ReMix: Castlevania 'Belmont Lounge'

The ReMixer writes:

"While I realize that a lot of these chords aren't true jazz theory chords, my intention was to convey the cheesy, homogenous nature of lounge music, as if the Belmont Family had started up a bar band to jam out their zombie fightin' frustrations."

Works for me - of course, he also forgot to include a link for the actual song in his email, which made tracking it down a little more difficult, but at least the payoff was a peculiar, somewhat eccentric medley of Castlevania melodies from the first two NES games and some from Symphony of the Night as well. While it starts out with a cheesier, lounge feel, by the time the distorted lead guitar takes over I'd say the tone has changed quite a bit, intentionally or not, and it's more serious and less camp. This was posted on our WIP forum (check it out & share your feedback on mixes before they show up here), to a pretty warm reception. While sample quality isn't stellar, it's not noticeably bad or prohibitive either, and this is the type of sequencing that overcomes such limitations to a large extent regardless. Less for the sound quality and more for the articulation and mixing, I will point out what I felt was my one point of reticence - the lead guitar at 4'06" is not very human or emotive, largely due to particularly weak attack and being mixed with a curious reverb and additional volume. I like the melody its covering and the general way it works in the arrangement, but sonically this is the one element that gave me pause. Everything else is pretty much like butta, and the sheer quantity of musical ideas, adaptations, and twists and turns is formidable. I'm not one for medleys, and not all of the transitions are seamless, but there's nothing too jarring, forced, or contrived, and the tradeoffs from piano to vibes to guitar work well. Chords, in spite of what Daniel says, sound pretty rich and developed to me. To top it off there's some excellent drum fills that keep true with the elaborate, sequenced feel.

Though it would have partially spoiled the lounge feel, I do think something in the midrange - preferably a pad, but if you wanted to maintain a semblance of truth to genre, an organ - could fill in some gaps where the drums, however good, are a little exposed. This is an accomplishment that Daniel should definitely be proud of, due again to the breadth of musical vision, some careful and attentive sequencing, and some truly nifty adaptation. If the Belmont Family had indeed started up a bar band to jam out their zombie fightin' frustrations, they could certainly do much, much worse. Good, versatile, controlled but exploratory uber-arrangement from Mr. Baranowsky, not to be missed.

UPDATE: the write-up above actually referenced a much older version of the ReMix in question. The newer version has now been uploaded. I was going to go back and edit my comments to fit with the new version, but instead I'm adding this update, because it's quite coincidental - everything I pointed out above as being problematic, down to the last detail, was addressed in the newer version. Looking back over my words, it's almost like I knew what the newer version sounded like in my mind. Weird - just one of those things. With the organ instead of guitar, different drums, and better mastering, this is really a superlative ReMix. Recommended.

― djpretzel