ReMix: Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest 'From Within'

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Though not affiliated with Kong in Concert, this ReMix from the second DKC (also known as Protricityville) is quite the cool. Newcomer Darangen (Michael Boyd) had much to say as to the origins of this inspired rock arrangement of DKC2's mine theme:

" last week my girlfriend and I decided it was best that we split up before we ruin the friendship we had before we were together, but no matter how or when you break up there is always that feeling of pain and sorrow. So I picked up my guitar and started playing around with writing a song, and sooner or later I got the basic foundation of the song written and recorded. Then came the hardest part for me, writing the lyrics (which I still haven't been able to do). No, this isn't a vocal mix at all. Anyways, first I had to come up with a melody line, and I usually start with the chorus for that. I already had the solo (1:53-2:22) written and all the other musical parts except for a melody. So I started playing around on my guitar for a chorus melody so I could figure out what I wanted the chorus to sound like to make it easier to fill in the verses afterwards. While playing, I suddenly started playing what sounded VERY much like the Mines from DKC2. I didn't originally intend for this song to be a remix, but they just sounded so good together I couldn't resist, so I filled in the chorus with the Mine Theme and the verses with a call/answer type deal which I intended to be a male and female echo originally and in any other place that would've had vocals I put the Mine Theme with some new spins on it. I still plan on writing lyrics and doing what I originally intended for this song, but that will be later and for a different audience."

You can certainly hear where lyrics would work - where the structure would support them - but this is remarkably complete without the vocals for a track that was designed with them in mind, with a strong guitar lead presence through most of the track, which features a great 80's rock lead that would make many a hair band proud, a variety of guitar textures including the afforementioned screaming lead, 'Don't Fear the Reaper' chorused electric, acoustic rhythm, and an unobstrusive bass. Some dern good acoustic rock drumming going on, as well - all too often it's the case that someone who is very talented with guitar ends up without a drummer and settles for a drum track that's not as dynamic as it could be. This apparently reminded a couple of the judges of The Police - as they're one of my favorite bands, I have to confess that I don't see huge resemblance (more the intro and percussion than anything else), but this is still great stuff - it's multi-textured and dynamic, featuring a good cross-section of kickassish bits mixed in with more subdued, subtle verses that you could definitely envision a vocal fitting nicely into. Darangen fairly liberally interpreted the original, but there's enough to pass the litmus test of recognizability, leading Judge Oji to comment that the ReMixer:

"...did a good job of taking a small section from the original and simply working within the framework of that. As long as I'm able to make tangible, significant enough connections to the source material, I'm willing to approve fairly liberal ideas like that."

This has a nice, more classic rock vibe to it, and there's a hint of The Police, Blue Oyster Cult, etc. in certain aspects. Definitely an interesting, unique direction to take the more ambient vibe of DKC's soundtrack in. I'm curious as to what the finished product, complete with vocals, would sound like, but it might end up being too distant from the source material in such an incarnation. Great initial mix from Darangen that's almost like an instrumental from Game Over. Rockin'.

― djpretzel