ReMix: Super Mario Bros. 'Moisturor'

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I saw Aerosmith, Nine Inch Nails, The Strokes, and Steely Dan in concert this summer, and from a sheer musicianship perspective, nothing came close to touching Steely Dan. Those were also the cheapest tickets, as we paid $10 for lawn seating at Nissan. Every single one of the numerous instrumentalists were fantastic, and the music was written around their skills; it never felt like they were just trying to sound impressive, but rather that their abilities factored into the songs themselves. This is relevant because when I compared ilp0's first ReMix to Donald Fagen and company, for me it was a pretty big compliment. Well, I'm happy to report that Finn Ilari Nieminen loses none of that uniqueness and vitality in his second mix, a 3/4 rock ballad instrumental - of sorts. It's yet another arrangement of SMB, coming back to back with Neskvartetten's take on the main theme, but in this instance covers the wonderfully floating and serendipitous water music. The beauty of this arrangement isn't in the notes playing the melody, but the swimming, circumscribing accompaniment. Although, actually, the melody's pretty darn good, too; with a few key interpretive and bridging passages, Ilari has extended Kondo-san's lovely but brief melody into a four-minute piece. Brad Smith's shorter, acoustic guitar rendition from '02 is still charmingly succinct, but ilp0's managed to milk more length from the material, without any signs of stretching it thin; that's quite an accomplishment in and of itself. The guitar performances are great, but I really don't wanna undersell the piano here - it's not as dominant, sure, but the parts are lovely, flowing, and most importantly impeccably pertinent to the direction of the piece. It's the type of thing Steely Dan always excelled at, in my opinion, so the comparison still resonates for me, and I can't wait to see what ilp0 will cook up next.

― djpretzel