Andy Bundy

Tag: Nintendo 64

  • Music Mondays – February 2, 2026

    Music Mondays – February 2, 2026

    When you think of water levels, what kind of music do you think of? What instrumentation typically comes to mind? For me, it’s ethereal and it uses instruments like strings and soft pads to generate feelings of waves and ocean. There are many great examples but today I wanted to pull focus towards Dire, Dire Docks from Super Mario 64.

    I will often go back and listen to this and all variations of this song when I need to vibe. It was a great study song back in college too!

    Fun Fact: The Dire, Dire Docks song was one of the first (if not *the* first) song that I ever learned on piano, thanks to an arrangement online I found from Ben Landis.

    The arpeggiated bassline combined with the simple melody made it a very easy song to start learning, and all of the variations of this song just hit right.

    I even love the version they remixed in Mario Kart World a ton, especially since they arranged it as almost a concert band piece:

    Enjoy the vibes and let me know what you think in the comments!

    (Also sorry for the late publish, this week was a little insane)

  • Music Mondays – Jan 5, 2026

    Music Mondays – Jan 5, 2026

    For 2026, I want to take time every Monday and think about video game music. If you know me, you’ll know that video game music is one of my favorite genres of music. It’s incredibly versatile from the bleeps and boops of chiptune music to the full orchestrations of modern-day gaming.

    With that being said, today’s song of the week is…

    Freezeezy Peak from Banjo-Kazooie! (Composed by Grant Kirkhope)

    It tracks that my first track comes from Banjo-Kazooie. There are so many good tracks in the OST for Banjo-Kazooie, but if I had to pick a favorite, it would be Freezeezy Peak. There’s just something there that brings joy? It evokes the Winter/Christmas vibe and Grant Kirkhope used the Brass/Strings so well in this track to keep the pace going. I remember sitting in the game for hours so I could just listen to the music of this level (before I discovered the Internet). It’s bouncy, and drowns out the ever so sinister laughs of the Sir Slush. One thing that stands out from Banjo-Kazooie is the dynamic instrumentation of the songs. I love the variations, but the main world has to be my favorite out of all of them.

    I also have to give a shout out to all of the remixes of this song. There are many.

    The first I go back to (a lot) is a remix by Smouvy, who was one of my friends back on the Rare Witch Project forums:

    It evokes similar vibes but more sedate. I could sit with my headphones and just get lost in the snow:

    Another one of note is a remix from….Grant Kirkhope himself???

    The vibe is more ska-like and upbeat but the versatility of the melody is able to hit even this ska/surf rock hit!

    What do you think of this wintertime snow hit? Do you have a favorite track? Let me know in the comments or let’s talk about it on Discord!