ReMix:Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon "Photogenic Ghosts" 4:02

It's not time for a hokey phone app with pseudo-ghost detection, it's time to get funky with jnWake & Jabo's rockin' rendition of the N64's Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon! After a dearth of Goemon here for nearly 15 years, we had an amazing ReMix (and a little extra) finally showcasing the franchise last year, so it warms my cold, cold heart to have another ready to showcase this year. Following up on the successful tag team with Jabo a month prior, jnWake cooked this one up for DoD to close out last year and took a trip to the podium:

"Yet another tune from DoD! A funky, slightly fusion, remix of the "Ghost Toys Castle" theme from Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon. Featuring Jabo on guitars. This one was my submission to 32-bit month in December 2023. I've always loved the music in Goemon games, so I took the opportunity to remix one of them. Source I picked is more of a funky tune (dat bass), so I went for a funky approach rather than my usual metal one. Original track is actually 4 different tracks on the game, each one layering some extra stuff to the main sections of the song.

Anyway, similar to my last submission, this started as synth-only but I eventually decided to add guitars, so I contacted Jabo, who did an awesome job. The track ended up placing 2nd on this particular DoD contest, so I think it ended up fine! Hope you enjoy! I had a ton of fun building the arrangement and playing the keyboard solo!"

Man, the bass work here sounds so good; the whole track's got that ToeJam & Earl-level groove potential here, so now I want to hear these two take that series on for a future DoD. :-) Several of us Js mentioned some disjointedness; while not technically mistaken about it, just looping this and locking onto the piece's overall flow gets right over that hump, typical when getting acclimated to new songs. This is funky with a side of chips and amplifies the source tune's catchiness in such a cool & relaxed way, taken to the next level after the rise in tempo at 1:46! The Goemon source usage here wasn't in question, yet Wake was kind enough to break it down for us with his handy dandy guide:

"K, so a little about the source before the breakdown. It basically consists of 2 sections, first a bass riff on E minor (with some G# and C# for funkiness), which lasts from around 0:00 to 0:17 in the source and, second, a part that alters between E minor and C# minor chords (0:18 to 0:35 of the source). Repetitions of each section add new melodies like a synth melody on the second repetition of section 1 (between 0:36 and 0:53), a very pentatonic melody on the third repetition of section 1 (1:09 to 1:27), and a synth melody on the third repetition of section 2 (1:44 to 2:02). I use all of these in the remix!

Now, I didn't use that many of the parts without modifying them, so I hope this doesn't run into source usage problems... Anyway, here's a breakdown:

0:00-0:20: Bass riff based on the main one from the source, synths are somewhat similar to some from the source.
0:20-0:40: Synth lead based on the synth melody of section 1.
0:40-0:56: Based on section 2, somewhat straightforward but in 6/4.
0:56-1:17: Melody on synths is taken from part of the synth melody in section 1.
1:17-1:26: Bass riff returns!
1:26-1:47: More bass riff + the pentatonic riff on synths.
1:47-2:17: Same pentatonic riff but now played on straight 8ths. Lead guitar plays the same melody from 0:56.
2:17-2:36: Return of the chords from section 2, followed by a transition.
2:36-3:07: Synth solo! Bass riff uses many ideas from the main bass riff of the source... there's also a tempo bump.
3:07-3:24: Riff based on parts of the melody from section 1.
3:24-3:53: Repeat of the 0:56-1:16 section but with lead on guitar now (and higher tempo).
3:53-end: Bass riff from synth solo repeats for the ending."

Amidst the arrangement map drawn by jnWake, prophetik music kept his antennae up for artistic ideas, richly rewarded by Wake & Jabo's musicianship and the way they developed the source tune:

"intro riff is appropriately funky. [...] we get a sustain in the guitars that quickly goes Plini-ish at 1:51 and then takes off. i love this upbeat section. it's short, but the soaring guitars are so good. it comes back down (still feels like Plini) and then we get a significant tempo change and some soloing. the melodic material is back at 3:07 with the ascending lick that's then harmonized, and then some great guitar work. there's some bass riffs and it's done.

what a fun take! there's a lot of exploration of what's honestly a pretty basic original, given that it's just a bass riff and some synth flourishes. this really branches out and does a great job."

Nice of prophetik to invoke Plini, because while this isn't a dense & intense rock piece like some of his stuff, jnWake & Jabo's grooviness and energy definitely does align (and I could be ignorant to other stuff of Plini's that matches up in style more, so lemme know). Dug the rapidity added into the picture around 1:56 with the guitar taking over as the lead and especially after 2:36 with Wake's maniacal synth solo putting a huge smile on my face, followed by the melodic doubling at 3:07 sounding triumphant. As DarkSim said, along the same lines as prophetik, "a brilliant expansion on the source", this is gonna get your head nodding. Brilliant stuff by jnWake, who only continues to find his creative groove, and another strong pairing with Jabo to leave us excited for whatever they tackle next!