ReMix: Banjo-Kazooie 'Malevolent Mansion'

 prev   list all   next 

Download MP3
5,561,040 bytes, 4:38, 160kbps

So, as you might surmise from the mix title, this was originally going to be a Halloween mix, but we drove to Philadelphia Friday night, missing the festivities and cutting short my mix postage action. If we're supposed to make Earth Day every day, however, I don't see why that can't be extended to other holidays as well. This Banjo mix is actually well-timed for other reasons, seeing as we just interviewed series composer Grant Kirkhope. It's a collab from Audix and "newcomer" Nekofrog, who's been active (for better and worse) on our forums and actually had another solo submission earlier in the queue that you'll be seeing eventually. Greg writes:

"Ordinarily, Pendulum and Banjo-Kazooie's soundtrack would seem to be just about as opposite on the music spectrum as you could get, but I felt that Grant Kirkhope's great BK score--especially Mad Monster Mansion--would lend itself perfectly to frenetic Pendulum-inspired dnb/rock, with the usual necessary orchestral work. :)

The snare in particular took some time to develop, but I think the end result was worth it. I took special care to keep the original melodies somewhat intact, trying to use the uniqueness of the arrangement and interaction of melody lines and harmonies to define the creative side of it.

I had finished the majority of the track when I realized that some good metal guitar would really push the rock factor. I had worked with Neko on one of the tracks on my recent album release "One Day Millennium" (www.protagonistrecords.net/audix), and knew it was just a matter of time before we collaborated on an OCR sub. He laid down some licks that sounded great, and after some final production tweaks on my end, it was done.

Neko adds:

"Only took about a day and a half to lay the guitar tracks down, the project was kind of dropped into my lap at the last minute. But that's a good thing, I work best when there's pressure ;)

Production wise, I did my standard thing; quad tracked the guitars (boo double tracking!), and beat the hell out of my guitar. And yes, that is a low Ab note you hear in the 1:16 section -- I love 7 string guitars :)"

This one's monstrous - the quick pace makes the relatively normal 4'37" runtime seem copious, in a good way. This sorta sounds like crazy evil carnival music... almost an electronica take on the oft-overlooked soundtrack to Killer Klowns from Outer Space, which (not joking) *is* a compliment. Actually, if you harken back to Mega Man 2 'Nuclear Flash', which was also a collab between a primarily electronica artist and a guitarist and was also inspired by Pendulum, you'll notice some similarities. The source material is different, as this has a more Kefka-esque "happy evil" melody, but the production and arrangement have some definite parallels. Specifically, the tendency to switch in and out of half tempo and the integration of guitars, though I'm sure there are others. It was great there and it's great here; Jimmy writes:

"Pretty obvious call here. Fantastic expansion of the original. This is right up there with Monstrous Turtles. Both could sit nicely on any custom Halloween OCR playlist. I was chatting with Greg before about DnB, and how fun it is to make DnB tracks, he definitely brought it to the table here. And Justin's guitars only add more kick to this cup of awesome."

Pretty much; great stuff, an over-the-top collab that blends Justin's guitar in quite well and draws effectively from its influences, resulting in some excellent, evil electronica that's right for any day of the year.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.

Love the sounds at the start. A Kick ass mix.:-P

- yosefu on May 12, 2009

Really really good song. Congratulation. It's rare (lol) to have a d'n'b remix of a video game music. I love it.
It would be so cool if someone made a remix of the music of Rusty Bucket Bay. This is my favorite music of Banjo & Kazooie.

- Quizzman on April 26, 2009

Haha, Kirkhope himself said that?
Well, he's absolutely right. This IS bloody marvelous. In fact, it's going on my Zen X-Fi RIGHT NOW, and is getting blasted through my car stereo, headphones, or other form of audio delivery for the rest of the week.

- CobaltDelta on January 17, 2009

I just can't help it, this ReMix makes me feel like a certain spy has been assigned a mission involving the notorious bear & bird duo. The name's Dark, Joanna Dark of the Carrington institute to be precise. Great stuff, a Rare gem times two!

- Chaotic Damian on December 31, 2008

DUde!!! How iNteNSe!!!! I dig the end too when the guitar finally gets to solo, song endings do allow for some more creativity. But really, I can't put this track down, or however you say that for a song.. .

Good job

- Mtlbro on December 10, 2008

With the title I thought this was a completely new track, I realised it wasn't but damn has it improved. Well done.
There's a tiny bit just before 2/3 in that sorta reminds me of Drum & Bass, it works really well.

- Razberi on November 28, 2008

This one made me log in for the first time in over a year, just to post one review. Listened to it, fell in love with it. Sounds to me like Trans-Siberian decided to do Banjo-Kazooie. Just something special about the seamless mix of electronics and heavy metal. I would love to hear it live.

- Alexzander on November 25, 2008

wow, nice audix ;)
anyway - awesome remix - lovin' it more and more everytime i hear it

- Platonist on November 21, 2008

Just got a myspace message from Grant Kirkhope about this mix!

Grant says:
I listened to it [Malevolent Mansion] and I have to say it's bloody marvelous....well done!!!!
Pretty cool.:D

- Audix on November 19, 2008

Too silly for me, but I really liked how it came in. It is good music, even though I could not appreciate the hyperactive silliness, but never mind my opinion on that part. The only thing I felt could have been better was this: transition. It is good to jump in/out of a sequence quickly (at times), but if too often (or done in a way that isn't smooth), it'll scare people. Maybe that was the attempt.

- Salluz on November 15, 2008

The speedy parts are definitely reminiscent of Pendulum, but I have to say that I like this here way more than the stuff Pendulum has been putting out (somewhat) recently. It gets to the point without wasting 1+ minute on the intro, and the breakdowns are really fun thanks to the quirky source tune. The guitar playing complements the song perfectly, though I wish there would be more of the awesome that is the guitar playing after 4:20.
Nice work; a song going straight into your ear and not leaving it for quite a while. I hope to hear more from you guys in the future.

- Martin Penwald on November 15, 2008

Pretty damn awesome and a fantastic way to get me even more psyched for Banjo-Kazooie - Nuts & Bolts and the XBLA release of the original >:)
Kirkhope for president!
(you guys can be his closest men)

- Another Soundscape on November 11, 2008

Thanks guys! I'm working on a music video for this mix similar to my [U][URL="http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showpost.php?p=428083&postcount=29"]Day's End[/URL][/U] one. I'll post it here in this thread once it's completed.

- Audix on November 10, 2008

Usually I find OCReMix stuff over the top and taking a song to the extreme, but I think this is brilliant, in a sort've really fun and cool way that people aren't really doing with remixing.
This is FUN I listen to it alot actually.

- RoeTaKa on November 9, 2008

Rockin' remix! Very well done, guys. I like that I instantly recognized where the song came from in the game and that the memories of playing this game immediately came flooding back. I can't wait to drive around to this and rock out even more. I also can't wait for Nuts & Bolts. This is getting me pumped up for the new game.
EDIT: oops, this is Hale-Bopp :)

- Pongball on November 8, 2008

Download MP3

• Size: 5,561,040 bytes
• MD5 Checksum: 9453fe5833b289be1447a009cea790be

• Download from iiens.net
• Download from Aplus
• Download from Dreamhost
• Download from ocrmirror.org

Help us save bandwidth - using our torrents saves us bandwidth and lets you download multiple mixes as a single download. Use the tracker below and scroll for more information, or visit http://bt.ocremix.org directly, and please don't forget to help us seed!!

Chiptunes, as well as sample-based formats like RSN/SPC for the SNES, allow you to replay the original soundtracks to many of your favorite games. The resources below will help you get started downloading and listening to chiptunes.

No Chiptune Available

No chiptune is available on OverClocked ReMix for this game. This could be for several reasons:

• No chiptune has yet been created/released.
• The chiptune for this game is over six megabytes and is thus not hosted here due to bandwidth concerns.
• The game's system does not yet have a chiptune format, or uses redbook audio.
• The chiptune for this game has not yet been added to our database.

If the chiptune is too large or has simply not been added to our site yet, you might be able to find it on one of the links below.

Winamp + Chipamp = Nostalgia

Play chiptunes in 40+ formats with the free Chipamp Plugin Bundle, available at www.chipamp.org. The combination of Winamp and Chipamp is one of the easiest ways to get up and running, playing chiptunes and other game audio formats in no time at all.

Download Chipamp today, and don't worry about tracking down the right plugin - we did the work for you.