful, and there's always an emphasis on melody. What's not to like? Jorrith rides the wave & adds his signature vocoding into the mix for a slight Italo vibe. MindWanderer writes:

"As I mentioned in the compo thread, it's pretty neat that you imitated an 80's electronica aesthetic to remix a game designed to imitate 80's video game aesthetics. Funny how synthwave seems positively antique but 8-bit gaming seems like it was mainstream just a few years ago; it never even occurred to me that these were actually contemporary.

Anyway, this is pretty by-the-numbers synthwave from an instrumentation and production standpoint, no surprise given that Sir_NutS helped out. It gets a little same-y at points, but they're brief and that's part of the genre. Great, smooth integration of the two sources, a well-deserved win on that front."

Some judges did take more issue w/ repetition and "sameyness" (technical term!), and felt it was even a dealbreaker, but it didn't really bug me, personally, or DarkeSword for that matter:

"Really solid all around. I'm not too bothered by the arrangement's variation. Really enjoyed this one quite a bit. Voice is great."

Dig it; if you like upbeat synthwave, great modern throwback VGM from virt & CHANCHACORIN ;), and funky/energized rhyming vocoder imperatives, Jorito has you covered!