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Pan to Scratch is Endless of Davenport fame roaming the Wisconsin wilderness with a tape recorder and using it to capture the nature audible that surrounds him. This particular release comes in the most inconspicuous packaging I've ever seen. I had to do research to find out what it even was since it came as a goodie with stuff I actually ordered. It's just a blank tape spray-painted blood red. There are no identifying markings telling you who created it or what the album or songs might be called. However, I spelunked into the underground and got you the goods. The album consists of four 10 minute recordings of railcars scraping down their fated paths recorded over the span of a couple hours. The respective sides of this tape are called "Trainyard" and "Trainyards," the first being just one of the four recordings on its own and the second being the remaining three overdubbed on top of one another by removing the recorder's erasehead; a trick the Davenport clan already proved adept at on Rabbit's Foot Propeller. The solo track, "Trainyard," begins with "the longest grinding train noise I've ever heard" as Endless put it. The noise is admittedly worthy of musical release, sounding more like an electronic drone than natural metal on metal. It lasts for only a few minutes of the side's ten before the track devolves into crickets, metal crashing, and walkie talkie discussions for its remainder. "Trainyards" begins where its A-side left off; with walkie talkie noise. The sounds here are more varied. Cars drive by, trains chug, the crickets are agressive. The end finds us greeted with a barrel getting hit in a begging-to-be-rhythmic fashion and concrete-on-concrete scrapes. I couldn't ever have guessed that "Trainyards" was three different happenings. The separate layers mesh perfectly; the noises in one mirroring the others. It seems that Endless has discovered a way in which to incorporate actual skill into ambient noise works. Like noise, field recordings are difficult for me to assess as 'music' for the simple reason that they aren't. The merits of this type of art lie in whether or not we deem it worthy to listen to again. Endless hits on the some of the staples of field recording (trains, cars, bugs) that get easily worn out but the meditative layering on (rust) and fact that that train makes a wicked noise are more than enough to have me listening to my backyard.

Pan to Scratch at Amazon & Insound