ReMix:Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest "Bavarian Kackle" 2:22

In addition to our recent embrace of RFT/crypto technology, we have decided that - in the interest of equity & representation - all future OC ReMixes will be polka. This wasn't an easy decision to make, there was some real soul-searching, but when we looked back on over two decades of mixes, we saw so little polka that it frankly sparked a deep, profound, & heartfelt outrage. Our inner tubas blatted angrily with the oompahs of musical injustice, and somewhere a clarinet did some runs. For my own part, I feel like all these other genres are great, but they've had their day (or ~8,147), and now... it's polka's turn. If you think about it, this shift aligns perfectly with our embrace of crypto & blockchain. I'm not going to tell you how, but I'm rather sure it does. Here to help usher in this new era is General Grunt (Chris Addolorato), with a DKC2 polka collab:

"This my first submission to the site. Arrangement is by me, of course, so I figure I'd submit my most crazed remix I've ever done. "Haunted Chase" in the style of a Bavarian polka. Normally these 2 things shouldn't belong together in a sentance... but somehow I made it so.

As to WHY? I have no idea. I made it my mission to arrange my remixes in the polar opposite genre they were originally in. The main motif is David Wise's "Haunted Chase" (played as normal in the beginning), warped to a major key (I cannot begin to tell you how difficult that was...) and polkafied into Oktoberfest oblivion. Because let's face it: We need more polka.

I also threw in Grant Kirkhope's "Creepy Castle" in the same way (and WAY easier to put in a major key). To top that off, I made a music video using puppets (that I built)... (If you wish to see this lunacy, feel free to. Note the mix in the video is NOT the recent mix in terms of quality.)

Even though it was rejected on the first pass, the overwhelming support from the judges to resubmit was very encouraging. The arrangement is 90% the same with a few minor tweaks, and a complete drum overhaul thanks to the awesome Ridley Snipes! We collaborated to give new life into this polka performed by dead Kremlings."

Polka needs no "why," only a means & an opportunity, which Chris has thankfully taken & even looped in co-conspirator Ridley Snipes (Trevor Burch):

"Howdy! I'm glad Chris went to recruit some help from the Discord server because this sure was fun to work on. I could tell the arrangement had good bones but just needed some finessing on the production side. Props to him for cohesively transposing these dark themes into major! I was originally going to just help out with drums, but that quickly steamrolled into the rest of the track. We both agreed early on to keep as many of the original instruments as possible, to preserve the goofy MIDI-carnival aesthetic. So, outside of the kit drums and a few supplemental parts, there really isn't that much "new" content compared to the original. All the rest of the work just went into sculpting the existing MIDI performances and dropping them into a new clean mix!"

You might say it was an... alley-oompah. I think back to the great John Candy in the original Home Alone, as I believe this is the type of polka that Gus Polinski, the Polka King of the Midwest, would have enjoyed. Judges were unanimous that this revised resubmission checked the requisite boxes; Emunator writes:

"I am SO glad this made its way back to us! I was on the fence about being willing to pass this in its initial form, but hearing this new version in comparison, I'm glad the vote went the way that it did. The drums are so much more nuanced and full of life here, the mixing is much cleaner and less harsh on the ears, and you did it all without sacrificing any of the whimsy and General MIDI magic that made the original version so fun in the first place. Y'all did some fine work here!"

Indeed; it's fun, bouyant, relentlessly energetic, and best of all, 110% compatible with our new "POLKA ONLY" policy. Many thanks to Chris & Trevor for cutting the ceremonial ribbon on a new chapter for the site!