ReMix:Super Mario Land "Seven Pipes to Heaven" 4:29

By Nostalvania

Arranging the music of 2 songs...

"Main BGM #1", "Main BGM #2"

Primary Game: Super Mario Land (Nintendo , 1989, GB), music by Hirokazu Tanaka

Posted 2015-11-11, evaluated by the judges panel


Nostalvania (Markus) hits us up with a classy, smoky jazz trio (piano-bass-drums) take on Super Mario Land:

"Here is my piano trio version of the Birabuto and Muda Kingdom themes from Super Mario Land. I mixed the two sources together, added some original writing and reharmonisations. I also changed the time signature to 7/8. The genre is jazz with some gospel influences. The mix title is actually a reference to the jazz standard "Seven Steps to Heaven," which also is the title of an album by Miles Davis.

Source Breakdown:

0:00-0:50 - "Birabuto Kingdom"
0:51-1:33 - Original writing
1:34-2:24 - "Muda Kingdom"
2:25-2:50 - Original writing
2:51-3:12 - "Muda Kingdom"
3:13-3:36 - "Birabuto Kingdom"
3:37-4:26 - Original writing"

Very cool, very fun, very authentic... feels like you just walked down an alley into a smoky club where three musicians are jamming and it just HAPPENS to be a meditation on Super Mario Land. The time signature works nicely & the overall sense of timing is brisk and invites copious toe-tapping, to be sure. This one tripped the judges up a bit due to the connective tissue being significant, such that there were questions about the overall arrangement being too liberal, but Emunator carried the consensus decision:

"I have to give credit where credit is due here, becuase you did a pretty great job of fluidly transitioning in between sources and original material, and there's never too long of a stretch in your arrangement where you stray entirely away from the source. I'm not one to necessarily mince over percentages at the end of the day, I feel that there's substantial interpreration and creativity present here. The bassline connection during some of the original parts makes this an easier call, but at the end of the day I'd likely sign off on this anyway counting just the overt source usage.

Not much more needs to be said, Markus is great at what he does, and this is another solid entry in his catalog that carries a distinctly-unique gospel character that separates it from his prior work."

Creative, introspective, and deep exploration of some otherwise sugary & bubble melodies; Markus does a great job making you feel like these pieces were originally written for a jazz trio, as opposed to adapted, which is to say that things feel completely natural & make sense. Clever, infectious, and just downright cool...

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 13 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Crulex
on 2018-04-11 03:13:10

I am impressed on how well you handle switching up the time signatures for these themes, and honestly the longer the song went, the better off it sounded, like setting into a groove. The uniqueness of this arrangement helps it really stand out alongside the great transitions between the themes and your original sections. Giving this jazzy piece a touch of gospel flavor was a great idea, as I think it worked pretty damn well. A very good mix, man!

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Nostalvania
on 2016-03-01 09:56:48

Thanks for the kind words pu_freak, i appreciate it! :)

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pu_freak
on 2016-03-01 05:37:00

I was in love with this mix when I heard it (and commented on it ;)) in the Workshop forums and has been in my soundcloud playlist for quite some time - I even played your arrangement quite a few times on the piano myself. The different time signature works very well and the build-up throughout the mix is really good! One of my favorite mixes of the past few years - keep on pumping out the good stuff :D

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greenmonkie
on 2015-11-21 12:54:01

THIS. Listening to this just makes me so damn happy. This is exactly the type of stuff that keeps me coming back to OCRemix. Excellent work!

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Nostalvania
on 2015-11-15 07:09:13

I'm really glad to see this one on the site, thanks everyone! Yes it's true, the arrangement is quite liberal due to original writing and soloing, and my time stamping was in fact a bit inaccurate. Sorry judges :-)

Next time it's gonna be better, at least regarding the timestamping.

@ timaeus222: And there will be lots of reharmonized chords and irregular time sigs, muah ha ha! :twisted:

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Trinity Dragon
on 2015-11-14 21:40:02

Honestly, if I had never heard the source material, I would never have known that there was original composition in there. It was strung together so seamlessly.

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timaeus222
on 2015-11-13 16:23:11

You just keep blowing us away with these awesome chord changes and irregular time signatures. STOP IT! :lol: If this were an actual live performance, this would convey the instrumentalists being really into it. It's that good.

For instance, at 2:09, I was expecting the exact chord you would play at 2:12, and you chose THAT chord, which was just the right choice IMO. That kind of small stuff really makes this shine.

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DimeTower
on 2015-11-13 15:41:20

Very nice!! Props to the artist for both picking a piece that lends itself nicely to this style, and then executing it beyond just a "hey, I did this song" front. Smooth transitions and overall feel, it really does seem like a cohesive vision and the whole thing goes down easy like a nice drink. Impressed!

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FL530
on 2015-11-12 20:39:17

This is a pretty fun remix! I catch a few similarities [in style] to the song you referenced in the title. Pretty Nice!

It doesn't quite pick up in tempo quite like the aforementioned song, but that's not a bad thing I'll definitely be adding this to my chillax playlist!

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TBsmasher
on 2015-11-12 09:40:31

Loved the dynamic swell after the first minute. Now, give us more! I was sitting here hoping that there were other parts where everything went to piano, but there were none after that. Do more with dynamics, please. Other than that, this is quality Miles Davis-era jazz here.

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MrKyle
on 2015-11-12 09:26:18

Super solid. Length is just right, and diggin' the dynamics.

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Geoffrey Taucer
on 2015-11-12 00:19:32

Love it!

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Liontamer
on 2015-11-11 00:52:58

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Sources Arranged (2 Songs)


Primary Game:
Super Mario Land (Nintendo , 1989, GB)
Music by Hirokazu Tanaka
Songs:
"Main BGM #1"
"Main BGM #2"

Tags (6)


Genre:
Jazz
Mood:
Chill,Jazzy
Instrumentation:
Piano
Additional:
Arrangement > Trio
Time > Time Signature: Irregular

File Information


Name:
Super_Mario_Land_Seven_Pipes_to_Heaven_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
7,865,948 bytes
MD5:
a1ac5e14eb3ec8ef86e3dbe15e224649
Bitrate:
231Kbps
Duration:
4:29

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