Hal McGee recordings 1981-2013
This is a general outline that I wrote in 2012 as an introduction to my HalTapes website.
I have been making my own homemade recordings of experimental, electronic, noise, tape collage, space music, improvisation, lo-fi and lo-tech audio art and music since October 1981. I have recorded and produced more than 200 albums and compilations. I was heavily involved in the early days of the homemade music Cassette Culture movement of the 1980s, and was one of the movement's original and prime motivators, organizers, and promoters.
Debbie Jaffe and I operated the Cause And Effect cassette distribution service and label in the mid 1980s, and we sold and distributed 5,000 cassettes in three years. We released cassettes by Merzbow, Nurse With Wound, Haters, Borbetomagus, Controlled Bleeding, Robert Rich, DDAA, Blackhouse, Pacific 231, Human Flesh, F/i, If Bwana, Algebra Suicide, Jabon, Psyclones, Monochrome Bleu, Vox Populi!, and Master/Slave Relationship. I also produced several notable compilations on the label. In the mid 1980s I recorded numerous works as a member of Viscera, solo as Dog As Master, and in collaboration with If, Bwana and Jabon.
In the late 1980s and early 90s I published Electronic Cottage Magazine, operated the Electronic Cottage label, and collaborated extensively with Chris Phinney, NOMUZIC, and David Prescott, as well as produced three compilations.
In the mid to late 1990s I released dozens of cassettes of homemade experimental music solo and in collaboration with Jeph Jerman, Brian Noring (EHI), Big City Orchestra, David Wright, L.G. Mair, Emil Hagstrom (Cock ESP), Keith Nicolay, Charles Rice Goff III, Bret Hart, Homogenized Terrestrials, and If, Bwana. In 1998 I produced the Tape Heads Cassette Compilation Project, which consisted of eight 90-minute volumes. In the late 1990s and early 2000s I turned my attention to the production of homemade CDR releases, and collaborated heavily in person and via mail collaboration, with Brian Noring, Chris Phinney, Dave Fuglewicz, Don Campau, Rick Franecki, Charles Goff, Bret Hart, Homogenized Terrestrials, Noring, and Albert Casais.
I have produced dozens of international compilations including these series and projects: four Cause And Effect compilations, three Electronic Cottage compilations, the five-volume Quotidian Assemblages series, eight volumes of the Tape Heads Cassette Compilation Project, the 10-volume Dictaphonia Microcassette Compilation Project, the 24-volume Automatic Confessional, 12 volumes of the Internatiional Email Audio Art Project, nine volumes of the Contact Compilation Project, six volumes of the Exquisite Corpse Audio Chain Letter, Monotronous, six volumes of the Connection Cassette Compilation Project, and many more.
In 2005 I recorded and released a 2-hour video film called The Secret Life Of Hal McGee.
In 2005 I took my first steps toward distributing my music online by joining the Tapegerm Collective, which is a collaborative loop-based community.
In 2006, I began performing live for the first time since 1987, and I became involved in Florida's burgeoning, highly active Noise and experimental music scene. Since then I have performed more than 100 times.
In 2010 I released a microcassette by Conrad Schnitzler.
I have curated four Laboratory Music Improvisation Festivals and 17 Apartment Music shows (hosted in my apartment in Gainesville, Florida).
I have been making my own homemade recordings of experimental, electronic, noise, tape collage, space music, improvisation, lo-fi and lo-tech audio art and music since October 1981. I have recorded and produced more than 200 albums and compilations. I was heavily involved in the early days of the homemade music Cassette Culture movement of the 1980s, and was one of the movement's original and prime motivators, organizers, and promoters.
Debbie Jaffe and I operated the Cause And Effect cassette distribution service and label in the mid 1980s, and we sold and distributed 5,000 cassettes in three years. We released cassettes by Merzbow, Nurse With Wound, Haters, Borbetomagus, Controlled Bleeding, Robert Rich, DDAA, Blackhouse, Pacific 231, Human Flesh, F/i, If Bwana, Algebra Suicide, Jabon, Psyclones, Monochrome Bleu, Vox Populi!, and Master/Slave Relationship. I also produced several notable compilations on the label. In the mid 1980s I recorded numerous works as a member of Viscera, solo as Dog As Master, and in collaboration with If, Bwana and Jabon.
In the late 1980s and early 90s I published Electronic Cottage Magazine, operated the Electronic Cottage label, and collaborated extensively with Chris Phinney, NOMUZIC, and David Prescott, as well as produced three compilations.
In the mid to late 1990s I released dozens of cassettes of homemade experimental music solo and in collaboration with Jeph Jerman, Brian Noring (EHI), Big City Orchestra, David Wright, L.G. Mair, Emil Hagstrom (Cock ESP), Keith Nicolay, Charles Rice Goff III, Bret Hart, Homogenized Terrestrials, and If, Bwana. In 1998 I produced the Tape Heads Cassette Compilation Project, which consisted of eight 90-minute volumes. In the late 1990s and early 2000s I turned my attention to the production of homemade CDR releases, and collaborated heavily in person and via mail collaboration, with Brian Noring, Chris Phinney, Dave Fuglewicz, Don Campau, Rick Franecki, Charles Goff, Bret Hart, Homogenized Terrestrials, Noring, and Albert Casais.
I have produced dozens of international compilations including these series and projects: four Cause And Effect compilations, three Electronic Cottage compilations, the five-volume Quotidian Assemblages series, eight volumes of the Tape Heads Cassette Compilation Project, the 10-volume Dictaphonia Microcassette Compilation Project, the 24-volume Automatic Confessional, 12 volumes of the Internatiional Email Audio Art Project, nine volumes of the Contact Compilation Project, six volumes of the Exquisite Corpse Audio Chain Letter, Monotronous, six volumes of the Connection Cassette Compilation Project, and many more.
In 2005 I recorded and released a 2-hour video film called The Secret Life Of Hal McGee.
In 2005 I took my first steps toward distributing my music online by joining the Tapegerm Collective, which is a collaborative loop-based community.
In 2006, I began performing live for the first time since 1987, and I became involved in Florida's burgeoning, highly active Noise and experimental music scene. Since then I have performed more than 100 times.
In 2010 I released a microcassette by Conrad Schnitzler.
I have curated four Laboratory Music Improvisation Festivals and 17 Apartment Music shows (hosted in my apartment in Gainesville, Florida).