Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze "20,000 Bananas Under the Sea"

¡Felices Fiestas Patrias! To commemorate the start of the Chilean Homeland holidays, we have a feast for the ears in the form of this dynamic, luscious remix of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze from our most prolific Chilean ReMixer and Judge, jnWake! The artist had this to say about this arrangement:

"As usual, another DoD competition gone means another submission by me (wonder how long I can keep it up). Anyway, the monthly theme in November 2024 was David Wise, so I took the chance to cover something from Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, one of my favorite games and soundtracks. My picked source was "Amiss Abyss", one of the game's water levels which, as is Wise's tradition, features a beautiful, atmospheric theme. I've always loved this theme since it's very pretty. For my own take, I decided to keep the atmospheric and pretty side, so I went with a chill approach, with some jazz/fusion-ish elements in the mix, adding some elements from "Aquatic Ambiance" and "Lockjaw's Saga" as fun references. I also summoned my "we have Emunator at home" powers to add some sound design flourishes, as I sadly didn't have enough time to actually recruit Emunator and collaborate again. I worked hard soundscaping, hehe. In any case, I'm very happy with the final product, which ranked #8 among 34 entries in a very stacked month."

LOL. I love the implication that any form of sound design in a DoD track is just "emulating Emunator," although I do take issue with the "at home" part of that description. The sound design flourishes feel totally high-quality and are a natural fit with the rest of the arrangement. There's nothing bargain bin or store brand about anything that I'm hearing in this track! This is jnWake fully locked in and comfortable in a realm that he knows so well.

In an effort to continue making this writeup about myself, I'll quote my own comments from the Judges Decision thread where, in lieu of giving any constructive feedback, I gushed endlessly about how much I love this arrangement, which I've listened to countless times since its debut in Dwelling of Duels:

"The first 20 seconds of this set the stage for a rug pull, of sorts - everything starts off rather gridlocked and desolate, but then you suddenly pull the lid off and everything feels so alive and vibrant. I'm instantly transported from the lonely depths of the open ocean to a lush coral reef, overflowing with color and texture and activity. From floor to ceiling, you've breathed life into every synth lead line, backing arpeggio, and even the drum and bass tracks bring their own personality to the mix. It feels like a bags of classic jnWake tricks - I'm not necessarily hearing anything that I've never heard in one of his arrangements before (I cracked up when prophetik described 2:34 as "jnWake discovering the circle of fifths") but you picked an absolutely perfect source to bring them all to the table for, and executed flawlessly."

Although he is often best-known for his atmosphere and soundscaping, David Wise's compositions can also be characterized as nimble and fluid in the way they dance between melody and countermelodies, conveying a strong sense of movement without ever overshadowing the atmosphere. The soundtrack to DKC: Tropical Freeze felt like a career-defining showcase of this particular quality, but even then, I found myself moved by jnWake's ability to take these melodies even further, drifting seamlessly between key signatures and different rhythms like flotsam caught in an ocean current. jnWake is known for playing every part of his arrangements live on keyboards, and that extra human touch goes a long way to bring this musical ecosystem to life.