Super Mario Galaxy "Dancing with the Wind" 6:43

Time to celebrate Mar10 Day once again, and we're doing it with class via an adventurous visit to Super Mario Galaxy courtesy ZackParrish and seven spirited collaborators including his lovely wife Pearl Pixel!

• ZackParrish: arrangement, production, keys, guitar, mixing, mastering
• Emunator: production, keys, sound effects
• Shea's Violin: violin, additional parts
• TSori: trumpet
• Gamer of the Winds: flute
• Pearl Pixel: oboe
• Chromatic Apparatus: cello
• Sean R. Hanson: auxiliary percussion

Parrish has been eyeing that precious, prestigious DoD gold like a Gollum, and this one was super-close with a medal to show for it up against a stacked field. The compo was a great excuse for Zack to tackle a long-awaited source tune choice, modern classic "Gusty Garden Galaxy":

"A few months ago, I collabed on a track that Xaleph did for his debut Dwelling of Duels entry, "Cybernetic Skullstorm". Was quite a track and managed to pull in the bronze on it with his debut, so that was pretty awesome. Then the twins, paramcdiddles or somethin', invited Xaleph and I to join them for another month of DoD. So we did, conjuring up the track "Stay Away", a chaotic adventure into constantly changing complex time signatures. Sometimes, you just need to feel the music instead of counting to 4. :)

Anyway, I was supposed to collab with them again but decided to take my own chances heading a track for July's competition. It was a free month, so I decided to finally arrange a piece of music that I've wanted to do for quite some time. Gusty Garden Galaxy's theme just slaps you in the face repeatedly with the catchy and memorable melodies. Anyway... I dove in right away and sketched out the entire thing in a couple of days. Soft beginnings, big endings. That was the plan. And I stuck to it. As I worked on it, I moved away from purely using guitar as the "performance" part of DoD and started roping in more and more performers as I progressed. The track wouldn't be what it is without everybody that pitched in, and I can't thank the crew enough for their support and enthusiasm during the process. Was an awesome experience and everyone that contributed to the piece did an amazing job."

When it comes to his sound design, mixing, and mastering support, Zack's incredible at making those around him sound great, so it's appreciated that when it's his turn to lead, Parrish's collaborators make him sound great. For this Mario Galaxy treatment specifically, judge Hemophiliac cited the value Zack's collaborators had in making his more measured & delicate vision for the theme shine:

"This is really lovely, another great arrangement with tremendous performances from everyone.

The restraint that is demonstrated early in the track really allows it to develop and explode into a wonderful full sound late into the track. Slow burn again pays off with cool vibes. [...]

Frankly my favorite stuff about this is in the first half of the arrangement when things are exposed and sparse. The piano early on is a great gentle accompaniment. The acoustic is wonderful. The 1:34-2:05 gentle sine synth was such an unexpected but ever so fitting addition that really felt that it belonged within the context of all of the acoustic setting. Very well done!"

Much love indeed to that signature sine wave cameo for real Mario Galaxy authenticity. I as well greatly appreciated the fullness in the live contributions. Obviously, it's not entirely a spaghetti Western track, but I got some pasta Morricone vibes from this regardless, thanks to TSori at 2:09 along with the complimentary guitar and percussion, of course. Oh boy, Pearl Pixel on oboe at 4:55 was a quick treat as well with excellent interplay with the lead. On top of Parrish shaping this piece, he was also pretty suavemente in his playing of the guitar, which alone is already worth the listen. Great original writing elements & performances here throughout to bolster an already legendary Mario composition. Mamma mia, this is super smart arranging, don't you dare blow past it! :-)