Standing as a fill-in for the unfortunately absent Edward Ka-Spel asPiehead's 11th release this year, Qwerty more than manages to keep theseries interesting as it draws to a close. Qwerty is a solo Croatianelectronic artist who is working in the well-traveled but stillenjoyable paths cut by Warp Records trailblazers and theircontemporaries nearly a decade ago.This record is actually a collection of Qwerty tracks originallyrecorded between 1996 and 1999 and every minute of it sounds like aproduct of those days long gone now, before fast access internetservice and companies with bandwith to burn hosted hundreds uponthousands of tunes created in bedrooms and basements as a reaction toeager youngsters hearing early Autechre records for the first time. Soif the record sounds a little dated it's mostly due to the incoherentpace at which trends in electronic music change, and the breakneckspeed at which whole new sonic paradigms are adopted as 'the next bigthing.' Frankly, I've always loathed the new-chasing quality of a lotof contemporary electronica, so it's fun to take a dip back in time afew years and add these tracks by Qwerty to my playlist of late 90'sinteresting electro experimentation. The sounds and melodies here areall a tweaked reflection of synth and sample-based techno, but runthrough a cut up filter or distortion plug in or other bit-manglingdevice to give them a slightly worn and abused character. "Aardvark" inparticular uses static bursts and a wobbly thump for its rhythm trackwhile minor key, melancholic chords wash around in the background. "IlCuore" seems based on broken game sounds at first until it sputtersinto jagged, squelchy electro with a smooth tine melody. It's not musicthat's going to set the laptop world on fire, but it's a fun and variedmix from an artist very few people will have ever heard from before.That's the beauty of the Piehead series, and one of the greatestlaments I have about the series project coming to a close with the 2004edition. I've recommended time and again to people that they check outwhat Piehead is doing. It's a great treat to get a disc in the mailonce a month, like a featured wine or desert of the month. I've neverknown what to expect each time, and there have been more than a fewreally great surprises. The monthly series is closing shop, but Pieheadpromises to continue on with less frequent output in the future. I'mhoping they keep digging up stuff like Qwerty that has something tooffer the world, if given the right attention and care. samples:
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