ReMix:Donkey Kong Country "A Journey Through Grand Oceans" 9:36

If you like your ambiances long & aquatic, then newcomer Glejs (Glenn Liljestrand) has got JUST the thing for you, with this 9'36" DKC opus featuring some otherworldly, immersive sound design:

"I want to try and make a contribution to your awesome community. First up, a remix of a well-known title. The spectacular track "Aquatic Ambiance," from Donkey Kong Country. I'll surely submit more remixes in the future. It is an inspiring and fun challenge trying to get a "YES" from you guys.

"Aquatic Ambiance"... wow, it doesn't really need any further introduction. Might be one of the most loved pieces of video game music of all time, and therefore remixed a million times already.

With my take on it, I decided to try and paint a story. The track takes you from the mellow start of "diving in," through passages of the original melody lines and arpeggios but with my twist to them. Also, some brand new original melodic elements and strings arrangements have been implemented. Might be a bold move, but I believe it fits perfectly. By the end of the song, you've reached the shore. Exhausted and glad you made it. Hopefully it was a fantastic, adventurous journey!"

Great attitude & energy from Glenn; this piece develops effectively over time, unwrapping layers & textures as it goes, such that the 9+ minute duration feels lived in, but not outstayed. Judges summed things up well - Gario observes:

"Definitely a different approach taken, here - it's a slow burning piece of music, which I can always appreciate. Furthermore, it's a good example of how to make a slow burning track remain interesting - that opening sticks with that same chord, but weaves different elements and effects throughout to keep it interesting, and that chord change at 0:58 sounds like a radical change due to how it draws out the first chord. The track moves faster from there, but I appreciated that opening quite a bit."

Liontamer adds:

"By the time we got to 3:35, this was firmly in the direction of a personalized cover with subtle but good additive original writing for the rest of the time. Nice job, Glenn; you slowly but surely made a believer out of me with this track!"

Beyond the more subtle compositional tweaks, I love the sound design & textural choices; the shrill, dystopian riser at 0'51" leads right into a resonant glassy ding, there's a lot of depth/detail, and even the repeating synth bass that eventually enters at 1'37" has a sort of psycho-acoustic doubling/phasing going on. Lead synth that brings in some jazzier original doodling has some grit & edge to it, and I dig how the artist explores variations on the repeating intro motif circia 5'05" and turns it into a rising & then falling melodic line. There've been plenty of AAA AA mixes, and this isn't wildly different from one or two of them, but the sound design paired with some of the lead writing lend a distinct character, and Glenn stretches things out and makes the extended duration work to his advantage. Great stuff that takes a deep dive on the source & comes up with treasure; looking forward to hearing more!