EarthBound "Get Down with Your Bad Self, Mr. Saturn!" 4:46

Happy International Women's Day! As the proud product of a determined single mom, lucky husband of a strong, intelligent wife, and befuddled girl dad of a cuddly, sassy sweetie, it's time to celebrate ladies, ladies, ladies as we show love and appreciation to the women in our lives. There's no better way to do that around these parts than by spotlighting female ReMixers, so let's quickly shine the light on 5!

Second up, "Hi Hi Hi!" to Pixel Mixers' PM Rockin' album and to The Vodoú Queen, who pairs her penchant for wacky arranging with EarthBound's quirky Saturn Valley theme! Check out her full comments in the MP3, as VQ had tons to say, but we're gonna focus on what led her down the musical path to EarthBound's unofficial mascot:

"As people have pointed out several times here, no one really knows what or how to describe my music, as it always comes as a fusion between at least TWO genres and employing techniques across a wide spectrum, never settling on any one thing. The TL;DR of the TimeShift conversation was people's general hint at me taking the source(s) I've chosen and to do something... a lil' unorthodox with them, seeing as I gained some insight on a plausible idea in listening to and discussing the group Black Violin, which is comprised of two Black dudes absolutely killing it on said instrument, but to the backdrop of hip-hop drum n' bass. In some of my own observation not only on this site, but across other communities, hip hop has been done with VGM and remixes a-plenty, sure, but it's seemingly not as welcomed or fully embraced by the larger audience -- not to the degree that heavy metal, rock, and EDM in their variety has staked their claims and made huge waves. You'll see urban genre(s) way less and far between than a solo piano piece, or another orchestral piece. Hell, I think aspects of jazz and blues are more keenly felt and appreciated more often... So... why the fuck not? Not only growing up in a household which cherished eclectic and wide-spanning tastes in music, I grew up in and amongst urban genre scenes of all sorts, I myself being of the Afro-persuasion. And, it'd be a missed opportunity to functionally slip more of those facets into other genre-bends and VGM remixes where... maybe no one thought there could be an obvious connection (e.g. like in Sonic music, which has clear and tight ties to rap and hip hop and alternative over the history of its franchise OSTs). [...]

After extensive research, we got the smattering of ragtime piano, the hip upright bass plucks, the New Orleans-style trumpet razz (and, yeah... kinda, uhm... a bit proud of myself managing to write/improv all of that from the source material, inclusive of the synth trumpet's riffs, trills, flutters, licks, etc.), and those 'bones going ham, all wrapped in a neat lil' package of needing moar cowbell and phat 808s. I honestly dunno how the hell I managed, but I guess inspiration is bound to happen when the thought of those cute lil' pink guys shakin' ass to Jersey beats pushes you to the absolute limits of imagination. :D"

I love VQ's desire to represent the musically underrepresented, and she pulls it off with style here. It starts out super-quiet, but purposefully boosts up at :27, then gets denser at 1:08 with some bouncier piano writing, followed by a sweet transition into the chorus at 1:21. I'm appreciating the textures and sound design; nothing too flashy or sophisticated, yet everything combines extremely effectively. Strong dynamics as well, also honed in on by judge prophetik music:

"i like the added elements that you've brought in, and the arrangement [...] is vibrant and ever-changing. [...] overall this is a great approach to a goofy original that keeps the fun without losing track of the plot. nice work."

Much like shieldeater's recent take on Dr. Andonuts, this funky, fresh vision honoring the Mr. Saturn species is everything you'd want in an EarthBound arrangement, maintaining the soundtrack's distinctive idiosyncracies while brilliantly beefling up the sound palette. All hail the Queen for her most fun ReMix yet! :-)