ReMix:Balatro "Upping the Ante" 2:57

Hell yeah, Balatro is HERE courtesy Dwelling of Duels stalwart and debuting OC ReMixer Mattmatatt! VERY SELFISHLY, this game is awesome & addicting, so I said in our Discord that if we got a Balatro sub that could pass, we'd fast-track that bad boy up here! Mattmatatt added a lot of energy and smooveness to Balatro's theme, with amazing-sounding bass work for this past February's DoD compo:

"I decided to make a chill shred arrangement of the original tempo of the Balatro main track. It's a fairly straightforward arrangement, but, in doing so, I also played all of the nasty arpeggios and leads at full speed on my guitar, and then added some additional solos at the end of the track."

"Chill shred" ain't a phrase I ever heard before, but please subscribe me to your newsletter, Mattmatatt, because I can get with this! Judge Emunator quickly declared Mattmatatt's cards a winning hand:

"This is an easy pass, not surprising considering the artist involved! [...] This gets by on the strength of the tone shaping on your guitars/synths, and some of the fun shredding around the arpeggios that ramp up the energy and keep my interest held. The soloing reminds me a bit of Tim Henson from Polyphia, especially on their latest album when it is coupled with more chill, pop-influenced backing tracks."

The beats here alternate between a couple of patterns, but that's really all that Mattmatatt needed to add lots of driving energy to this piece that always feels vibrant, not the mention Matt's rhythm guitar is always sounding extra funky. Game-wise, I've loved watching OCR poobah DarkeSword play Balatro while chatting on Discord, so LouisF's theme is already a modern classic for me. I recently helped Hemophiliac out on his successful job search, and as a thanks, he offered to buy me Balatro on Steam! LocalThunk may assume I hate his game, because I earnestly had to turn Hemo's Balatro offer DOWN! :'-( Judge Gario recommends the game too, and so I do, but I KNEW that if I actually owned it, OCR's posting productivity would go way, way down! :-D We're already at more than 150 OC ReMixes posted this year, but I dream of one day stacking up them Jokers. Gario's all too familiar with the siren's call of Balatro, praising not only the game, but the way Mattmatatt picked up the theme's pace with his version:

"Haha, I've been a bit stuck on this game lately (great game, highly recommended for any roguelike fan), instantly knew the source since it only has one song playing throughout. Dunno how the source does it, but it never gets boring. Just oddly pleasant throughout, so let's see what your track brings to the table. [...]

I love the overall atmosphere - it just jams out and has a good time with the uptempo track. The timing of the source was probably tricky to work with since the time signature of the source is unusual and shifts freely, but you do a pretty good job jamming with it."

I'm thankful we've got Mattmatatt to keep me vicariously Balatro-ed while I stressfully wait to one day pick up LocalThunk's modern masterpiece. The soloing toward the end (2:09-2:31) exudes fun, and those arpeggios Matt mentioned will deck you in the face with how great they sound. This grooves so well, if you have a pulse, you're gonna loop this constantly. Given how easily Mattmatatt sailed through the panel, here's hoping he tries his hand at submitting more music our way; we're confident he doesn't just have to rely on the luck of the draw! ;-)