Imperfect (imperfect.xm)

Posted by TMA Placeholder Account on Thu 20th May 1999, rated 8 / 10.

This song incorporates just one sample, but he certainly chose the instrument for the job: the piano. Just to spite all those who think that killer mods can only come from layer upon layer of instruments, this actually comes out wonderfully. AxEL's unfamiliarity with the genre comes through in a few places where there are awkward key changes, but he really makes the piano sing like few can in this file format. The only things keeping it from an even higher score are those key changes, and its lack of a truly fulfilling ending. Still, this is the first mod that's been able to bring a tear to my eye... AxEL really shows in his technique all the nuances of a live piano player. The key pressure, volume shifts, even the little tempo changes coming from changing moods. You might not think that there would be much technique involved in a one-sample mod, but AxEL just goes to prove that idea wrong beyond the shadow of a doubt. In a format dominated by electric, unfeeling techno beats with massive instrumentation, he's brought out something that's emotionally touching, amazingly acoustic, by manipulating the sounds you can coax from one real instrument. If you're a listener, I urge you to download this to see what a difference a good amount of skill can make to replace a glut of sound samples. If you're a tracker, I want you to download this, and study it hard to see for yourself the tricks that a real keyboardist uses. Look at it, and see that you can indeed have a stunning piece for just 58Kb.