Search - Bimstein, Modern Mandolin Quartet :: Phillip Bimstein: Garland Hirschi's Cows

Phillip Kent Bimstein offers five ?alternative classical? works on his CD premiere. His music has been performed at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and on the NBC Movie of the Week. Bimstein formerly led the Chicago-based new wave band Phil ?n? the Blanks, whose three albums and six videos were college radio and MTV hits. The delightful Garland Hirschi?s Cows describes a Utah farmer, his cows, and why they moo. Radio airplay of the work has generated hundreds of calls (especially after being heard on NPR?s All Things Considered, where they referred to the work as ?cult classic?). Dark Winds Rising, for string quartet and tape, presents the Kaibab Paiute tribe?s successful fight against the installation of a toxic waste incinerator on their native land. Employing a technique he calls ?voice organics,? Bimstein uses sampled speech to develop rhythmic patterns, melodies, and sound effects such as mesa winds, industrial ratchets, a snake pit, and bird calls. In The Door, Bimstein uses samples of his creaking studio door to create some funky brass instruments, a pulsating rhythm section, fragments of a merry-go-round?s music, and a mournful seal. The Louie Louie Variations is a contemplative fantasy that deconstructs a classic rock chord progression, while the haunting Vox=Dominum, the most mysterious piece on the CD, deconstructs a variety of Persian sounds. Stereophile remarks that Bimstein ?has used digital sampling technology to tell wry and moving stories, and to elevate the mundane to the level of high art.? Schwann Opus finds that this ?highly entertaining? CD is ?a virtual breath of fresh air,? adding that ?this is new music not just for the adventurous, but for everyone.?