Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The Books, response to Phillip Bimstein
One of my favorite music artists is a group called The Books. Their ideas are similar to Phillip Bimstein's method. It's sometimes called aleatoric music, music left to chance, if you will. They have some really beautiful songs. Their website has all of their music on it, and the site is very interesting/fun to navigate through, give it a shot. I like the albums Lost and Safe (which is the Living Room option), Thought for Food (Dining Room) and The Lemon of Pink (Hallway). The music available via Myspace has a better recording quality, oddly. Less music there, but again, better quality, I feel. Enjoy!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Thoughts about Phillip Bimstein's Lockdown
The piece of Phillips which struck me the most was his journey through a Youth Prison in St. George, Lockdown. The jaunting pace with classical instruments creates an operatic feel, swinging through different stories and different emotions.
In that way I was reminded very strongly of Damon Albarn's Monkey, Journey to the West. Monkey is a modern Opera by the same musical mastermind behind the Gorillaz. It's an hour long, in Chinese, and incredible. The strongest thing about the piece taken as a whole, and Phillip's, is that the moods evoked are not dependent on each other, but they add up to a complete sonic piece. Like strawberry fields, the imagery that the images compel are strong, and individual. This was Jamie Hewlett's visualization of one of the songs off of Monkey:
David Forman - Monkey Bee from David Forman on Vimeo.
Phillip's stories have a different element of human interest to them. The almost documentary aspect makes it a good way to get a feel for the kid's stories, and turns their bare and sometimes self-conscious statements into lyrics.
I noticed Phillip's slideshow on his myspace page, I think it functions as a visualizer of the music. The slideshow picks up all the subliminal details of prison life that add up to the clinical, depressive, controlled presence the place has. Same effect as the sonic buildup of the clicks, ratchets, and slams of the detention center.
In that way I was reminded very strongly of Damon Albarn's Monkey, Journey to the West. Monkey is a modern Opera by the same musical mastermind behind the Gorillaz. It's an hour long, in Chinese, and incredible. The strongest thing about the piece taken as a whole, and Phillip's, is that the moods evoked are not dependent on each other, but they add up to a complete sonic piece. Like strawberry fields, the imagery that the images compel are strong, and individual. This was Jamie Hewlett's visualization of one of the songs off of Monkey:
David Forman - Monkey Bee from David Forman on Vimeo.
Phillip's stories have a different element of human interest to them. The almost documentary aspect makes it a good way to get a feel for the kid's stories, and turns their bare and sometimes self-conscious statements into lyrics.
I noticed Phillip's slideshow on his myspace page, I think it functions as a visualizer of the music. The slideshow picks up all the subliminal details of prison life that add up to the clinical, depressive, controlled presence the place has. Same effect as the sonic buildup of the clicks, ratchets, and slams of the detention center.
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