Not all their stuff sounds like that, but I've been a big fan since first discovering them via a sample included in the XMMS2 media player way back in the early 2000's.

Relevant link: Ahoy - Trackers: The Sound of 16-Bit - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roBkg-iPrbw

<https://4mat.bandcamp.com/album/modern-closure> came out in 2019 and is one of my favorite albums of all time, but I'm not sure that it fits all of the elements of "keygen music" which are hard to pin down.

* https://youtube.com/watch?v=PHiJpwrLCUA

The first thing that it played to me was Crockett's Theme.

I spent the first few seconds looking at the description, which said something else, and saying to myself "No, that's definitely Crockett's Theme.".

Speculating: there may be parallels between this and other fields with entirely unnecessary artistic expression. Think watchmaking where watch movements with superlative finishing are celebrated and often command premium pay (e.g watches with the Geneva Seal). Beyond a certain point, the finishing adds absolutely nothing to the watch aside from showcasing talent.

There's something to the idea that if someone spent a ton of effort building something, even if it's superfluous, it garners a level of trust in the end product.