ReMix:Sonic Heroes "Hang Castle (Team Sonic Racing Mix)" 2:47

I hope you all have had a great Valentine's break - and invested in discounted flowers and chocolates the day after - because it's back to treating you with another set of newcomers! This mix has not one but four of them, as LemonheadVGM (Philemon Holmes) spearheads our second arrangement of music from Sonic Heroes, also giving initial OC ReMixer credits to over half of his performers:

"When Team Sonic Racing came out, I saw that one of the levels was a haunted castle. Given that the game has many remixes of past tracks, including some from Sonic Heroes, I was excited at the prospect of a "Hang Castle" remix. To this day, it bothers me that they didn't make one, so I decided to rectify that mistake, make one myself, and hire a posse of live instrumentalists to play the parts live."

Check out the live musicians here:

• Guitar: Joshua Taipale
• Drums: Clément Planchout
• Cello: Scott Semanski
• Trumpets: Tyler Mire
• Violin: Michaela Natchigal

Now, I hadn't played Team Sonic Racing, mainly because it got released at the same time as Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled - and I naturally gravitated more to my favorite orange bandicoot. But I did see enough of the game to know about Haunted Castle, one of three courses with music from the collaborative efforts of Tee Lopes and Jun Senoue's Sonic Adventure Music Experience. So right off the bat, Philemon had done some homework regarding the submission's overall aesthetic. The judges had some reservations regarding the mixdown and over-consistent energy, but overall loved the performances and the re-interpretation of the sources. Chimpazilla wrote:

"There's a lot of creativity here packed into a short mix! I love the driving energy, and the string performances and brass stabs. I agree with the mixing crits brought up by my fellow Js. The soundscape could be cleaned up quite a bit by using EQ to carve away unwanted lows and rumble out of each instrument that isn't kick or bass (and even on those), as low rumbles will stack together and overcrowd your master, making it sound overcompressed. This master is loud, just on the verge of being overcompressed. Other than that, I don't find anything too negative about the mixing, it's serviceable. The energy of the track stays the same throughout the piece, which gets somewhat fatiguing after awhile, but the mix is short enough to compensate for it. A lower-energy breakdown would have helped break up the repetitive feel of the overall energy. The fadeout is disappointing; I would have preferred a wrapup to the ideas and an outro. Still, it's a cute fun mix, full of creativity."

Roger that! What I sensed upon my initial listen was a stylized medley, going through "Hang Castle", Sonic 2's "Mystic Cave" and "Mystic Mansion" in that order. While melodically conservative, the focus on this track is to carry them together with a consistent driving force befitting the game inspiration while doing plenty of twists with the accompaniment writing to keep them individually fresh. The "Hang Castle" section felt like an excellent place for Michaela's violin and Tyler's trumpets to call and respond with melody and staccato flourishes, respectively; Scott's cello expressed itself as the lead in the "Mystic Cave" section with the violin chiming in with a countermelody later on; and then the "Mystic Mansion" section gave us the best of both worlds along with some impressive blast beats on Clément's drums. Speaking of which, Clément and Joshua's background contributions do a lot to keep things varied enough rhythmically to not entirely "tire" things out. (Yep, it's not a racing-related mixpost without a car pun somewhere.)

As popular as Sonic is, I'm more than surprised that it took 12 years to give some company to Mikeaudio's debut - and arranging the same main source at that. Regardless, Philemon and the band pulled through with a raw and roaring effort, and like all other newcomers we've featured recently, hopes are riding high to see what will happen next. For now, the thrill of getting posted for the first time is always a cause for excitement and celebration - so it's best to enjoy the time on the podium before going to the next big race. Enjoy!