El Tren Fantasma
| El Tren Fantasma | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Chris Watson | ||||
| Released |
9 November 2011 (mail order)  [1]14 November 2011 (store release) [1] | |||
| Genre |
Avant-garde music[2] Electronic music[1] Experimental music[1] Field recording[1] | |||
| Label | Touch Music TO:42 | |||
| Chris Watson chronology | ||||
| ||||
El Tren Fantasma is a 2011 album by Chris Watson. It was released on 14 November 2011 by independent record label Touch Music on CD and 12" vinyl record.
Background
In January 26, 1999, the fourth episode "Los Mochis to Veracruz" of the fourth season of Great Railway Journeys was broadcast. The episode was presented by chef Rick Stein and featured the "Ghost Train" which traveled over a now-defunct railway Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México between Los Mochis to Veracruz. Chris Watson spent a month (or five weeks[3]) working as a BBC audio recorder for the programme.[4][5] In 2010, El Tren Fantasma was broadcast on BBC Radio 4.[5]
Track listing
CD release
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "La Anunciante" | 4:00 |
| 2. | "Los Mochis" | 6:29 |
| 3. | "Sierra Tarahumara" | 5:24 |
| 4. | "El Divisadero" | 5:34 |
| 5. | "Crucero La Joya" | 4:58 |
| 6. | "Chihuahua" | 4:34 |
| 7. | "Aguascalientes" | 3:26 |
| 8. | "Mexico D.F." | 9:14 |
| 9. | "El Tajin" | 10:16 |
| 10. | "Veracruz" | 5:44 |
The Signal Man's Mix iTunes release
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "El Divisadero (The Telegraph)" | 7:56 |
| 2. | "Veracruz (The Tunnel)" | 7:54 |
The Signal Man's Mix vinyl release
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "El Divisadero - The Telegraph" | 7:52 |
| 2. | "Veracruz - The Tunnel" | 7:50 |
Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [2] |
Pitchfork's Grayson Currin called El Tren Fantasma for "one of the best works of his career" with "an [sic] sonic adventure that consistently shifts from power electronics-like heaviness to the sunny-day delicacy."[3] BBC Music's Spencer Grady praised the album for "Watson's ability to create whole worlds, entire lifetimes in the listener's imagination, beyond the moment of recording, comes to the fore."[6] Musicworks's René van Peer also favoured the album with "[Watson] has painted fantastic, surreal images in sound."[7]
Allmusic's Ned Raggett reviewed the album with "it's a marvelous portrayal in miniature of the tensions between the 'natural' and the 'man-made'."[2] The Quietus's Luke Turner said it was a "haunting, powerful tribute and memorial to a marvel of engineering and the people who built, worked and travelled upon it."[4]
Personnel
- Production
- Jon Wozencroft – art direction[1]
- Denis Blackham – mastered by[1]
- Caminos de Hierro – photography by[1]
- Ana Gonzalez Bello – voice actor [station announcer][1]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Chris Watson - El Tren Fantasma (CD, Album) at Discogs". Discogs. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
- 1 2 3 Raggett, Ned. "El Tren Fantasma - Chris Watson". Allmusic. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
- 1 2 Currin, Grayson; Masters, Marc (21 October 2011). "Turning the World Into Art". Pitchfork. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
- 1 2 Turner, Luke (2 December 2011). "Chris Watson". The Quietus. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
- 1 2 Pescovitz, David (4 November 2011). "El Tren Fantasma: ambient recording of a ghostly train journey". Boing Boing. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
- ↑ Grady, Spencer (November 14, 2011). "BBC - Music - Review of Chris Watson - El Tren Fantasma". BBC Music. bbc.co.uk. Retrieved August 15, 2016.
- ↑ Peer, René van (Spring 2012). "Chris Watson. El tren fantasma.". Musicworks. Retrieved 16 August 2016.