ReMix:Animal Crossing: New Leaf "Late-night Ambience" 2:40

Newcomer Kade Kalka debuts with a hypnotic, dreamy post-rock/ambient take on "11PM" from Animal Crossing: New Leaf:

"I'm actually pretty proud of this as my first song of 2019. It's a little bit more unique than my previous work and the final product turned out a lot better and different than anticipated. When I first started working on the project, it was a chore. It sounded exactly like the original, but worse. After a few more hours, I came up with a bunch of different layers and the next day I laid down some drums and synth bass to finish it off. Instead of being a completely ambient cover as I anticipated, it turned out as more of a rock or post-rock arrangement, which I'm fine with.

This was my first full-fledged product using GetGood Drums Modern & Massive and Glitchmachines' Quadrant and Fracture XT. I highly recommend you check out those plugins, because they are amazing and incredibly inspiring for me."

I love the sound design work that KK (coincidence?) has put into the different layers, here; from the subtle chip-style lo-fi drums that change into a bigger acoustic rock kit to the deep, rich bells that echo across the soundscape, there's a deep feeling of, well...late-night ambience. It's a good title :) I'm used to Glitchmachines plugins having a more destructive and noticeable effect, but Kade applies them sparingly/precisely, allowing tiny murmurs of chaos & mangle to chirp through but keeping the overall aesthetic clean, open, & reverberant. I'm reminded of some of the very cool, transporting music from the Night on the Galactic Railroad anime/film, in a good way. Larry Oji writes:

"Really nice work here by Kade in expanding the textural depth of a very minimalist source. I wasn't expecting the drumwork and bassline to drop in around 1:02 nor the synth at 1:23, but the post-rock direction ended up clicking nicely before going back to a genteel but slightly tense ending. I thought the mixing could have been tweaked to have a sharper sound, but no big deal there, for sure. Novel arrangement approach; you'd never think Animal Crossing could go in this direction at all, and it's a short enough mix where you're left satisfied but also looking forward to more like it. Welcome aboard, Kade! :-)"

Welcome indeed; this is not only a well-crafted debut, but a unique & memorable one, offering a chill, very environmental take on a short, simple source. Loved it & would love to hear more!