stoned_again (stoned_again.mod)

Overall Impression (10/10)

This reminds me of Roskow Kretschmann's work. A very ethereal chillout tune that boasts ultra high level of skill and completely hides the fact that it's a 4-channel mod.

Technique, Arrangement, Composition (10/10)

If you were told this is a 4-channel mod, you might assume that this is mostly a loop mashup, because it sounds so good. And you'll be awesomely surprised when you look at the file.

You would see bits of samples that are then assembled into this amazing texture. Carefully planned and then painstakingly tracked, this shows a level of creativity that seems alien.

In fact, I am keenly interested in how these modules are written: how much of it is planning and how much of it is playing around with what you've got. I would certainly be struggling to produce something intelligible out of the samples presented.

A relatively standard trick, but I still marvel at how linus uses a loop and a volume slide to simulate delay. Such a simple idea and a very convincing effect.

I also love how he uses pattern jump effects to simulate a vinyl scratch - this is when looking at the mod pays off!

Development (10/10)

You are getting this wonderful lofi quality from the piece. Everything is crumbled and there is some crackling effects in the samples. Yet, the sounds are loud and crisp. It sounds like a really well produced record.

Another notable thing here is how linus manages to use the panning of the channels: it seems seamless and completely invisible. mod files frequently present this challenge of what should go where so as to present a balanced mix. "Stoned again" sidesteppes this problem completely: the panorama feels natural and all the jumps between channels, even when it's the drums, feel intentional.

Creativity (10/10)

The tune is pretty short and in theory could have been longer, but with what it's got, there's not a single boring spot.

Even the key change, which is sometimes done as a relatively lazy way to introduce variety, is handled creatively: see pattern 6. He begins to trigger the sample every 16th note. And this is where you can also hear the sort of intentionality to the drums changing channels: just the way the tune is written makes it feel like a trick. And it does introduce novelty, something I haven't experienced in mod tunes before. In most of them this sounds awkward and like an unfortunate limitation of the format. That linux is able to use it so flawlessly is truly impressive.

Enjoyment (10/10)

I have never been stoned, but I imagine that this is how it feels.

Seriously, though, this is an excellent commercial-grade quality chillout tune that will stay in my collection. Some breathtaking skill here. If you need inspiration to do some tracking, fire up this tune right here.

I was also trying to get the date of this. But due to "linus" and "voodoo" being ubiquitous in other contexts, I was just not able to find anything. This sounds like early 90s, but I would still be curious to learn. This was definitely innovative musically and I wonder what linus used to produce these samples, since he says he created most of them himself.