The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Weed Wackers" 4:40

After appearing with minusworld for a pair of pieces, Roland N. Laracuente Martínez makes his arrangement debut on OCR, and it's a doozy! Flanked by several of DoD's finest, Nirst goes polyrhythmic with Kalle Demos's boss theme from Zelda: The Wind Waker:

• Arrangement/Bass Guitar: Roland (Noel) LM
• Lead Guitar: Pixels of Pixels & Paradiddles
• Rhythm Guitar: minusworld
• Programmed Drums: Paradiddles of Pixels & Paradiddles
• Keyboards (Hammond Organ, String Synthesizers, Piano): jnWake
• Mixing/Mastering Engineer: Aimrys Klayne

As Roland attests to (full comments in the MP3), neither he nor we know how exactly he kept this all straight, but virtuosos are gonna virtuoso, so we're gonna trust his process:

"This was a personal project born from chaos.

I haven't arranged anything from the Zelda series yet until very recently. This is the second Zelda arrangement I've written and recorded (titled "Kalle Demos"). It just so happened to align with the similar May themes for both the Dwelling of Duels monthly competition and Pixel Mixers' monthly contest -- so I submitted it to both. Why not? I thought it was the perfect chance to do Zelda, but not a typical, well-known Zelda tune. It had to be weirder and more unknown.

I have influences from many, many styles and genres of music. Based on the piano part I arranged, it does sound like Hamasyan. But this arrangement is heavily influenced by the intensity, chaos, mathematical nature, convolution, and beautiful absurdity of Panzerballett's music, and most importantly, my brain. The insanity that happens in my mind -- an explosion of complex rhythms, harmony, and whatever else refuses to follow the rules. In short, prog, jazz-metal, mathcore, avant-garde, all of that. I love extreme complexity.

This is one of the most complex, yet THE most accessible arrangement I've written (I didn't have accessibility in mind - all I did was write and play). I consider this a jazz-metal arrangement.

If you'd like to know how I wrote this... DM me privately. I'm not revealing the secrets of writing and arranging music like this out in the open. ;-)

If you're confused... you're listening correctly."

Compo double duty too?!? Roland clearly rides every wavelength he can, simultaneously! Now, for anyone unfamiliar with the source, you definitely get more out of this arrangement by getting familiar with the original theme, but it's worth taking the time to do so, even though Kalle Demos is a pretty freaky creature. That said, the collective brought great energy here, so don't think too hard, just bask in the plant monster musicianship! 2:22-3:33 has Roland's one-take bass solo that's gotta be seen to be believed! Judge Hemophiliac was able to handle this weed-wacking curveball:

"I'm all for wild and complex, and this does not disappoint in either regard. [...]

I don't think this track would have been successful without establishing the ostinato and strong beats right out of the gate. I pretty much feel the 2:3:2 all the way through the piece and this really acts as the anchor for the whole run. Any time that is going it makes it feel like we're referencing the source somehow. I don't know how you managed that but kudos. [...]

FWIW, I love the title as well, got a good laugh from me on that. It both calls out the time sig and the boss fight as well :'-D"

Great book title to name the ReMix after too; an oldie but goodie. Just like the original track, this feels super-chaotic, and this take leans into the turbulence 716%. According to Roland: "This arrangement also had a lot of space for every instrument to shine without being right on top of another. Everyone is playing together without interrupting others. It's music that's heavy, but it also breathes very well." He's not wrong; I loved hearing the different part-writing all swirling around the arranged "Kalle Demos" melody, even if the mathematics behind these time sigs make me yearn for the days of flunking out of Calculus II. :-D A heapin' helping o' prog, this is nothing but fun!