ReMix:Super Mario 64 "Roads to Everywhere" 3:52

Featuring an upbeat mix of chromatic percussion, including some excellent mallet writing, mellotron flute, backing acoustic rhythm guitar, wonderfully crisp & articulate drums, warm glide synth, organ, piano, and electric piano, this folk/rock jam from Argle is a feel-good standout from Portrait of a Plumber. It reminds me of Geoffrey Taucer's work in its blend of acoustic components and general positivity, which is a big compliment in my book, and it shows further depth & variety for Argle, who joined in late but came through big:

"I was excited to contribute to this long-running project, to help inch it towards completion. I tried to keep the organic instrumentation of the original while expanding on the short theme in various ways."

Album director Nutritious writes:

"Argle was another latecomer to the project. The theme was opened back up near the end of the project and, as iconic and integral to the soundtrack as a whole, I didn't want to close out the project without a take on it. Argle answered the call and did a fantastic job. He opted for an acoustic/instrumental treatment that remains faithful to the original song, while switching instrumentation throughout to keep things interesting."

So many keys/mallets on display - piano, electric piano, organ, and what sounds like a marimba. I like to envision one guy playing all these parts at the same time; I almost think Joey DeFrancesco could do it, after seeing him on B3 at Blues Alley. Justin's right in that Adam gets a lot of variety & arrangement mileage off the instrumental tradeoffs, so this comes off as a jam/celebration where everyone's just REALLY excited and stoked to be choosing files. Hey, whatever floats your boat, right? Chimpazilla chimes in:

"Really loving some of the new chord progressions added here, giving this happy little tune quite a different flavor. Nice combination of instruments and varied leads, from synth to mallets and even a sync lead. The acoustic guitar sounds very nice. The arrangement plays it mostly close to the source, but Argle has added some lovely personalized soloing and little flourishes. Fun listen!"

OA adds:

"Nice mixing job here, with the vintage-sounding flute synth, and the crisp percussion and guitars. The keyed instruments are nicely layered and varied, and overall things are melding really nicely for me. The mood is pleasant and upbeat, and the song just rolls on by. :-)"

Indeed it does; summer's almost over, but this seems like nice mood music for a luau party/cookout or Carribean-themed BBQ or what not. I'm hungry. Excellent, upbeat stuff from Argle that's filled to the brim with part-writing & energy that's carefully crafted but still feels carefree & sunny!