Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest "Rose Gray" 3:57

We continue our anniversary celebration of the original Donkey Kong Country! Following Mel Decision's magnificent mining melancholy, Japanese electronic music duo PRIDASK's upbeat DKC2 J-pop is the "Stickerbush" bop we didn't know we needed! Teaming with vocalist & lyricist Aikapin, arranger & producer Tomoyuki Sakakida noted the legendary D. Wise as a major artistic inspiration:

"This is a vocal arrangement of "Brambles" with a modern twist. We created this "Stickerbush Symphony (Bramble Blast)" arrangement in honor of David Wise, who has greatly influenced our music."

This opens up pretty conservatively, but, particularly through Aikapin's vocals, it was easy for PRIDASK to add interpretation here. Judge paradiddlesjosh thoroughly examined this ReMix's structure and plucked out several flowery highlights:

"Starting with source usage, this one is relatively straightforward in its approach to the source material. The biggest shifts include introducing the B melody (~0:38-1:08 of "Stickerbrush Symphony") before the A melody (~0:19-0:38 of "Stickerbrush") in the form of a drumless chorus before bringing in the groove, the filter-automated noise swish in the break from 1:45-2:02, and the double chorus repeating the B melody at 2:15-3:12. [...] I think the vocalist's performance helps lift this track from a cover into something fitting OCR's arrangement standards.

The intro does a great job building up the energy – the wind chimes around 0:17 are a nice touch, as is the lowpass filter automation on the plucky synth and the drum fill at 0:42 [...] The rhythmic tension between the disco drums, the bass, and the fuzzy pad keeps the groove pushing forward [...] the highpass filter sweep on the drums into the fill for the chorus at about 1:14 keeps things interesting. The 808 at the break (1:45) is a nice touch, as is the filter automation here. [...]

Then there's the drum fill we heard in the intro at 2:01 and we're back into a verse that's identical to the first one save for the vocals and the lyrics, right down to the filter sweep+fill at 2:15. There's a double-chorus to follow [...] Another repeated drum fill at 3:11 and we get an outro [...]

In terms of mixing and production, this one is well done. Each instrument has its own defined space in the soundscape, the vocals are prominent, and the drums have a tasteful punch to them. [...]

This is a fun track to throw on and move the booty to! The vocal performance is great and the mix is clean [...] transformative enough for the bar."

From 2:02-2:21, the vocals had other original composition that kept things fresh. 2:21 & 2:48 were more reprises of what came before, but 3:13 had vocals arranging the lines from :20 of the source which was a good way to close it. Yep, there's noticeable repetition, which a few Js had reservations on, but nothing beyond the pale for pop from our overall vantage point. Based on what paradiddlesjosh said, I can only imagine fellow judge Emunator was shakin' his tail, because he unequivocally loved this and wouldn't let any nitpicky thorns diminish this rose:

"I think this is unambiguously amazing. Stickerbush's lead melody translates so well into vocal arrangements in a way that most video game tunes don't - it almost feels like the original might have been written with this sort of approach in the back of mind. The performance is stellar, right up there with mainstream J-pop in terms of performance and expressiveness, and really carries the arrangement. The backing instrumentation is no slouch either, offering just enough variation on the original composition that it doesn't feel like a vocal cover over a backing track [...] this is clearly something people are going to love [...] I think we're missing the forest for the trees here, and to me, this is a really lovely forest :)"

Part of our mission at OC ReMix is demonstrating the quality & flexibility of video game music compositions through interpretation, so taking "Stickerbush Symphony" in a J-pop direction is definitely a "mission accomplished" moment. :-) A wholly unexpected genre choice by PRIDASK, yet their bread-and-butter vocal adaptation fits like a glove!