Kid Icarus: Uprising "Aurum Borealis" 4:07

jnWake goes jazzy with a Dwelling of Duels collab on a Yuzo Koshiro theme (surprise!) from Kid Icarus: Uprising, with Jabo, newmajoe, and AarekMG fleshing this out on guitars, saxes, and trumpet, respectively. Wake's love for the game had him destined to arrange this track when an opportune DoD format landed in his lap:

"Jazz/metal remix of "Aurum Island" from Kid Icarus: Uprising. Yet another DoD month, yet another submission. Hot from Alien Month in October 2024, the theme was to pick a source/game related to aliens. I picked "Aurum Island" from Kid Icarus: Uprising, a game (and soundtrack) very underrated by the general video game crowd. This theme plays in a random alien invasion arc in the game, so it was eligible! I've loved it since I played the game, since it's a random smooth jazz track in what's (generally) a soundtrack composed of bombastic orchestral arrangements. For my take on the track, I decided to add a bit of a metal flair to it, plus some fun time signature and key changes! I decided to keep part of the original's instrumentation, recruiting awesome collabers Joe and Nathan to make a fun ensemble. I added, as usual, electric guitars in the form of frequent awesome collaber Jabo. Since the DoD theme was "Alien", I decided to pick some less expected sounds to finish the soundscape, like a synth bass instead of a real bass, electronic toms on the drums, and several random SFX like weird sounds and glitches. I think the arrangement came out with a fun and fresh sound because of that. In terms of arrangement, outside of chord changes here and there, the main variation I did over the original was switching some parts from 4/4 to 7/8, but I'll detail that later. Track ended up coming 4th out of 26 entries, a good result in what was a very stacked competition!"

That's a cool source tune; hey hey! Gonna have to check out the rest of this soundtrack at some point. Kid Icarus wasn't the most iterated upon franchise, so I have 0 conception of what its audio signature, so to speak, would be. From the sound of it, neither did Nintendo; never would have thought a source track like this would be in a modern Kid Icarus game. It has a semi-stealthy vibe, so I was interested in what jnWake could work with here. Wake provided us his customary arrangement breakdown:

"0:00-0:30: Intro. The goal here was to introduce the main elements of the soundscape. It's kinda based on the source intro's buildup, but I added an original chord progression.

0:30-1:15: Main melody of the source. Here, I switched the main arpeggio to 7/8 for the fun aspect, although there's some bars that return to 4/4.

1:15-1:25: Original riff based on the main arpeggio.

1:25-1:46: Based on the second main melody of the source (played by the synth lead).

1:46-2:05: Another buildup with toms and fun chords!

2:05-2:24: Just like in "Waka Waka", Aarek gets to shine with a jazzy solo!

2:25-2:38: Saxes and guitar play the main melody over a constantly moving chord progression.

2:38-2:49: This riff closes each loop in the source. I made it more metal here and it sounds really cool, IMO.

2:58-3:38: Repeat of the second main melody, but now much more similar to the source. Followed by a sax solo on a transposed version of the same chord progression.

3:38-end: Metal riff returns, but now with awesome sax over it! Makes for a powerful ending!"

Arrangement opens with pew-pews and the foreshadowing that this was going to go in a jazzier direction. Rocks out and Fs with the time sig at :30; a subtle yet cool curveball. The overall style approach has a great deal of swagger to it. I'm always down for some FM synth spices sprinkled in there, even if it's just a little bit. Nice energy to Jabo's geetar at 2:05, giving more energy to the source melody compared to past iterations and interplaying well with the brass. OH SNAP, sax solo at 3:19! Don't hurt 'em, newmajoe! These bros hit us so hard with jazzy goodness, judge Hemophiliac was feeling insane in the membrane:

"This is all kinds of weird and unexpected that I've come to expect from the mind of jnWake. There's even some new ear candy tricks that you implored to great effect here. Those glitch-slicing transition into a phaser was awesome.

I gotta give props to Jabo because they're mostly relegated to a supporting role, but was handled so well. Not in your face when I know they have the capability of really shredding and shining. Joe is always excellent and this one is no exception.

Really digging the arrangement as the source is immediately apparent, but with all of the awesome interpretation goodness all over. All of the performers sound great, with excellent performances. With a crystal clear mix of everything. The only danger was approaching very busy parts in the mid-to-high range could potentially step on toes. You all managed to avoid that though. [...]

Absolute aurum. Great work."

No doubt, smart stuff per jnWake's usual. The intelligence of the arranging will make you feel smarter, it'll get the brain juices flowing. judge prophetik music's verdict - vibin':

"this is a slam dunk. i love the mix of genres, the approach with the live instruments alongside the obvious synth elements, and the shape of the arrangement overall. excellent work."

We love it when a great plan comes together, and that's practically guaranteed when jnWake's at the helm! Jabo, Aarek, Joe, a tip of the cap for bringing Wake's wildness to life. Bruh, this is FUN. :-)