Posted 2005-02-13, evaluated by the judges panel

Newcomer Ben Briggs, alias chthonic, sends in a jammin' Super Mario 64 ReMix of the Wing Cap theme. After reading their unanimously positive but at times reserved opinions, I'd say that I probably dig this more than those members of the judges panel who voted on it. I suppose it's partly because I don't think this is a particularly easy theme to cover, but more that I think Ben's done due diligence in experimenting and actually taking some risks. It's all relative, of course, but the blending of latin piano riffs and percussion with traditional trance elements, with some rippin jazz sax soloing, plus harp glissandos and substantial timbral variety with choral patches struck me as being pretty fresh. Maybe not the "next big thing" to sweep the nation, but not a ReMix that seems particularly conservative or "safe", at least in my book. Regardless of the innovation factor, there wasn't much ambiguity as to what's here being well-constructed, polished, and mixed with something I'd say goes a little beyond just competence. This is a fun mix, sure, but while the integration of the chiptune-esque riff (which ain't ripped but reconstructed) might make it seem "light" at first, the transitions here are handled very gracefully, and the mix does evolve over its four minute timespan. It's sort of a hybrid between groove-oriented composition and more linear styles, due to the cohesive contributions of the sax. Check out the segue to a half-tempo groove with vibe arpeggios at 3'42" that Ben uses to close out the piece - that's not the obvious choice for closure, but when you hear it, I think you'll agree it works quite well. There's elements of this mix that remind me of Gecko, Disco Dan, and Darkesword, which are all great mixers to be compared to, but Ben's also got his own voice. Maybe I'm just in an unusually good mood or something, but to me this is a very promising initial mix that takes relatively simple material and expands upon it in a lot of intelligent, expressive ways. Great lead synth action with large multi-octave spanning portamento glide effects, too. Kudos.