Profile - Vim!


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Artist: Vim!

Real Name: Keith Baylis

Aliases: Vom

Album Releases

Appearance: (Track 2 + 13 Disk 2)


	Linden - Home Of The Hits 2000 surge0006 Reviews / Listen >


		Initial Release - Surgery Comp 01 2000 surge0001 Reviews / Listen >

Profile

Hailing from the united Kingdom, Vim [aka Keith Baylis], has been wowing underground 'demo-scene' collectors for years with his heady blend of nostalgia, classic video-game style, and fractured beats, agit-prop style. If you ever wondered what a blend of Tim Follin (classic Commodore64 composer!), and a mellowed-out, nostalgicised Squarepusher would sound like, then you've come to the right place. As well as receiving airplay from UK legend John Peel [under his guise 'Vom' - on Welsh label Oggum], Vim has had music included on a Playstation game ['Tank Racer'], and has just recently remixed US artist Marumari [Carpark Records].



A Chat With Vim! (Courtesy Cyclic Defrost) Keith Baylis records as Vim!, and has had numerous releases on net-label Monotonik as well as a full-length album, Linden : Home Of The Hits on Australian label Surgery Records. CD: What was it about the C64's music that made it so special? Vim!: For me it was the unique sound. No other computer at the time could touch it, it was just so flexible. Phat basses, that nice swishy sound I now know to be phase-shifting. CD: Do you think the sounds of the C64's SID chip are still relevant today? Vim!: Well, perhaps for a small group of people who have fond memories of the system, and perhaps in a retro-ironic way, but no, not in the context of the Commodore 64. CD: What aspect of the SID chip's sound do you think makes people want to come back and use it [ either via hard-SID or SIDstation ] in conjunction with more sophisticated sound technology these days?




	Vim!: Definitely the sound is redolent of the 80s. For a generation of mainly men, that sound just brings it all back, the evenings on The Last Ninja etc. So I suppose it's the unique sound, but one with the C64 label. I'm surprised more people haven't used the SID to make non-C64-sounding tunes. CD: What was your favourite C64 game tune? Vim!: Basically anything by Tim Follin (Bionic Commando, Ghouls And Ghosts, Black Lamp). He just sounded like no-one else, his use of chords just blew me away, and when I'd recovered, I felt inspired to try it myself. CD: How much of an inspiration was the old game music from C64 days? Vim!: Huge! I sometimes fire up SIDplay and go through some tunes, just to get a spot of inspiration. Okay, so not all SID music is any good, far from it, but when it's good, it's superb. And the limitations the programmers/composers had to work with, you have to take your hat off to them. Young people today have it so easy.

Discography

Links

Yr Agog - Various Artists
Trk 9 - Quality Coats
CD (Oggum, 2000)

Initial Release - Various Artists
Trk 1 - Thin Strips Of You / Trk 13 - Jakey Batey
Double CD (Surgery Records 2001)

Linden - Home Of The Hits
CD (Surgery Records 2001)

Machine Drum - Half The Battle - Various Artists
CD (Merk 2002)

Vimsters Homepage >

Vim Mentioned Here (C64 Article) >

Free Tracks

Vim! - Untitled (2001) >

(Right click to download or click to load in new window)