Vim! - Linden - Home Of The Hits


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Vim!

Linden Home Of The Hits

Track List

1	Art Of Spelling It Rite	2:30
2	Winging It	1:50
3	You Know Laura	4:02
4	The Snow Set	2:44
5	Shut Down And Sit Up	1:52
6	Hot Darts Action	4:04
7	Just Some Pings	2:21
8	How We Wrote Promotional Video	2:27
9	Hot Rum And Lemon, Gannet!	1:54
10	Exists In Bad Sectors	1:35
11	Leopold 45	3:33
12	Jackie Batey	1:51
13	Better Known As Craprak	2:32
14	Having A Tinkle	4:52
15	Safety Blitz	4:00
16	Angel Delight Saved Me	2:34
17	Thin Strips Of You	3:50
18	Something About Winter	7:02

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Review

Another Review

This is yet another release in a long line of brilliant albums from local label Surgery Records. Vim! [otherwise known as Keith Baylis] is a nostalgic electronic composer from the UK, and Linden - Home of the Hits is a recording of retro Commodore 64 and Atari half-bit sounds systems and atmospheric ambience.

Art of spelling It Rite sets the tone for the album, juxtaposing of an ambient electronic soundscape with a distinctly 80s aesthetic. Other experiments are just as astonishing, with cheesy keyboard sounds balancing precariously over a resonating electronic minimalism on You Know Laura.

Vim's retro obsession reaches a crescendo on How We Wrote Promotional Video which is horribly indescribable. The disturbing thing about Vim is that he makes these 'out of time' or 'out of place' sounds actually sound melodic and beautiful.

The most important element here is that Baylis goes on to demonstrate the lineage from 80s electro to contemporary experimental electronica with intelligence and determination. Leopold 45 suggests his musical maturity in a piece of ambient brilliance which defies definition.

The moving and evocative dreamscape of Thin Strips of You traces the history of ambience from Eno to Vangelis to Aphex Twin (and other contemporary experimenatl artists).

In fact, the old-worldly title of Hot Rum And Lemon, Gannet! disguises the fact that it is really an advanced and sophisticated excursion into beat cutting. It's a frenetic piece which is sure to appeal to fans of the 'Twins Come to Daddy.

Yet none of this compares to the breathtaking conclusion of the album - Something About Winter. Saving his best until last, this delicate, intelligent and thoughtful track is powerfully sinister with its resonating and distorted organ tones. Linden - Home of the Hits is a provoking and challenging listen and a must for anyone who has a C64 emulator on their PC.

(Courtesy of DB Magazine)

	Musical nostalgia isn't just limited to rock. For a few years now, IDM freaks have been pillaging second-hand shops and their parent's basements (which, ironically, is where most of them live) for old Atari or Commodore64 systems, in order to utilize their half-bit sound systems to record imaginary video game soundtracks of youth. The odd chap behind UK's Vim! seems to share in this retro video game fixation, only it comes out all twisted on the other side of his drill'n'bass filter. Tinny synths rise and tumble down melodic scales, while flimsy drums struggle to not be steamrolled by massive bass not seen this side of Squarepusher. "How We Wrote Promotional Video" teeters on the line separating 70s lite porn music from Aphex Twin, while "Hot Rum And Lemon, Gannet!" spaces sections of dizzy hum with drum'n'bass rhythms that peel the paint from the walls. Old school electro is rewritten as sped-up hip-hop funk on "Better Known As Craprak", showing Vim!'s more serious side, which in itself is pretty funny. I'm not exactly sure where Linden is, but if these "hits" are anything to go on, I'm sure it's one hell of a town. Jason Alariu (Courtesy of Faqt Magazine)



	Wonderful cover art- showing the kind of corner shop everyone needs, disguises a warm and approachable excursion into tricky beats and the finest in lounge-tronica, complete with yr favourite Watermelo Man cocktail. Oh Yes.. This often humourous set manages to produce appealing melodic elements from amongst the depths of some medium-fierce rhythms, the effect is quite magical consistently, like a dream sound scape for inner city life. Fans of the mighty Max Tundra should appreciate proceedings here. Nice attitude. Good tunes. Great track titles i.e. Angel delight saved me, Hot darts action, Winging it, Shut down and sit up...well worthy of your attention. If you missed the Pretty boy Crossover set the other week, you urgently need to catch up with this innovative South Australian label and this ace full-length as soon as... (Courtesy Pelican Neck records)