Super Mario 64 "Despair, Down at the Docks..." 6:23

Some dire, dire thoughts predicated mo.oorgan's chaotic chimera of a sophomore ReMix, and it's Super Mario 64's water music as you've absolutely never heard it before. With a ton on their mind, a laundry list of influences, and even a corresponding photo, fire this up as mooooo.ooooorgan sets the scene:

"This song has definitely been a long time in the making, being barred by a lot of big life events, but I can only express gratitude that it has come to where it is currently. An especially huge thanks to Chimpazilla for lending their expertise to mastering for this track, and to Workshop folks for helping me get over the proverbial hump of this track when I was stuck on how to proceed forward with it.

While any exact meaning behind the song is intentionally ambiguous, it describes a story of different stages of a relationship, from the start to the end of one. The song itself, however, is about sudden, sweeping changes, and it definitely leans into this via the instrumentation.

This track goes through three different movements, where each one is intended to hit harder than the previous one. The first section features a multi-layered/heavily distorted gated synth, which was inspired by Fred again..'s style of processing lead synths on tracks across the album Actual Life 3 (january 1 – september 9 2022). This album has meant a lot to me since it released, especially in the way they always manage to convey so much emotion in their songs. I opted to apply a relatively more aggressive tone to the lead, as well as more EDM-style glitch transitions in a vein of ISOxo, but on a garage/2-step groove, and, while it's not my favorite part of the song, I think it contextualizes the rest appropriately.

The 2nd section was a bit more inspired by "classic" styles of dance music, like trance and techno, but with some notes of modern production blended in. This is kind of a call to the stylings of the Virtual Self project from Porter Robinson, as well as the various styles of trance I've imbued into my subconscious from hours of listening to Armin Van Buuren's ASoT radio show, that takes classic forms of electronic music, and poses them with a more modern awareness. This section makes use of two different phrases from "Dire, Dire Docks" in a repetitive manner to make it more danceable, as well as to build tension to the 2nd verse/bridge section.

The 2nd bridge switches to "Piranha Plant's Lullaby" as the source, and evolves to be an improvisation of the blending of both sources into one. This is intentionally complemented by the vocal bit repeating "wake up", as the song transitions from a full-blown metal section.

While the lead-in to this section is atypical, I wanted it to feel very sudden, to convey a metaphorical sentiment of how quickly life can change without any hint of a warning. This section harkens back to years of metal influence, but borrows most from Trivium's Embers to Inferno album, which has always held a deep place in the heart of my angsty teenage self. The first solo section takes starting phrases from the source and elaborates on them differently, then moves into a solo of its own to just capture the essence of a virtuoso-style "dad rock" solo with techniques borrowed from Randy Rhoads. The final section of the metal section calls back to the chorus motif of "Dire, Dire Docks". Admittedly, I don't have this fret to play the highest note needed on my guitar in the song's tuning, I was able to retune it to standard for the 3 notes, and then just tapped the strings above the frets for the final notes of the section, because frets are just a suggestion at the end of the day.

The outro brings the metal into the verse/bridge palette, and uses a technique I've developed myself as a blend between the DragonForce guitarist Herman Li's "Pac-Man" technique and Randy Rhoads-style slides (*see "Crazy Train's" intro), swathed in delay and reverb. The final moment is a phone ringing, with the final ring being extended well beyond normal to emphasize the feeling of hoping someone answers the phone just before it goes to voicemail and how long that ring can feel (or be, depending on a technical circumstance of some phone lines).

The origin for the song name (if not just to match the alliteration of "Dire, Dire Docks") is from coming off the tail of multiple large life changes over multiple months, and while being down at the utmost corner of the piers in Seattle recently, with nobody around at all, and taking in the sight of it all, witnessing how the pressure & stress from those changes lift away when taking in the sight & expanse of it all. The ellipsis is more an implication of a incomplete title, the full one being "Despair, Down at the Docks, Stays at the Docks"."

So we're swimming in the murky meanings of relationship anguish, got it. Time to swim together and ride this wave then! :-) I loved this theme as a kid, and I've always got a healthy respect for wildly transformative arrangements -- else I wouldn't be here -- so I'm always glad to hear someone majorly muck with a classic composition and comfortably fuse it with wholly original sections as well. Right from the pensive opening, the sound design's pretty cool, and I appreciate giving this a not-dour-yet-darker edge; very exploratory, and I didn't expect the... let's say indulgent... rock turn 4 minutes in. :-) This one's got quite the ramp-up with the transition to the excellent electric guitar-led section at 4:07. Rexy and I were on the same wavelength, impressed by the sheer scope and extended arc of the arrangement:

"Oh wow, this is definitely super indulgent. I was already impressed enough with the idea of putting DDD in a minor key, and bringing in a nod to "Piranha Plant's Lullaby" had me sold - but three movements of the source, in three completely different emotional packages, contextualising the development of a relationship whether romantic or even platonic? Now, THAT hits deep. From the lively treatment of the source in the initial build and two-step section, to the more intimate-sounding EDM second section, to the outright broken nature of the heavy metal section with eventual blast beats and quadruple kick pedal (!!), there's so much contextually that has something that a listener can easily interpret this ride of an emotional bond in their own way. [...]

With that ambition also comes its way of being placed together. Obviously the tones are all well put together, whether it be synths, guitars, percussion or various other effects. [...] The only thing that stuck out as concerning for me was the un-synergized tonality between the lead guitar shredding and the more minimalist chords, which makes sense concerning the different tuning put in play. It's no irk for me, as at the end of the day, timings and performances are tight enough to let the section run through in its intended (chaotic) format.

It's a very easy vote - super ambitious, obvious use of the source BGM albeit twisted in more ways than one, all wrapped up in a powerful package. Let's get this on board."

An easy vote, for sure. Dayum, Mo, where'd you musically incubate? Arriving here all fully formed and shit... :-P Though I'm sure it helped to some extent, it definitely wasn't *just* under big brother Emunator's learning tree, as you've immediately carved out your own musical identity around here. Fellow judge prophetik music couldn't handle every audio twist and turn, but he was musically jostled by mo.oorgan's massive change of mood here, taking a water theme we all associate with relaxation and turning it into a rollercoaster:

"what a ride! this is so broad from start to finish, showing a ton of versatility and stylistic influences. [...] what a broad spectrum of approaches and concepts. i certainly don't know of another DDD concept that comes at the original from so many different directions."

mo.oorgan's messy Mario 64 piece here is amazing, their Pikmin debut was a trippy treasure, and they're just... getting... started! Remember the name, because you'll be thinking about them a lot. :-) Just you wait for some more of their creative gold coming down the pike. Open ears, open minds... can't lose! ;-)