Picking a winner in the Dark Void Remix Contest was not an easy task, because there were so many remarkable and worthy entries.  After carefully listening to the finalists, I think the prize belongs to the Main Finger Remix.
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The Main Finger Remix, like the best of the entries, cleverly combined elements of my track with original material to forge a new musical identity.  However, it managed to structure these disparate musical puzzle pieces into a form that flows like a good song.  This piece never stays the same long enough to get boring and it never changes so radically that it feels like a montage of unrelated ideas.  And there are some fantastic ideas here:  the shuffle groove cut up from my taiko riff, the simple sine wave synth lines that bring to mind the 8-bit stylings of my own “Dark Void Theme (Mega Version),” the heavy-rock bridge featuring acoustic drums and electric guitar and the re-harmonization of the melody at the end of the piece, among others.  I especially appreciate the restraint on display in allowing the melody to rest cleanly atop the driving remix elements, giving the listener the melody to listen to.  I know I’m biased because I wrote that melody, but still… its fun to listen to it in such a new context!

While many of the submissions resulted in intense beats, The Main Finger Remix struck the perfect balance between remix originality and good ol’ fashioned musicality.  This is a piece of music I want to keep listening to.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m putting this thing on my iPod right now!

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Check out the Official Announcement for a free download of the winning entry.  What do you guys think?  Pretty intense remix, right?  A big thanks goes out to everyone who submitted, especially those of you who sent in your ideas here to the blog. Congrats, Jesse!

-Bear