ReMix:Sonic the Hedgehog "Flicky's Night Out" 3:40

There was a six year gap between Rexy's first posted solo ReMix and her follow-up, and it's worth exploring that fact for a second to appreciate just how much she grew in that time. When we resumed posting her work, she had not only addressed the issues that held some of her earlier submissions back (over-quantization and static dynamics), but she had grown musically in myriad other ways, getting comfortable with more varied instrumentation, improving her production skills, and finding a more confident, energetic musical voice. That doesn't happen overnight, and it takes perseverance, so I just thought I'd take a moment to point it out before presenting her latest ReMix, a super-upbeat disco/dance arrangement of 'Star Light Zone' with some GHZ thrown in, too:

"This is one of a handful of tracks that I initially felt reluctant to send over (me = pessmistic, and you know it), but I really started to warm up to it in the months after it was originally released as part of The Sonic Stadium Music Adventure 2012.

It's a very odd story as to how some prolific female OC ReMixer got involved with a more amateur remixing scene, but it's been one social link after another as a result of the Sonic Zone Remix Competition '12 that got me to do a few tracks for it. The aim when deciding to tackle "Star Light Zone" at the very beginning was to create something happy, to the point, and able to perform at OCR panels here in the UK, which appears to be really successful already.

Why the overly-cheerful direction? Think about it... after that goddamn NIGHTMARE of a level that is Labyrinth Zone, this level was a complete and utter godsend in comparison. You're broken free from a potential watery prison, escaped the spiked shaft of death and are no longer worrying about losing lives to your inability to swim. Sure, there's going to be pitfall problems in Star Light, but nothing as bad as what you had experienced in the previous zone. It's all an explosion of re-finding your freedom and carefree spirit, don't you think? Either way, I hope this will go down well. Thanks for taking a look into it, and I'll be back here before you know it!"

I never thought about it that way, but I've always found the 'Star Light' theme very uplifting, and it's a natural fit for a more explicitly disco treatment since it already leans in that direction. Palpable's comments are on-point, as always:

"When the main section swooped in, I was flooded by happy feelings. Love the floaty lead, the funky ska-like guitar (wish that was more prominent even), and the rock band drums. It's a unique combination that evokes positive memories from different eras of music, almost like nostalgia for a time that never happened. I like that you took a chance on the instrumentation. Though the dry lead is brought back for the bridge *shakes fist*, this is a hard song not to like. Fun stuff!"

Quite well said; while judges had some minor beefs on the snare sound & repetition on the drum part, all agreed it was a funky jam that'll give you Star Light Fever™!!!! and which succeeds in being catchy & downright exuberant. For my money, at times I felt like it was perhaps a couple BPM too fast - that rhythm guitarist would be in for a SERIOUS repetitive stress injury if his/her heart didn't give out first - but that too is a minor gripe. All in all, a fun polyester romp that plops the 70's down on top of the 90's and makes for a great jam in ANY decade!