ReMix:Shantae and the Pirate's Curse "On Fire" 3:48

He's ON FIRE!! Our first featured Shantae ReMix was from none other than composer Jake Kaufman, but now it has some (excellent) company, as timaeus222 (Truong-Son Nguyen) turns in a stellar glitch-hop+ take on two Pirate's Curse pieces:

"On one of my other mixposts (Dungeonmans), djpretzel had remarked that Shantae needed some love. I mean... the only mix on the site right now is by the composer himself. That's cool and all, but he needs some company. I checked out the soundtrack to Pirate's Curse, and came across "Scuttle Town"; immediately, I got a Mid-East glitch hop vibe from it that would be ridiculously fun to build off of, at least for the main groove. Peeking around a bit further, "We Love Burning Town" was more than enough material to work with, bursting with a playful vibe that I couldn't resist (which for some reason is associated with burning a town... playfully?).

I started this in January of 2016 (before I started grad school), stitching together Indian raga samples from Crypto Cipher to see what would happen. Slowly but surely, a glitch hop backbone came together, held up firmly by Serum and Zebra2, and I managed to finish through the breakdown section by the end of summer, featuring ISW's Bravura and Turkish oud. I was kinda stuck on what to do next, so I put it to the side while I prepped to go to WSU. The first semester passed by, in which time I was TA-ing general chemistry, and toughing my way through quantum chemistry and thermodynamics (A- in both, oh yeah!).

When I got to winter break, I immediately got the idea for a buildup back to the main drop, and finished the first three minutes so far, but I had to set it aside again for my second semester. I already knew by now that I was going to finish the track eventually... and here I am, not willing to put it off any longer, finishing it up in May of 2017 after one year of grad school! Never has finishing a ReMix been so hard! :-D"

Source Breakdown:

• 0:16.1-0:30.0 = "Scuttle Town" (0:00.0-0:16.4) [slowed down]
• 0:34.3-0:36.5, 0:38.6-0:42.9 = "Scuttle Town" (0:18.3-0:27.4) [bass]
• 0:42.9-0:45.0, 0:47.2-0:51.5 = "Scuttle Town" (0:18.3-0:27.4) [bass]
• 0:51.5-1:08.6 = "We Love Burning Town" (0:07.9-0:22.3)
• 1:08.6-1:10.7, 1:12.9-1:15.3 = "We Love Burning Town" (0:23.3-0:34.8)
• 1:17.2-1:19.3 = "We Love Burning Town" (0:23.3-0:34.8)
• 1:42.9-2:00.0 = "Scuttle Town" (0:54.9-1:11.3) [left-panned strings]
• 2:00.0-2:17.2 = "Scuttle Town" (1:13.1-1:31.4) mixed with (0:18.3-0:27.4)
• 2:17.2-2:24.1, 2:25.7-2:34.3 = "Scuttle Town" (0:54.9-1:11.3) [left-panned strings]
• 2:34.3-2:36.5, 2:38.6-2:42.9 = "Scuttle Town" (0:18.3-0:27.4) [bass]
• 2:42.9-2:45.0, 2:47.2-2:51.5 = "Scuttle Town" (0:18.3-0:27.4) [bass]
• 2:51.5-3:08.6 = "We Love Burning Town" (0:07.9-0:22.3)
• 3:08.6-3:16.4, 3:17.2-3:24.1 = "We Love Burning Town" (1:09.3-1:36.2)
• 3:25.8-3:33.5, 3:34.3-3:41.8 = "We Love Burning Town" (1:09.3-1:36.2)
• 3:41.8-3:48.0 = "We Love Burning Town" (0:53.0-0:54.4)

I can never say enough good things about how timaeus has developed & grown as an artist, trying new styles, refining both his arrangement & production chops, and all while still in school - quantum chemistry and thermodynamics, no less; mad props, he really HAS been on fire. Jake set the bar very high eight years ago with his own interpretation of his work, and it's a testament to t222's killer studio chops that this arrangement is a worthy sibling. I also got flashbacks to PlanetSkill's legendary Sonic 2 "Oil Ocean" jam from even further back in OCR history; good company. I'm loving the glitch-hop vibe, drums have plenty of impact, FX are applied generously but in a way that only enhances the experience, and it's especially nice that the traditional & orchestral components are mixed foreground and sound gorgeous in their own right. Judges were unanimous and evaluated this mostly just to double-check the breakdown since everyone agreed it was BOTH fire AND lit. DragonAvenger provided the following gem:

"For Dave to quote. "This is pretty sweet. And hot. Like a desert.""

Shakespeare himself never wrote similes so profound ;) Gario offers:

"Production is tight as usual, and the eastern vocals fit perfectly with the otherwise electronic arrangement (similar to how Zircon uses them for his "Time to Oil Up" SFIV arrangement). The arrangement is well put together in terms of cohesiveness and source representation, as well."

One of timaeus's best mixes, clearly a labor of love, and I'm honored to have been a small part of its solicitation origin story; this is a badass tribute to a playful, rock-solid series of games which have consistently featured spot-on music from Jake. Check it out, check them out, and thank me later - highly recommended!