ReMix:Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! "Intoxica" 3:40

Looking for some mellow, cavernous, & superlative trip-hop to disappear into lately? Radiowar has your number; while not part of Serious Monkey Business, his DKC2 'Lanterns' mix is a classic that certainly would have deserved to be, so I'm glad Emunator nabbed him for DKC3:DTT:

"Radiowar is one of my favorite "unsung heroes" of OC ReMix. Each of his remixes has been very moody and deliberate, with rock-solid production values, and this one is no exception. Admittedly, this is probably the most straightforward remix in the mixflood, sticking to a pretty traditional trip-hop structure without deviating too far from the kinds of sounds you'd expect from the genre.

But, really, that's the beauty of it. Eveline Novakovic's compositions for the SNES soundtrack display a level of restraint and humility that is very hard to find in video game soundtracks, especially in the NES and SNES era. They aren't too flashy and never demand your attention. Instead, they rely on understated melodies, emotive harmonies, and above all, atmosphere to make the song memorable. I love this remix for all the same reasons that I loved the original soundtrack - which, in my mind, is a sign that the remixer is doing something very, very right."

I try to sing Alex's praises whenever afforded the opportunity, and I've actually seen plenty of folk chime in with love for his entire oeuvre. While we don't see a ton of submissions, I'll take quality over quantity any day, and his approach seems to be crafting & refining each mix to the point that it's like top-notch calligraphy, where the lines of every last letter have an unblemished grace and everything flows. Alex writes:

"This is a remix of "Pokey Pipes." It is called "Intoxica," which I don't think is a word. Yes, I cribbed the strings from Moby. ): The pipe levels were always some of the more interesting ones, each with some gas or substance that altered the gameplay in some way. "Pokey Pipes" had this really sort of disorienting, hazy quality to it that appealed to me. I tried to maintain that quality, while at the same time creating a really grimy and resonant sound. I wanted it to sound like the inside of a sewer."

That's one relaxing sewer, that is... the portion of the source employed is rather minimal, which did give the judges something to think about, but Vinnie summed up the general sentiment AND made non-consensual advances:

"I reckon this song will split along the lines of Breathe Deep, because the trick is pretty similar. It takes one snippet of the original (0:01-0:04) and makes that the basis for a mostly new track, except here the song harkens back to the source more than that song did (0:44-1:07, 1:07-1:30, and others) ...How gorgeous is that 1:07 section? Kisses to Alex, whether he wants them or not."

We'll let the two of them sort that out, but the point is, this is a more liberal interpretation, compostionally speaking. Thematically though, as per Wes's comments, I think the tone of the source is echoed significantly. Plus there's the whole "gorgeous, enveloping atmosphere" thing - if you're into that ;)