ReMix:Diddy Kong Racing "Samba Primata" 3:37

Guifrog is awesome. Know why? I'll tell you: he's got a fearless approach to arranging - specifically w/ regard to instrumentation - that embraces different styles/genres. His 2010 debut, also from Diddy Kong Racing, mixed in some Bollywood flair for an Indian jam that made for a memorable, promising introduction to his approach. He follows that up with more from the same game, which is fine by me since it has an excellent, under-repped soundtrack. This time, though, he's going Carnaval, with a South American mix that might remind you of Rio (the movie OR the related Angry Birds game) - Guifrog writes:

"0:00-0:20 - Percussion intro.
0:21-0:32 - Source's 0:13-0:19.
0:33-1:00 - Source's 0:20-0:32.
1:01-1:20 - Source's 0:46-1:00.
1:26-1:38 - Source's 0:00-0:12 (or 0:33-0:46).
1:39-2:03 - Source's 0:20-0:32.
2:04-2:24 - Source's 0:46-1:00.
2:25-2:51 - Percussion break! *_*
2:52-3:03 - Original writing, transition to formerly unused part of the source.
3:04-3:16 - Source's 1:00-1:12.
3:17-end. - Source's 0:13-0:19.

E aí galera, como vai? \@/ This one has no big of a story inside. It's just about fun, carnaval and Brazil. :D"

Sounds good to me. At some point in my life I want to visit both Brazil during Carnaval & New Orleans during Mardi Gras, but I'm afeard events will conspire against this happening, so at least I can have a vicarious experience through music. I'd love to see more Latin/South American musical influences on OCR - 8 Bit Instrumental's 'Berinstar' was a great, more subtle example of how that can happen, but it's also cool to see complete, full-on genre pieces like this. Judges had some gripes, but one of the reasons we may see less of this genre is that it's harder to sequence convincingly and usually exposes the weaknesses of sample libraries, and I think Guifrog did a commendable job with that in mind. halc wasn't too fond of the trance lead employed, but otherwise dug it:

"gonna agree with the general minor concerns with sounds and sequencing, but overall this was pretty well constructed. the percussion was particularly nice. that trance/saw lead (at :47) you use in all your mixes always sounds out of place imo, but I can't say I've ever been a fan of that particular waveform. anyway, nice job with this. you seem to have good luck with DKR. :P"

Cain adds:

"This is almost what you'd expect from a modern dkr racing if they made one. Same silly feel but with better production. I feel there's enough to differentiate the two but the style mash can be a little jarring. You're not sure if it's meant to be carnival or like a salsa, then you have orchestral elements and a trance lead. It's a bit all over the place stylistically but it sounds okay and kept me interested enough throughout."

So, perhaps a little overboard on the mixed instrumentation, but I'd hate to see Guifrog go too far in the other direction, because I feel like one of his real strengths as a ReMixer is experimenting with a broader, more international palette than most. Anyways, this is a fun, percussion-heavy jam that runs with the concept and executes it with energy & style, again bringing something different, inspired, and FUN to the table.