#workdub

Vincent - Fast Forward - 1987 tracks from half of Workdub

Music From Memory return with their penultimate EP of 2017, this time with four tracks drawn from Virgil ‘Vincent’ Work Jnr’s little-known cassette only debut from 1987, ‘Fast Forward’. Following on from a previous compilation of works taken from one of Virgil’s collaborative projects as the duo ‘Workdub’, this album under simply ‘Vincent’, reflects a more stripped back and raw musical approach from the St. Louis musician.

Virgil’s equipment at the time very much lead the experimentation with the album being produced on a Yamaha DX7 Synthesizer, Korg DW-8000 Synthesizer, Yamaha RX-15 Drum Machine, Korg SQD-1 Sequencer and a sequential TOM Drum machine. As Virgil himself explains the title of the album in fact came about because it felt “as if I had fast forwarded to a different sound”.

Bedroom produced, the Fast Forward album had an initial run of only 100 copies, of which none were commercially available and were simply sent to friends and family along with a handful mailed out to local radio stations in his hometown of St Louis. Although the album received a good response from local radio DJs and music magazines, the album sadly never gained enough momentum or demand for a further run of copies.

Workdub - Workdub EP (2016) on Music From Memory - 4 tracks from 1989-92, revelatory examples of electronic/worldbeat fusion of the time

Music From Memory continue their 12” series with the release of an EP from St. Louis outfit Workdub, taking four tracks from across the groups elusive privately released albums; ‘Workdub I’ (1989) released on LP and ‘Workdub II’ (1992) which was a cassette only release. A project that ran for almost a decade and formed by musicians Virgil Work Jnr and Nicholas Georgieff, the name Workdub was a fusion of Virgil’s Workplay and Nicholas’ Dubit record labels. Introduced by a mutual friend, Workdub’s music was very much an exploration into sound and was developed around weekly improvised jam sessions, with the tracks recorded in Nick’s St. Louis basement home studio.

Surrounded by an immense array of synthesizers and drum machines Nick Georgieff would experiment with rhythm programming, midi, digital effects and sound synthesis whilst Virgil would create intricate rhythm patterns for each song; in which he would also play various drum, percussion and synthesizer parts by hand. Together the pair combined ambient music with driving percussive rhythms and melody to create a very ethereal dubbed out instrumental sound of their own which moves between funk, new wave and industrial music.