ReMix:Shenmue "A Breeze in the Night" 2:11

SUCH BASS. MUCH SMOOTH. Take every "Your mama's so fat..." joke ever, and replace "your mama" with "your synth bass," and you begin to get a sense for the low end on this short-but-sweet downbeat Shenmue treat, with a touch of 90's R&B, from Blue Magic (Damon Campbell) - he writes:

"I had a hard time deciding if I wanted to submit this or not. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and I did as much as I could with the limited source material, but still, ended up being a pretty short mix. I've been getting pretty positive feedback on it, so that kinda inspired me to go ahead and send it in.

This is a chill/ambient take on the "Nightfall" theme. I did a little experimenting with the background pads by adding filtering and panning to make them seem breathy and swirly, kinda like the wind. I attempted to simulate an Eastern/ethnic feeling with the few samples I had. Even though some of them were actually sampled from African instruments, I believe they worked out pretty good with the sound I was going for. Hope y'all like it!"

Of course, I could have helped him out a bit with my super-useful flowchart of whether or not to submit a mix:

1. Is it a Shenmue mix?
2. If yes, SUBMIT IT.

It stops there, so applicability is limited. I think I'm going to HAVE to quote Flight of the Conchords when it comes to this ReMix: two minutes in heaven is better than one minute in heaven. To be precise, two minutes and eleven seconds, and while I do think Damon could have mustered some endurance & stretched this one out a bit longer, what's here is some Dreamcast-certified, Yu Suzuki-approved baby-makin' music, to be sure. Yeah, I wrote that sentence. Palpable & DarkeSword had similar thoughts; Vinnie writes:

"My only problem with this track is that I wish it was longer. What's here is really nice: wistful mood, fine production, and some excellent ideas to augment the mostly intact melody. The waterdrop-like snare sound was an excellent, creative touch. I often wish that Damon would use better samples on his subs, but the not-quite-realistic sounds used here fit into the 90/00s R&B vibe. Really good stuff."

Shariq adds:

"Short but sweet. Vinnie's right about the 90s R&B vibe. So smooth. Really like the approach here. Great sound choices. Love that bassline jumping all over. Wish it was longer, though."

That's what she said. But let us not adolescend into length vs. girth arguments or crude euphemism; one needs to respect the artist's decision when it comes to track length, and enjoy the piece as it was intended - as a respite, an oasis, a breath of fresh air not meant to completely fill the lungs, but rather to whet their appetite. A musical amuse-bouche, if you will. On playlists, a perfect interlude/transition piece. Appreciated as such, this is great work from Damon - I'd love to hear more arrangements in a similar style, as I think it really suits him!