ReMix: Double Dragon III: The Sacred Stones 'J! Groove'

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Mr. Morse brings us our first mix from Billy and Jimmy Lee's third adventure. While the Bad Dudes were busy being bad enough to save the president, Hammer and Spike were still plowing through an extended plotline that frankly, after smashing fifty-thousand multi-colored abobos to a bloody, malformed pulp, some of us lost track of. Never fear, however, because Joshua is here with a refresher, featuring some groovetastic sequencing with a tight beat and pentatonic riffage aplenty, comparable to aspects of Palpable's fairly recent Mystical Ninja ReMix. You've got a plucked koto-style timbre covering melody, some clean pizzicato style backing rhythmic goings on, pads, wah-guitar funkiness, deep, warm bass that keeps things moving and swaps between shorter, punctuated hits and sustained notes, and piano that gets a slick jazz solo spotlight in the third minute and then counterpoints the koto. Brandon summarized the general panel vibe and my own feelings as well:

"The first thing that strikes right off the bat is the pretty disparate sound quality of the samples. The funky wah guitar, the phat bass, the clean and subdued rhodes and the warm piano are all very nice and mesh well. But then there’s the classical guitar, the pizz strings and the koto that are not below the bar, but are close to it. However, Joshua has done a heck of a job sequencing and layering these dubious elements into a very fun jam-like piece. The chorus sections a la :40 are slick indeed. Some creative processing, such as a phaser or a little wah on the koto during its leads might have taken some of the edge off but as-is, it does a sufficient job of carrying the piece."

Jesse actually changed his vote of his own accord after listening a couple times. I'll agree that the koto is a little out of place as it's a bit loud, mixed dry, and not of the sonic calibre the rest of the elements display (some judges apparently thought it even sounded like a banjo...), but the sequencing definitely compensates with quick, articulate passages, and when you add the very tasteful, enjoyable piano solo on top of that, it's the business. Good stuff from JM; some of the tightest stuff I've heard from him, groovetastic, fun and intricate at the same time.

― djpretzel