Podweek

IMNT 0205
2002
CD
1 disc
25.00 CAD -20%

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Radio // Podweek
Podweek
Get Binary (1999), 1m59s
Track 1 from Podweek
CD: No Type (2002) IMNT 0205
20 June 2004
By Emiliano Grigis in Sodapop (Italy), June 20, 2004

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Questo disco mi ha fatto fare un salto indietro nella memoria davvero fenomenale… Nella prima metà degli anni novanta erano diffusi programmi musicali dai nomi come scream tracker e fast tracker, spesso poco più che semplici sequencer, che permettevano di comporre suonando campioni: anche se molto molto rozzi, avevano il vantaggio di essere i primi strumenti che permettevano di comporre musica con campioni personalizzati a costo nullo. All’epoca venivano usati da molti, per comporre un po’ di tutto: dalle cover di tutti i generi, a tutta la sottocultura electronica dell’epoca: techno, trance, commerciale; da qualche parte in casa ho ancora una pila di floppy disk con campioni e pezzi vari. Dopo la metà dei novanta vennero soppiantate dall’arrivo di Windows, con cui non erano più compatibili; Podweek è registrato esattamente con quelle tecniche, e ha nella composizione dei pezzi quella semplicità data proprio dalla “archeologia digitale” degli strumenti, ma allo stesso tempo mostra come con la povertà di mezzi si aguzzi l’ingegno (avendolo a disposizione, naturalmente…). Come già nell’epoca d’oro succedeva, c’era chi sfruttava al massimo le possibilità portando l’ascoltatore a chiedersi “ma come fa?”: di seguito si andava a curiosare nel suo codice per imparare un trucco dopo l’altro… Frédérick Blouin ha classe e gusto da vendere, e da vero “tracker” si cimenta con più generi, dalla rotterdam geniale di King of the Elephants, a brani ambientali, pezzi simil hiphop, cafonate hardcore come i nove minuti della splendida A Ride in Elephant City… Poliedrico e davvero sorprendente il suo repertorio, in questi quindici brani composti tra il 1995 e il 2001, tutti a base dei suoni che cominciavano già ad abbandonare la freddezza del midi, tastiere ariose della prima ondata ambient e batterie ancora in odore di synth pop; nota per la confezione cartonata davvero originale. Questo disco oltre ad essere valido documento del legame tra questa sottocultura e i mostri sacri di metà novanta (Orb e Aphex Twin per citarne solo due), è anche pieno di belle invenzioni sonore ed elettronica di gran classe.

blogue@press-821 press@821
1 December 2003
By DS in Phosphor (Germany), December 1, 2003

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“Oeuf Korreckt is a master in his field.”

Oeuf Korreckt’s CD Podweek is released by the label No Type as one of four upon the label’s launch. On this album Oeuf Korreckt (aka Quebec based Frédérick Blouin) has produced a variation of techno tracks from hardcore oriented to more melodic and ambient, but always with a strong rhythmical base and melodic content. For the creation of his music Oeuf Korreckt uses the currently quite obsolete pre-windows Tracker assemble software like Impulse Tracker or Scream Tracker. By using the Tracker software the tracks on this CD very much get a 1980’s techno pioneer vintage sound. Most of the instrument sounds have this particular 8 bit quality.

But by cleverly arranging various sounds it is possible, even with the cheap sounds from the Tracker software to produce full sounding and complex arrangements. Obviously in many compositions he uses an extra drumcomputer for the drumtrack. That way he has a broader palette of drum beats and control over percussion sound and mix. And many songs feature the typical computer-game sequences to complement the limited sound palette.

The way the tracks are mixed and the quality of the recordings varies. On some tracks he manages hardly to escape sounding like the background music of an early computer game. The Podweek Theme features could probably be transferred to a soundtrack with little effort.

Tracks, like Pochacco, Alright Well Okay or Four Channels sound as if they’re recorded straight from the Tracker software with a little added reverb for ambience. On other tracks like King of the Elephants and A Ride in Elephant City recording is more worked at. Percussive and sequenced sounds are mixed in the stereo field. The voice of a young boy makes Alright Well Okay more interesting to listen to.

The works on this CD date from 1995 to 2001, making it a kind of retrospective and they give a good impression of what Oeuf Korreckt is capable of. The Podweek CD also gives a good impression of the musical development in the period in which the recordings were made and the roots of this particular kind of electronic music. His early work tends to be more digital hardcore oriented with strong straightforward hardcore beats. King of the Elephants and A Ride in Elephant City both feature the well known Rotterdam hardcore beat also known as Gabber. His more recent work gets more melodic and rhythmically complex and resembles the work of Orbital, Black Dog Productions and even Kraftwerk.

With the Podweek CD Oeuf Korreckt has released his musical heritage of a little less than a decade. Because of using a limited set of musical tools the variation in sound is a bit small and the compositional limitations of the tracker software make that the whole record sounds a bit the same. And doing so the variation in emotional content of his songs is also limited. The limitations of his musical tools also are his strength. One has to listen more closely to his music to discover how his music was made. He succeeds in creating interesting and entertaining music by exploring the sonic and compositional boundaries of the quite obsolete Tracker PC software. Oeuf Korreckt is a master in his field.

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1 December 2003
By Vidal Romero in Era (Spain), December 1, 2003

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1 December 2003
By HK in Rif Raf (Belgium), December 1, 2003

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1 November 2003
By Laurent Catala in Octopus #25 (France), November 1, 2003

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1 November 2003
By T™ in Black #33 (Germany), November 1, 2003

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