Friday, August 28, 2009

Dictaphonia 4 Microcassette Compilation now available!


Volume 4 of the Dictaphonia Microcassette project is now available on a homemade microcassette release - see lineup of artists below

23 artists, 60 minutes of sound recordings made on microcassette, released on microcassette  

this is a homemade product! featuring simple homestyle packaging each tape comes with a j-card cut out of a USA road atlas (each one is different)
with a black and white photocopy insert with collage artwork on one side and a list of the artists and their piece titles on the other 

$6.00 postage paid USA and Canada $7.00 Air Mail postage paid everywhere else
PayPal to haltapes1 @ aol.com

Go to this page on my web site for more info on the artists, plus pictures of the artwork

The first three volumes of Dictaphonia are available online and in their original microcassette format - info links at the page mentioned above

I am still accepting contributions to the Dictaphonia project! Send a 3-minute sound piece on microcassette. Dictaphonia #5 will probably be released in late September, if I receive enough material to fill up a 60-minute tape by then. You can send a track even if you have contributed before. Go here for more info on submitting, including the postal address to send your tape to

Dictaphonia 4 Microcassette Compilation

SIDE A

01) Sparkle Girl
Seattle, Washington, USA
"A Series Of Tubes"
02) Mark Sonnenfeld
East Windsor, New Jersey, USA
"Nagging Haunt"
03) Igloo Martian
La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
"The Pocket-Sized Beat"
04) Enstruction
Seattle, Washington, USA
"Agglomeration"
05) The Lexington Steele
Clemmons, North Carolina, USA
"Untitled No. 1 (for Shirley)"
06) Cellular Terror
Jacksonville, Florida, USA
"Electronic Fingerprints"
07) Witch With Flying Head
San Francisco, California, USA
"They Call Him Neato Bombeleato"
08) Dave X
Carterville, Illinois, USA
"Wire/Recorder"
09) Kathy Burkett
Lady Lake, Florida, USA
"Japanese Dachshund"
10) minimum of none
Gainesville, Florida, USA
"more talk"
11) Bryce Beverlin II
North Oaks, Minnesota, USA
"Mounded Cramphole"

SIDE B

12) Front Gauche de l'art/Hermann Kleid
Rennes, France
"Étude pathétique pour violoncelle un jour d'orage"
13) The Saint Petersburg Institute Of Noise
Saint Petersburg, Florida, USA
"I Never Road A Skateboard"
14) H.G. Wells
Seattle, Washington, USA
"Jesus Razor Blade"
15) The Montreal Nintendo Orkestar
Hampstead, Quebec, Canada
"The Great Origami Lobster (Dictaphone Version)"
16) The Silent Committee
Northampton, England
"Long Way Down"
17) Frog
Gainesville, Florida, USA
"Cryptically Titled"
18) Projexorcism
Hickory, North Carolina, USA
"Mother Teresa Of Calcutta"
19) Hal McGee
Gainesville, Florida, USA
"Download This!"
20) Super Pizza Party
Jacksonville, Florida, USA
"Pizza 3000"
21) Gerechtigkeits Liga
London, England and Berlin, Germany
"Kill-Burn"
22) S.O.S. aka Astral Fields Farmer
Jacksonville, Florida, USA
"Synchro-Expansion Microphone"
23) Dave Fuglewicz
Lawrenceville, Georgia, USA
"D-Enabled Tripton Zone"

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

review of Dictaphonia #3 by JLIAT in Vital Weekly


DICTAPHONIA MICROCASSETTE COMPILATION VOLUME 3 (Microcassette by HalTapes)
In all 23 tracks on this release of various material, the better I think realizing the nature of the media which in this case plays a significant part of just what is going on. Those interested can still buy the recorders to play this series, which raise a number of questions, one regarding modernism and what has subsequently followed, even to the extent that post-modernism is seen by many now as passé - we might be in a period "after theory". Certainly the microcasstte raises McLuhanish issues (theories!) which are/were "modern" - the alter ego of the present virtuality where even the medium has disappeared, perhaps the message has returned but its now empty theory-less and floats in MP3 MP4 Voc Ogg MOV flak. whatever - computers will automatically find the codec. but what is left in the virtual is the idea of a virtual and so non-existent individualism of Stirner (via iphones which make farting noises) who appears on this comp and who predicted the future and all this freedom, via torrents, posted on blogs, etc. I have been more concerned with wasps this summer than swine flu. Not w.a.s.p.(s) but something like that did for Stirner. this tape remains a tragic reminder of rationality and sense - and also property and object. (jliat)

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Dictaphonia #3 now available for free download!


Dictaphonia Microcassette Compilation Volume Three
is now available for free download as individual tracks on this page on my web site

I offer high quality 320 kbps mp3s for listeners with high speed Internet connections and lower bit rate 64 kbps versions of for the convenience of those people with slower and dial-up Internet connections.

23 artists, 59 minutes

recordings by:
Neonworm
Mannequin Hollowcaust
Karl J. Paloucek
Justin Robert
Carl Holmes
Ooy
Fludd
JLIAT
Bisexual Swinger
Alan George Ledergerber
Stirner
auvikogue
mortuus auris & the black hand
Johnny Brewton
Master/Slave Relationship
Big Sugar Victorious
EGG
Vultures
Ecoute La Merde
Lindsey Leepe
Retarded Children
Raw Mummy
William Wesley & The Tiny Sockets

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Dictaphonia Microcassette Compilation 4 upcoming


Dictaphonia Microcassette Compilation Volume 4 will be available on Friday, August 21, 2009.
See probable lineup below.

I am still accepting contributions to the Dictaphonia project! Go to this page for submission info:http://www.halmcgee.com/dictaphoniasubmissionguidelines.html

Dictaphonia #3 will be available in its entirety online in about five days
It is still available for purchase in its original microcassette format:http://www.halmcgee.com/dictaphonia.html

The first two volumes of Dictaphonia are still available in their original microcassette format, plus available for free download:
http://www.halmcgee.com/dictaphoniavolumeone.html
http://www.halmcgee.com/dictaphoniavolumetwo.html

Dictaphonia Microcassette Compilation #5 will be a special answering machine edition in which anyone can telephone Hal McGee's microcassette answering machine and leave a one-minute message - starting soon
Write me to request the telephone number.

Dictaphonia Fest, a showcase of experimental microcassette audio art featuring performances by participants in the Dictaphonia project, will be held Saturday, November 7, 2009, at The Laboratory, 818 W. University Ave., Gainesville, Florida, USA.

Dictaphonia Microcassette Compilation 4
probable lineup

01) Sparkle Girl
Seattle, Washington, USA
"A Series Of Tubes"

02) Mark Sonnenfeld
East Windsor, New Jersey, USA
"Nagging Haunt"

03) Igloo Martian
La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA
"The Pocket-Sized Beat"

04) Enstruction
Seattle, Washington, USA
"Agglomeration"

05) The Lexington Steele
Clemmons, North Carolina, USA
"Untitled No. 1 (for Shirley)"

06) Cellular Terror
Jacksonville, Florida, USA
"Electronic Fingerprints"

07) Witch With Flying Head
San Francisco, California, USA
"They Call Him Neato Bombeleato"

08) Dave X
Carterville, Illinois, USA
"Wire/Recorder"

09) Kathy Burkett
Lady Lake, Florida, USA
"Japanese Dachshund"

10) minimum of none
Gainesville, Florida, USA
"more talk"

11) Front Gauche de l'art/Hermann Kleid
Rennes, France
"Étude pathétique pour violoncelle un jour d'orage"

12) The Saint Petersburg Institute Of Noise
Saint Petersburg, Florida, USA
"I Never Road A Skateboard"

13) H.G. Wells
Seattle, Washington, USA
"Jesus Razor Blade"

14) The Montreal Nintendo Orkestar
Hampstead, Quebec, Canada
"The Great Origami Lobster (Dictaphone Version)"

15) The Silent Committee
Northampton, England
"Long Way Down"

16) Bryce Beverlin II
North Oaks, Minnesota, USA
"Mounded Cramphole"

17) Frog
Gainesville, Florida, USA
"Cryptically Titled"

18) Projexorcism
Hickory, North Carolina, USA
"Mother Teresa Of Calcutta"

19) Hal McGee
Gainesville, Florida, USA
"Download This!"

20) Gerechtigkeits Liga
London, England and Berlin, Germany
"Kill-Burn"

21) S.O.S. aka Astral Fields Farmer
Jacksonville, Florida, USA
"Synchro-Expansion Microphone"

22) Dave Fuglewicz
Lawrenceville, Georgia, USA
"D-Enabled Tripton Zone"

Friday, August 7, 2009

Hal just bought a microcassette answering machine - look for Dictaphonia #5, the answering machine compilation!


Last night I won an auction on eBay for a Panasonic KX-T5100 dual microcassette telephone answering machine. If it actually works well, and I assume it will (but I will fully test it of course), I will make an announcement inviting people to contribute to Dictaphonia #5, The Answering Machine Compilation.

More details to come, after I fully develop the idea, but anyone and everyone will be invited to contribute a short audio recording of absolutely any sort. This will allow even those people who don't own microcassette recorders to create their own microcassette recording!

In the announcement I will state that if you want to contribute, send me an e-mail to get the telephone number. Contributors can call up and leave messages on the machine either anonymously, or they can state their name. This compilation will be released simultaneouly on microcassette, and online as two continuous mp3s of each of the two sides of the microcassette tape that I will load into the machine to record your telephone calls.

Contributors will be able to contribute more than once as long as you all promise to make short recordings! - from 15 seconds up to a couple of minutes.

I am looking for a lot of variety in the messages, style-, content-, and mood-wise, a big grab bag audio trash heap collage: rants, weird little sound effects, cryptic voice messages, funny, sexy, surreal, paranoid, confessions, hate messages, pranks, jokes, static, buzzing, feedback, dream recollections, lo tech electronic sounds, little poems and stories, etc. In other words, I prefer shorter, less-developed, fragmentary recordings that will be elements in a larger whole.

I will make an "official" announcement here and on MySpace, Facebook, and by e-mail announcement when the project is ready to start.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

6 more contributions received - Dictaphonia #4 is nearly full

In the last week or so I have received six more contributions to the Dictaphonia project. This brings to 19 the total of contributions received that will be on Dictaphonia Volume 4, with about 4-6 more needed to fill up the compilation.

86) The Montreal Nintendo Orkester
Hampstead, Quebec, Canada
"The Great Origami Lobster (Dictaphone Version)"

Northampton, England
"Long Way Down"

North Oaks, Minnesota, USA
"Mounded Cramphole"

89) Frog
Gainesville, Florida, USA
"Cryptically Titled"

Hickory, North Carolina, USA
"Mother Teresa Of Calcutta"

91) Hal McGee
Gainesville, Florida, USA
"Download This!"