KingGordo: ZINGER (DKC2 "Flight of the Zinger" Remix) ft. "Gibit"
85About a year ago I made the fateful decision to play through Donkey Kong Country for the very first time. I knew a minimal amount about the legacy of this SNES classic, most notably that its soundtrack was apparently the stuff of legend (I was only really familiar with the iconic Kongo Jungle theme). And, of course, I was absolutely blown away by the entire game; it captures such a unique ambience that is perfectly complemented by a stellar soundtrack (I will never forget the surreal experience of hearing Aquatic Ambience in its original context for the first time). Because I had such a great experience with the first game, I decided to give the sequel, Diddy's Kong-Quest, a go. This decision ended up changing my entire perception of video game music as a genre.
Despite having never touched the game up until about a year ago, I now consider Donkey Kong Country 2 to be among, not just my favorite video game OSTs of all time, but even one of my favorite video games of all time. While the other factors that make DCK2 a timeless video game should not go unnoticed, I do believe that I wouldn't think as highly of the game had it not been for the soundtrack. The first DKC has a great soundtrack to be sure, but DKC2 has what I would legitimately consider to be a perfect OST; David Wise knocks nearly every theme out of the park, creating unprecedented tracks that stand the test of time. DKC2 did something for me that I thought was a long-gone impossibility; it actually created a NEW chapter in my life-long love for Nintendo music. I now consistently return to "Stickerbush Symphony", "Forest Interlude", and "In a Snow Bound Land" for my listening pleasure...all themes that give me an incomparable feeling of nostalgic tranquility despite the fact that I didn't grow up with them. But often unnoticed, from what I have seen, is a short, understated theme: "Flight of the Zinger", the track that plays in the visually stunning beehive-themed levels. Although simple, I noticed one day, as the song randomly became stuck in my head, that the track offers much in terms of musical interpretation, thus yielding this fun project!
I was fortunate enough to meet a fellow musician recently who offers something I've been looking for for a good while now; a guitar player who can improvise. I really love the timbre of an epic metal guitar but I cannot play guitar myself, so I was thrilled to finally be able to incorporate it into one of my projects without having to rely on a cheap midi sound (as was often the case in the early days of KingGordo lol). Having someone actually playing guitar also allowed us to pull off those pitch bend moments during the beginning sections that really define the original ambience of "Flight of the Zinger". I was very excited to be able to capture that essence for the remix in a way that I couldn't have done on my own! Also while experimenting with the theme during the early stages I had yet another great "musical connection" moment: "Flight of the Zinger" shares a striking similarity to "Seperate Ways" by Journey, which coincidentally has one of my favorite guitar solos ever. We thus snuck it into the guitar solo here at 2:29! Another fun thing I did with the theme is a reharmonized section starting at 3:10...it turned out to be just what I needed to round out the ending of the remix!
I'm confident that this is one of my better quality projects, and it was a very cool experience being able to collaborate with someone for a relatively more large-scale project such as this! I hope you enjoy!
That's all for now! Until next time, goodbye!
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Synth motif adapted from this transcription:
https://musescore.com/user/20041331/scores/5592225
Bee sound effect:
https://youtu.be/mjKJSAMHkdg
Beehive backgrounds by sgprolab:
https://youtu.be/hJ22ejDg6co
https://youtu.be/Pbd2njVmrpg