5 out of 5

Label: Respawned Records

Produced by: Grant Kirkhope

The score that keeps on giving!

In the liner notes to Grant Kirkhope’s Banjo Kazooie Re-jiggyed, the composer remarks on how difficult he found it to remix his own work. Well, sorry, but based on this set, Grant, you’re definitely gonna have to, as it’s some of the most fun I’ve had listening to something recently, blowing way past any perceived kitsch value for some truly mind-blowing displays of craft, or “how’d he do that?” genre twists and turns.

The “kitsch” could be that Banjo-Kazooie’s music is very much of that 32-bit / 64-bit bouncy platformer era, heavily influenced by Looney Tunes-style pomp; combine that with Grant’s plan to mix such colorful tunes with genres galore – metal, ska, chiptune, etc. – and you can see how things cross a line from silly to obnoxious.

But just as the original B-K tunes, as silly-toned as they could be, were fully fleshed our compositions, so it goes here: if Grant is writing a thrash bit, he commits, and only goes so far (or pushes further) as / when the song needs it. Furthering the success of this is, perhaps, being a step removed from the source: no longer needing to stick to a “script,” and not necessarily beholden to timebound or loopable themes, the songs have an incredibly exploratory vibe, full of constant surprise and ante ups. Again, though, it’s not scattershot: the A-side remains kind of tangential to VGM pop, before the B-side really kicks it with more extreme variations, peaking in a speedrun medley that’s incredibly cohesive (…and creative, and fun, etc. etc…).

The pressing from Respawned Records sounds great, getting a really rich and round presentation of presumably all digital sources, including those ska “horns.” Apropos artwork that’ll look good next to your 18 other Banjo-Kazooie soundtracks, plus the aforementioned liner notes, rounds out the package well. A must listen for Kirkhope fans, and sure to get some on board even without any game / B-K leanings.