Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest "Kommand & Kongquer" 4:01

What's that racket?!? Fresh from Mega Mixtape's new album Feature Length: Donkey Kong Country Arranged (out for Donkey Kong Country's 31st anniversary), it's DK discordance, as jnWake pulls in TheManPF & Ronin Op F to vastly transform DKC2's "Crocodile Cacophony"!

"So, my friend Naop (from Mega Mixtape) decided it'd be a fun idea to organize an album featuring regulars of the Dwelling of Duels community, focusing on the Donkey Kong Country franchise. As we've collaborated a ton in the past, he chose me as one of the project leads and, naturally, as a contributor of music! I've always wanted to cover "Crocodile Cacophony", so I finally took the chance to do it! I'll admit though that it was kinda hard to do, since choosing a direction for the remix was tough. The original theme is a menacing, upbeat theme and I wanted to keep that but also add my own touch. I'm not really sure I actually kept the menacing part alive that much on my take but it's definitely upbeat, at least! One of the hardest parts was figuring out how to use the source's intro, since it's quite chromatic. In any case, I eventually managed to settle into some ideas and ended up building a metal-ish take with a lot of transitions and variations!

At first, I was kinda imagining to take this on a more jazz/synth mood but, eventually, I realized I needed guitars, so I contacted my friend and (also) fellow Latino, TheManPF. As usual, he completely nailed his parts, playing a nice solo! When I shared the track in the project's Discord server, Ronin offered me to add live strings and I obviously said yes! A couple days later, I received like 10 stems that simulate a string ensemble and promptly inserted into the mix."

Sections like 1:48-2:30 feature Ronin and TheManPF creating tension and aggression, respectively, but the arrangement doesn't need to stay menacing with the source tune to have something to say creatively, so we're glad Wake leaned into his penchant for dynamic proggyness, which never steers him wrong. Wake customarily provided his thorough arrangement breakdown:

"0:00-0:31: Intro, chord progression is based on the section just after the intro (as is the string rhythm).
0:32-0:48: The piano line echoes the string line from 0:16 on the source.
0:48-1:04: Repeat with PF on lead. The melody there is based on the melody from "Gangplank Galleon"!
1:04-1:20: My take on the 0:24 funky section from the original.
1:20-1:49: My take on the 0:33 of the original, both times (piano and synth) with some reharmonization and timing changes.
1:49-2:04: Transition based on first riff.
2:04-2:14: Finally, the source's intro!
2:14-2:46: Another variation of the 0:24 funky section of the original, with a guitar solo on top! At 2:30, there's variation of the previous riff on the leads.
2:46-3:24: Big transition into the final melody of the source (0:41), first on piano and then on guitar.
3:24-end: Keyboard solo over the riff from 1:04-1:20 to finish the track.

Hope you enjoy!"

We certainly did, with panelist prophetik music really summing it up nicely for we j00js:

"this is a really great ride. [...] you use every part of the song in interesting ways, and the overall ensemble sounds really solid together. [...] overall it's a really enjoyable track. nice work."

I'm familiar with Wake's work of course, yet I was very surprised by just how structurally interpretive the treatment ended up being here. Great job by Wake, TheMan, and Ronin with jib jiggerin' and reconfiggurin' [sic] this classic David Wise boss theme! Be sure to check out Mega Mixtape's Feature Length: Donkey Kong Country Arranged for this and a lot more from Dwelling of Duels' finest!