Label: Creel Pone

Jack SchrageとLew Corelisによる電子音楽デュオユニットMusik Werks。レコーディングスタジオ兼レーベル米River Musik Werksより発表された1979年1st[Songs You've Never Heard Before]と、1981年3rd[Intersketches]、2枚のLPを纏めたCreel Pone編集のCD-R。コオロギのフィールドレコーディングを使用した電子サウンドスケープ、またSähköの12インチにも繋がるミニマルな点描作風など、適度に緩さのある構造と音色が催眠的作用を生んでいます。





long in the works (the initial transcription on file dates back to October 2015; 10 years ago!) compendium of the two LPs released by the duo of John Edward Schrage & Lew Demetri Corelis in 1979 & 1981 (respectively) of their joint Musik Werks project, issued via their collective River Musik Werks imprint.

Working out of their Moline, (just outside of Davenport) Iowa-based studio from 1976 onwards with engineers Steve Elliott & Rick Condon, the pair produced & issued work by area musicians such as Xtian-Rock outfit Grace, Little Road & A Stone To Roll, & Andy Benson (whose "The Beer Song" single was also issued on RMW), all while the two Electronic Musicians worked after-hours (ala Tod Dockstader at NYC's Gotham) on an alluring blend of hand-played vignettes (often involving advanced-harmony) & the kinds of entirely abstract, timbre-focused Analogian Forms that rival anything in the Seeselberg (see [CP 112 CD]) or Di Jarrell (ditto, [CP 137 CD]) discographies.

In fact, the majority of "Songs You've Never Heard Before" is a gorgeous, extended suite starting out in the kinds of spaced-out, minimal pointillisms best witnessed on Sähkö 12"s a decade+ later, then suddenly mirroring an alarmingly contemporary take on Ambient Music, with touches of Ernest Hood's... earnestness (the wistful field recordings of crickets do the heavy lifting here) & the exact-same soporific tonal palette as the proto-everything Jean-Jacques Perrey "Prelude Au Sommeil" (see [CP 142 CD]) set.

While decidedly focused more on diatonic & pulse-oriented fare, the second LP "Intersketches" (which has never been an easy pull; it's taken this long to find a suitable copy!) provides a refinement on the duo's studio technique, where the pair's analogue synthesis grappling & patch-designs are coated in all manner of time-based effects & cross-layerings. Frankly, it's incredible that these inspired outings have been all but footnoted in the annals of private-press Electronic Music; great to have this handy single-disc (which features both titles with only seconds to spare) to right any wrongs...