ReMix:Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse "Demonic Conception" 4:31

By Joshua Morse

Arranging the music of one song...

"Demon Seed (Under Dracula Castle)"

Primary Game: Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (Konami , 1990, NES), music by Jun Funahashi, Yoshinori Sasaki, Yukie Morimoto

Posted 2010-10-31, evaluated by djpretzel


Happy Halloween! Exactly one year ago, we released Joshua Morse's one-man EP Sonata of the Damned, and this is the final ReMix to be posted from it, making it the first album to be completely represented with individual mixes on OCR. That's much easier to do with a shorter album primarily created by a single, uber-talented mixer, but it's still pretty durn cool. It took a year, and there were several other Morse gems sprinkled in between, but it's nice to finally come full circle and end as SotD began, on October 31st. jm writes:

"I believe I've wanted to arrange "Demon Seed" for roughly 4 years, now. I finally got around to it, and, honestly, did not envision it coming out the way it did. One thing led to another and I accidentally combined a trio of genres to make this arrangement happen, but I feel the meld of genres helped to capture the mood the original tune was intending to portray in one way or another."

Genre-spanning though it may be, one thing's consistent across each track off the album, and that's a flamboyant funk that provides a unique ingredient not often paired with Castlevania source material, offering fresh takes on classics and newer cuts as well. Rather than getting into the details on this mix specifically (spoiler: it's great, like all the others), I'll just say that this album provided a great Halloween surprise last year, new ears have been exposed to it even recently with each new mix posted, and while shorter, it's a rock-solid piece of fan-made VGM arrangement that'll stand the test of time. Far funkier than it is spooky, it nevertheless deserves some rotation on your Halloween playlists, and every day of the year works just as well.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 13 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Crulex
on 2012-05-02 12:43:04

Man, that guitar goes hard! What a sick riff that just sounds so evil with the beat over top of it. It's nice to hear funky and evil in the same place, and this is one of my favorite tunes on this album. Nice work, man.

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WesternZypher
on 2011-01-03 15:24:56

Completely agreed with EmpyClaw - these are some funktastic demonic vampire space aliens who break into dance as they funkily slink around and bite people. Who then get up, all vampiri-zombified, and start shuffling around all funkily, too.

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EmpyClaw
on 2010-12-09 00:49:45

So I'm not sure how, but the words that come to mind are "light and creepy." It's a fun combination, and one that I would not expect to work together. I also enjoy it feels like an old campy sci-fi film in a lot of it. The earth is being invaded by the funkiest aliens ever. Very enjoyable. ^_^

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Level 99
on 2010-11-20 20:58:53
That's a live guitar; no samples involved. :)

Oh snap! My bad, dude. The performance was so dead-on that I guess it struck home as sampled. If that's the case, really solid performance but the processing threw me off. :)!!

Edit: okay, after listening, yeah, sorry I missed that. Cheerfully withdrawn, sir.

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Joshua Morse
on 2010-11-20 08:53:25
I'm not digging the distorted guitar sample.

That's a live guitar; no samples involved. :)

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Crono3of3time
on 2010-11-20 02:23:55

Hmm... You know, the last thing that came to my mind was anything even remotely haunted. For some reason it just goes the other way... The whole time I'm picturing a group of people working in a futuristic garage with holograms they're clickin away at to get parts for customizing some kind of vehicle... be it a mecha or car of some kind, all the while they're snackin on foods and joking with each other.

... or it could just be a side effect of too much Phantasy Star Online...

*shrug*

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Level 99
on 2010-11-15 14:47:31

This one is definitely smooth, but I guess I'm having an issue some of those super-airy pads and the way they are modulated because there's a few things that are clashing at parts in the mix for me. Nice solo going on, but I'm not digging the distorted guitar sample. Still, pretty good stuff.

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ktriton
on 2010-11-09 10:55:53

As always, top notch stuff from Josh here. Loved the beat on this one--and the variations were perfect. Also really enjoyed that solo (although to be fair, who doesn't enjoy a JM solo?)

Great mix, man...keep 'em coming!

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Csyzr
on 2010-11-05 06:04:58

"You're listening to "Demonic Conception" with Casey Kasem on cool 101.3, the wave.

this song is dedicated to Barbara from John, I love you baby, come back to me."

i asked myself "could i envision myself whipping the shit out of everything i could possibly come into contact with to this song?" no, too mellow. But i did hear Casey Kasem introduce it in the beginning. (in my head, not in the actual song)

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Master_Yoshi
on 2010-11-04 17:20:49

I know if I heap lots of praise on this mix, it'll get drowned out with the size of ego Morse has got to have. I fully accept that useless gushing won't really do much to affect future decisions, or give an insightful look into the mix at all (not that me being a jerk does much better.)

Yet, I just can't help it. This pushes all the right buttons, scrubs all the right places, and even tosses in a happy ending - free egg roll with massage. HAPPY ENDING!

In fact, that's what this mix is. It's a happy ending.

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Kadosho
on 2010-11-02 14:26:38

Aha, this sounds familiar.. well nice to see it finally on the site.

Quite a spin on the usual "theme" that goes with CV.

I just wish it were a bit longer, it would be a perfect club mix.

Maybe Josh, maybe!?

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Polo
on 2010-10-31 22:34:23

I know I praised that ghost whirl lead (0:43, 1:50) once already, but again: eerily arresting + holiday themed = genius. I'd probably flip out if I walked into a Halloween shop and heard one of their "wooooo"-sounding trinkets start playing Demon Seed out of nowhere. The castanets still pack a sharp, nutty flavor, and they keep the danceability intact with the bass and wah synths. And of course the windy gusts and many reverbed synths illustrate a spacious cave setting (which makes up part of the level where the source plays).

Chills all around.

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djpretzel
on 2010-10-31 18:09:40

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (Konami , 1990, NES)
Music by Jun Funahashi,Yoshinori Sasaki,Yukie Morimoto
Songs:
"Demon Seed (Under Dracula Castle)"

Tags (6)


Genre:
Funk
Mood:
Dark,Funky
Instrumentation:
Synth
Additional:
Time > Tempo: Fast
Usage > Halloween

File Information


Name:
Castlevania_3_Demonic_Conception_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
8,312,810 bytes
MD5:
4f26006d514ee8072e69967bb54250ad
Bitrate:
243Kbps
Duration:
4:31

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