ReMix: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest 'Savage Seduction'

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OCR00999 comes in courtesy of he-who-doth-obsess-over-DKC-music, Ari Asulin aka Protricity. This time it's the second DKC, in a swing-time electro-funk that's very late 80's/early 90's in its dense mixture of funky, processed pop drums, a variety of well-programmed synth leads, an equally impressive variety of uber-groove, meaty synth basslines, and overall slick production quality. In particular, the basslines in this six-minute opus are an improvement over Ari's previous work, and stand out not just as a competent anchor for the track, but as a highlight unto themselves. This is essentially a medley of several tracks from DKC2, though things remain at-tempo and in swing-time throughout, making the transitions smooth and natural. There's some great drum slicing+processing towards the mid-section, with attention paid to balance and effects at all times. I'd normally have some reservations about a piece that basically cycles through several motifs without an overall hook or dominant motif, but this is an unabashed jam track. Actually, it sounds similar to the demos you often hear built in to professional synth workstations, which in serving their designed purpose of showing off the hardware's power also usually skip from bit to bit, cycling through different sounds, with very fine-tuned solos, breaks, effects, and bass action. That's something of a compliment, especially in terms of production quality and glossy, flamboyant arranging. This has more of an all-out jam, "for the hell of it" feel than some of Ari's other pieces, and proves that he's still able to pull very fresh, new musical interpretations out of the Donkey Kong Country universe. As we move to the next thousand ReMixes here on OCR, it'll be interesting to see whether that remains the case, or whether Ari and other series-preferential ReMixers begin to spread out their source material a bit more. I'm all for variety, myself, but in the end it boils down to a question of personal inspiration for each individual artist, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Kudos to Protricity for one of his most impressive works to date, showing some new style+panache in the process. Recommended.

― djpretzel