ReMix: The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening 'Braving Tal Tal Heights'

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Disco Dan-the-Man Cabrera continues his polygamous deviation from Mega Man arrangements, most recently indulged in last December, to give us some Zelda: Link's Awakening techno-with-a-twist, featuring hyperactive, quantized banjo riffage, a soaring violin lead, and good variety all around. Just don't tell Mega Man he's being slept around on, I don't think he could take it. While Dan's fidelity in terms of near-monogamous series loyalty might be in decline (a good thing, by my way of thinking), the fidelity of his mixes is high as ever. We've had to wait more than half a year since his prophetically titled 'Green Amnesia' CT ReMix (Dan likes to climb things, fall off them, and then temporarily forget everything, in that order) for him to return, but this Zelda mix should please many. It's definitely not your cookie-cutter electronica mix; though it does take the original and give it a good danceable makeover, this piece also does some weird juxtapositions, like the afforementioned banjos, an almost zydeco shuffling snare riff towards the end, and violin and piano serving as primary lead instruments overtop a VERY layered background. Nice use of delay to fill things out, and the rhythm track deserves a nod too for some tight, multi-layer grooves and well-placed fills. Though I believe quantizing a banjo part is against the law in at least ten of the contiguous 48 states here in the US, Dan makes it work by blending it in with underlying analog synth patterns and the heavy-downbeat drums. The lead violin is extremely well-handled - it's a great patch, well-mixed, and the articulation and dynamics make it dip, dive, and fly over top the arrangement in a very liberated, expressive fashion. I still think it would have been funny if the mix had been titled "Braving Tal Tal Bachman"; for some reason I find that inexplicably amusing to no end. Feel free to depart in your own reaction :) Great way to do a good techno rendition of a theme then shake things up with imagination, creativity, iconoclastic instrumentation, and good production and mastering as well. Recommended.

― djpretzel