ReMix:Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles "Jammin' with My NES" 2:51

By Shnabubula

Arranging the music of one song...

"Hudson River near the Holland Tunnel"

Primary Game: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Ultra Software , 1989, NES), music by Kozo Nakamura

Posted 2012-03-23, evaluated by the judges panel


Shnabubula just released his latest album, NES Jams, and (shocker!) it's very, very, very good. Look at what DarkeSword just wrote today on #ocremix, not even knowing he'd be quoted:

"[14:01] <@DarkeSword> it's a bit obscene how good shnabubula's NES Jams is."

There you go: A completely candid, organic endorsement - just in case for some reason you needed one. The timing on this particular track is also good because Michael Bay, who someone keeps giving large film budgets to, recently disclosed that in his upcoming movie the famous heroes on the half shell would be ALIENS, not mutants. So TANT, basically. Next thing you know, Splinter will NOT be a radical rat and he won't even teach them to be ninja teens, and April will routinely change her wardrobe & branch out into sacrilegiously un-yellow options. What can you do? I'll tell you what you can do, you can enjoy the hell out of this TMNT mix, a dazzling display of Sam's piano artistry & chiptune wizardry made one. He writes:

"...this song is formed around Live Piano.. the NES is only half the equation, and I recorded the out put of the 2 squares individually the NES and panned them apart therefore, adding further "production" value. I understand this won't be an easy decision as it is 50% chiptune and 50% acoustic, which in itself might be deemed reason for rejection, mixing of two possibly incompatible pallets. But great care was taken to create synergy between the two timbres, both in the composition and the production, from the EQing of the piano, to the utterly detailed and intricate process of programming of the 2a03."

So I'm gonna go out on a (pretty firm) limb and infer that double-quoting the "production" like he did there was a bit of a sassy diss at what he perceived to be our chiptune policy. In reality, we don't HAVE a "chiptune policy," we have submission standards that try to make it clear that we are looking for relatively complex, nuanced music - from an arrangement AND production perspective. While we DO mention that using nothing but basic/rudimentary chiptunes might get you in trouble, I think we can all agree that NOTHING Sam does could be sanely labeled "basic" or "rudimentary" - quite the contrary, his mixes have been some of the most elaborate, spiraling, breathtaking music we've posted. There was a relatively productive and reasonably civil forum thread on this topic recently, and hopefully we can either revise the standards for clarity if they're truly ambiguous, or clarify our original intent through posting some badass chiptune mixes, in the future.

..But right here in the present you've got an amazing, virtuosic blend of spectacular live piano and intricate, dynamic NES chiptunes that I personally find hard not to love. By juxtaposing his own formidable piano skills with a comparably impressive ability for programming the 2a03, he makes the case with his music far more eloquently than I think almost anyone could with words: chiptunes can hang. Here they are, right alongside some amazing live piano, and it don't sound wrong, it sound right. Without knowing all the ins and outs, I'm going to assume that's because Sam's taken the time to painstakingly ensure, for every single passage, that the "NES" half of his album title was adapting & changing (MUTATING, even!) to the composition, as it progressed. The interaction between the two elements is legitimately exciting, new, and completely musical; brilliant stuff from Shnabubula, go check out his album at http://shnabubula.bandcamp.com/album/nes-jams for more!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Crulex
on 2012-12-13 16:16:52

Whoa....hmm......piano with 8-bitish chippers splayed around it? Wow. See, I just love the different concepts and combos the ReMixers around here come up with, because even when it doesn't seem like it would work, somehow, someone gets it to work. Pretty good, especially with the piano work.

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MrKraz
on 2012-04-11 00:52:40

That was some of the catchiest purest art music i've heard on this site in a looooong time. Haven't been in in a while though. GREAT editing.

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bobby1983
on 2012-04-04 17:53:10

one of the best games ever. i don't know why everybody gets so worked up about the water level. it's actually one of the more easy parts of the game. awesome mix, loved Shnabublas game genie album too

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Emunator
on 2012-04-04 01:28:45

This is revolutionary, I've never heard anything like this before but I can honestly say it's been executed delicately with the utmost tact and respect for each respective style being merged, and of course Shnabubula is probably the best-equipped musician in the community to pull this sort of thing off.

Bravo!

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Moot
on 2012-04-03 22:28:37

I was actually talking with my friend last week about whether or not combining acoustic with chiptune would even work well. I guess this remix is the ultimate answer to that. Yes, it can in fact work, and it can work extremely well. The experience of listening to this was like my ears eating sweet, delicious candy. Great stuff.

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rykerrk
on 2012-04-02 10:08:37

I just cursed out loud at how completely sweet this track is. I got them chills up 'n down muh spine. Been awhile since a track on OCR did that to me.

Incredible.

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herograw
on 2012-03-28 03:46:50

I blast this late at night when I'm working in the lab. "Inspiring" is the perfect description.

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WesternZypher
on 2012-03-27 18:28:10

If this had played in the lead up to and during the dam level, it wouldn't have been so damn frustrating....

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Magellanic
on 2012-03-26 15:40:13

Utterly fantastic. The piano playing is just gorgeous and the interaction between the chiptunes and piano is so natural. This piece of music deserves all the praise and more. I thoroughly enjoyed the 3 minutes listening to this masterpiece.

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Nase
on 2012-03-26 15:27:11
Amen. Seriously, they should slap a warning sticker on his stuff - "May leave listener feeling unworthy."

i understand what you mean, but i somehow expect shna to hate this type of compliment. music is meant for inspiration, not intimidation. i know it's a joke, but it's also not, isn't it? :)

oh yeah, great tune!

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Dafydd
on 2012-03-26 09:12:31
Shnabubula's stuff is always making me feel like quitting music...

Amen. Seriously, they should slap a warning sticker on his stuff - "May leave listener feeling unworthy."

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DrManhattan
on 2012-03-25 17:38:06

Shnabubula's stuff is always making me feel like quitting music...

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anterroir
on 2012-03-25 13:29:50

That was - in all points - totally awesome :shock: *nice*

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Abadoss
on 2012-03-24 17:04:15

Bloody hell, Shnabubula! This piece of music absolutely brilliant!

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yoshi1001
on 2012-03-24 12:38:26

Terrible level, awesome remix. Love the piano/synth blend.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Ultra Software , 1989, NES)
Music by Kozo Nakamura
Songs:
"Hudson River near the Holland Tunnel"

Tags (6)


Genre:
Jazz
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Chiptune,Piano,Synth
Additional:
Arrangement > Duet
Production > Live Recording

File Information


Name:
Teenage_Mutant_Ninja_Turtles_Jammin'_with_My_NES_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
4,785,353 bytes
MD5:
3f38932fc18e4eebb9b31d1d1fee90e1
Bitrate:
219Kbps
Duration:
2:51

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