ReMix:Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest "Dancing Bossanova" 2:24

Absolutely badass DKC2 "Boss Bossanova" ReMix that has (tasteful) saws for days, a sinister & almost glitch-hoppy beat that reminds me of "Dirt Devil," and a generally epic level of intensity, funk, & malevolence. The title doesn't necessarily convey all that, but that's about the only nitpick I've got. Tobaunta Torkelsson of Pixel Pirates writes:

"One of my personal favorite tracks from the DKC trilogy since childhood. Haven't seen many remixes of this song, so I wanted to create my own dance version of the song for DK's 40th birthday since dance remixes of game music is what I do. To honor his birthday, we are releasing our remix of the boss music from Donkey Kong Country 2."

While their submission comments are equally concise & direct, it's the music that counts, and this relatively short mix delivers on a sinister, nasty beat that bridges EDM/dance and glitch hop a bit, at least in my mind, and has some wonderful lo-fi elements that are more hip-hop/trap-oriented, like the low brass hit. The motif has a Celtic/shanty vibe that's retained, given the syncopation of the beat, so it all works rather well I'd say, and I appreciated the intensity bump towards the end with layering of major & minor lines. It's got some definite swing & swagger to it, but it's still firmly "boss theme" enough to come off as evil & ominous; a tip of the hat and a bravo, there. Judges were unanimous; Emunator's post resonated the most with me:

"On first listen, my gut impression was that this track was perhaps too simplistic and underdeveloped, but repeat listens showed me that I was dead wrong. Although the track does quickly find a lane and stay in it for most of the duration, the there's a deceptive amount of expansion in the melody, transitions, and structure of the arrangement that didn't immediately reveal itself to me. Some highlights include the beautiful string harmonies that add your own personal flair to the arrangement, and the "micro/macro" beatwork that Brad pointed out. I also loved the panflute lead that entered around 2:02 - perhaps bringing that in earlier in the song would have been nice to offer some respite from the supersaw lead that dominates the first two minutes of the track and contributed to a bit of listening fatigue for me. Ultimately though, this checks all the boxes and does a fine job with it - I'm glad I gave this a closer listen! "

Roger that, although I try to cut supersaws some slack since it's ultimately just another sound that happens to work pretty well in certain contexts. It did here, and this is one that sticks out to me in terms of creativity but also attitude. Judges did have some potentially valuable production pointers that could make the next mix pop even harder, but it's already an impressive debut and something I'll definitely be coming back to. Pirates and ninjas both somehow ended up with a modern era reputation of being cool when, historically, both occupations tended to involve some fairly profound moral failings. But, I mean... heck yeah, they're cool. And so are Pixel Pirates, who I recommend you check out and certainly hope to hear more from. Awesome!