A few words about Podweek
by David Turgeon |imnt_0205-0001|
It’s a little known fact, but many computer music pioneers were in
fact unsuspecting teenagers using software such as Scream Tracker (and later
Impulse Tracker) to produce a kind of sequenced, robotic music devoid of
fluff, but often complex and surprising. The arrival of the Windows graphical
environment, which did not support the trackers’ interface, eventually
confined this compositional method to obsolescence, to be replaced by others
which were more visual, modular and intuitive. As a result, we have a
tendancy to forget a worldwide and quasi-monastic production whose golden age
spreads from the end of the 1980s to the middle of the 1990s.
A latecomer to the scene, Frédérick Blouin first creates his music for
himself and his friends. From this complex and rebarbative tool, he composes
an astonishing quantity of little melodic gems of increasing finesse.
Starting from 1995, he begins to sign them Oeuf Korreckt.
The Podweek CD presents an overview of Oeuf
Korreckt’s music from 1995 until today, and features a selection of
works which I consider to be important, not only in the context of his own
musical development, but also as part of a broader history of electronic
music. Listening to Oeuf Korreckt, one goes back to Orbital, Polygon Window,
Black Dog Productions (who incidentally were also into tracking), Autechre
circa Tri Repetae, Björk’s debut CD, classic techno
compilations such as Thunderdome, Rotterdam hardcore (on that
subject, pay attention to the deeply felt homage which constitute the eight
minutes of King of the Elephants), and even Kraftwerk.
But this music is more than a fun stroll through memory lane. Years and
fashions might come and go, interest for Oeuf Korreckt’s music does not
seem to ever fade. Violently catchy and falsely simple, it brings a blissful
smile to everyone who listens, and it even induces dancing! So in the last
analysis, the historic aspect really doesn’t matter.
Podweek is first and foremost a delicious plate of
music.
David Turgeon
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