EarthBound "10 Years" 4:07

In his now-established tradition of handling Nintendo franchises, shieldeater shifts his sights from Zelda & DK over to the weird & wonderful world of EarthBound!

"hi OCR, this track is my take on "Dr. Andonuts' Lab". the source is fairly minimal - mainly three melodic fragments over a drone. i build it out from there with guitar, bass, drums, strings, and reharmonizing with each repetition and adding a couple of "Beatlesque" touches. it ends up in a place that feels a little warmer and more hopeful than the emotionally distant original, perhaps suggesting the possibility of reconciliation. there are also one or two brief quotes from other Earthbound material. hope you enjoy!"

I dig the mood this sets as well as shieldeater's ability to vamp and expand upon the source tune with original writing ideas, with the source tune at the foundation of the piece. I also enjoyed how things really ramped up post-2:22. Judge prophetik music keyed into the mutating energy and strong sound design in his post-rock play-by-play:

"starts with some wide pads and a pretty similar initial representation of the original. there's a fairly immediate transition to some phased drums, guitar, and bass at 0:56. drums are doing some neat things with time and drop out in interesting places, which is fun. there's a lot of ear candy added - the kalimba at 1:40, the synth stuff at 1:32, guitar work at 1:52 - so despite the lack of traditional arrangement, the upscaling is pretty solid.

there's some push and pull to the time at 2:15, and the drums and bass kick the groove up soon after. i appreciate the wildness this brings to the table, as the parts kind of fall apart and come back together again at 2:50 or so. i can definitely hear the warmth you've attempted to infuse into this track - it's present both in the instrumentation and in the mastering. those rising synths at 3:14 are delicious. there's some strings to carry the first melodic fragment at 3:25, and those carry the rest of the track along some light accoutrement.

this is delightful. uplifting, warm, a summer breeze type of track that has some really fun nooks and crannies to explore. excellent work."

There's a nice blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo of "You've Come Far, Ness" at 3:10, and the strings at 3:25 doubled the "Dr. Andonuts" melody well to add poignant emotional resonance to the finish. Fellow judge Emunator was on the same wavelength as proph, appreciating the production nuances and sound choices, yet even further stirred by shieldeater's successful sojorn at Dr. Andonuts' Lab:

"There's something about the EarthBound soundtrack that brings out the best in anyone who touches it. [...] It's amazing to see how much juice you've squeezed out of such a minimalist, deep-cut original. I think it's the juxtaposition of quirky, mechanical and often dissonant source material, along with an undercurrent of real human emotion that flows through the core compositions that makes an arrangement like this possible. It's a delicate balance to strike, but successfully threading that needle is what has yielded some of my favorite remixes on the site from artists like Rellik, sci or Ridley Snipes.

Admittedly, this is much more organic and emotionally resonant than shieldeater's previous submissions, but it doesn't fully abandon the psychadelic edge that was present there, either. There's plenty of ear candy and tape warble and out-of-left-field fills that keep you on your toes, but it's truly special to hear that merged with such warm chord progressions and touching performances. This will easily be a mainstay on my personal listening rotation, this one is a stunner!"

Nice and chill, shieldeater's retained all the hallmarks and charm of EarthBound's classic music with none of the soundchip limitations. It's an excellent example of how a faithful cover can be more than just melodic fidelity, it's maintaining the vibe and authenticity of a piece while still putting your own instrumentation and compositional stamps on it. This one's lab-grown goodness you'd be foolish to pass up; shieldeater on the marquee is guaranteed good!

P.S. Hey, Doc, it's been too long. Visit your kid once in a while. :-P