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VIM!, aka Keith Baylis

[WHO?]
Vim!, aka Keith Baylis, is an English .MOD composer, who, despite arriving relatively late on the Amiga 'demo-scene' compared to many, has left an indelible, slightly smudged mark on it, particularly with regard to his melodically obtuse, skilfully produced chiptunes, which later shifted down noisier, more random .XM paths, and have garnered a major cult following. Starting in around 1992, and originally named kbx128 and kb-zip, Vim! has never been strongly associated with particular demo-groups, though he was a member of Tesko, Eltech, and others. However, he contributed to a plethora of chip-music packs, including the seminal 'Emissions' chipdiscs, and is particularly known for his association with Amiga .MOD group and now netlabel Mono/Monotonik (run by this site's creator), for which he continues to release .MP3s - he also has a discography that includes releases and remixes for labels including Surgery, Merck, and Carpark Records.

[OUR TOP 5 .MODs?]
1. "Call Me Persephone"
[An mid-period .XM format release, from 1997, and originally released on the Monotonik .MOD label, a carefully arpegiating intro gives way into some of the most languid, triphop-redolent drums you're likely to hear, before dreamy chords snake in and out, and all manner of gorgeously chilled melodics break out.]
2 . "Give Me An Om"
[A typical example of obtuse Vim! whimsy, this 1996-ish .MOD track shows the oddly formed, oddly affecting chord structure that characterizes all Vim tracks, but with an insanely loopy, frolicking lead, and typical pure chiptune-styled instruments. Delightful.]
3 ."Fu'Led"
[More tricksy goodness, and this time rocking the .XM-style with a trademark offbeat bassline and marvellously sinewave-y instruments. Not used in a famous demo, and not a 1988-era classic, but a great example of supremely creative late-era 'tracker' music from an unsung hero.]
4 . "Backbackbackback"
[Back to 1994, when Vim! was called kb-zip and part of UK demo group Tesko, and this .MOD is toward the more traditional end of chiptunes, but with a strong Vim! twist - melody, but squinty, sideways, slide-filled melodic goodness.]
5 . "Post-Caring"
[Much later and much harsher, this 1997 vintage piece hits up some breakbeat drums and squelchy, serrated chords, and then plays around with drum loops in some seriously beguiling ways. It's intentionally rough, but we wouldn't have it any other way.]

Download our top 5 Vim! .MODs from here, or the scene.org mirror (301k .ZIP!)


[ALL MODs?]
As well as offering our top 5 picks, we've included another archive with every single Vim .MOD ever released, for completists and those who want to hear more from the artist in question. Particular favorites of ours from the rest of Vim's .MOD output include:

- "98p for a 99" (Super-bouncy, super-chunky trippy .XM ice-cream referencing breaks.)
- "Planet Samey Multik" (Drifting, arpegiating electronic goodness.)
- "Tea Diddums" (Awfully triphop, awfully funky, awfully now.)
- "0% Sianisms" (But 100% goodness - extremely spazzed-out melodically odd but smart smartitude.)
- "Handwash" (Extremely odd, dischordant, spooky idm weirdness.)


Download Vim's complete .MOD collection here, or the scene.org mirror (221 tunes, 19.1mb .ZIP!)
[list of included .MODs is here.]

[MISSING .MODs?]
If you have any Vim! .MODs that we're currently missing, please contact us.

These works are licensed under a Creative Commons License with the full permission of Keith Baylis.