Two discs worth of altered train and tunnel sounds makes for goodmusic. Bernd Schurer went and made some field recordings of varioustunnels, train stations, portals, and etc. and then arranged them into94 tracks of noise, gloom, and the openness of great spaces. Thosesounds were then handed over to the likes of Balduin, Drumpet, Fennesz,and Monolake. The results on a majority of the best tracks are rhythmicand (surprisingly) melodic interpretations of Schurer's work. Whenpopping in the second disc I expected the hushed vibrations of wheelspumping away in the distance, the steam of and hiss of brakes, and thechaotic chatter of voices to coalesce into broad explorations of thesometimes busy, sometimes silent disc A. What I got, instead, was ameditation on how found sound can be used to create familiar music. Idon't want to say anything on Construction Sonoris typical, but the structures of the songs are nothing I haven't heardbefore and, in all honesty, nothing revolutionary or evolutionaryhappens. But the some of the songs, like Balduin's "CreativeConstructed Tunnel Session" and Drumpet's "Fierabig," are incrediblycatchy and utilize sound sources in an impressive imaginative way;imaginative enough for me to crack a grin and pay close attention,anyways. There are slower pieces, though, and they also feature anintelligent and careful use of the available palette of sounds.Monolake's "Drift" is a storm of water drops, speeding trains, and theboom of wind, but keeps things together with a subtle and catchy beat.On a recording where any of the musicians could've easily created amass of droning and typical sound, most of them decided to keep theircompositions tight and to the point: every song is under 8 minutes andmost are under 5. This keeps the album rolling and the fun of guessinghow sounds are going to be used a quick and excellent game. In additionto having two great discs of sound, Construction Sonor featuresa host of people I've not heard of before and nearly all the materialis, at the very least, intriguing. The liner notes say this is supposedto be a concept album and I suppose the theme of travel or conduits oftravel is prevalent. But, to be honest, I've not bothered reading morethan a few sentences of the booklet and the album has been enjoyable,anyways.Read More
