ReMix:Super Mario Galaxy "Where Hot and Cold Collide" 5:11

A new Nostalvania mix is always reason to celebrate, and in this case Markus has turned his eye & ears to Super Mario Galaxy, delivering an upbeat jazz duet/duel between hot organ and cold piano that would make McDLT frontman George Costanza jealous:

"Hi, OCR, I hope you guys are doing well!

Nostalvania here with a new remix submission!

This remix was originally supposed to be my contribution to a Super Mario Galaxy album which unfortunately got cancelled. It's a shame, because I always thought that the track had a lot of potential. Now after several years, I finally had the time and patience to finish it.

The result is an energetic jazz arrangement in 6/8 time, which alternates between organ and piano as the lead instrument. The more busy/energetic organ sections may be interpreted as hot/fire, whereas the calm/open piano parts are more reminiscent of coldness/ice.

Since I'm not the best at mixing/mastering, the track came out relatively quiet. That is to say you would have to turn up your volume a bit to get the full experience.

Hope you enjoy!"

We always do :) I get some Bill Evans vibes here and there, and the overall mood is upbeat/agile, so while the piano might be comparably cooler, the overall joint is smokin' - great B3 sound, and the upright bass & drums keep the momentum urgent. The quick staccato chord shuffle at 3'01" was definitely a highlight for me; funky. I could say more, but all THREE of our new judges weighed in on this one, so let's do that instead and check in with DarkSim first:

"Mario Galaxy’s most famous music is Gusty Garden Galaxy, so it’s nice to see some light shone on other source tunes from this flagship title.

The sources for this are relatively short at 1:10 or so each, so to extract over 5 minutes of material from them obviously shows some arrangement prowess. Switching the style to jazz helps immensely with the ability to expand on the original, and moving it into 6/8 time gives it a real energy and impetus. The arrangement is anchored solidly in the source material, which allows for some impressive soloing between choruses. I love the idea of using 2 different instruments (organ/piano) to represent hot and cold, linking back to the roots of the composition, and allowing for some delightful interplay."

These are two themes you don't see arranged as much, so I definitely concur on that point, and I do think the hot/cold organ/piano concept clicked, too. jordi adds:

"You captured my attention from 0:00 and held onto it throughout with the many twists and turns. You link the two sources together into one complete piece in an entirely seamless way. Very smart choice to use elements of two tracks that were created with the intention of being clearly connected to one another into your arrangement, and you used it to your advantage to masterfully weave in different moods throughout the track."

The overall panel was unsurprisingly unanimous, and XPRTNovice closed it out with some delicious sandwich metaphors:

"Hell yeah! This is great! The complex timing you’ve got going on the drums is really amazing, the bass line is killer, and the organ really is the jelly in this PB&J of jazz. Your piano performance is stellar, the instruments are mixed well and appropriately, and the arrangement maintains a healthy addiction to the source while being varied enough to keep the ear interested, even at a 5 minute jazz arrangement. It’s like Soulive put on a red cap with an M on it and jumped off a cliff yelling WAHOO. Great job on this – I don’t have any other feedback!"

Markus shows us how you do it, and our three newest judges are absolutely on board. Fantastic work that explores some of SMG's deeper cuts with style and panache, as hot & cold combine for a steamy jazz session - highly recommended!