EXOTIQUE ESOTERIC ALIEN MUSIC
Here you will find music by Phinney/McGee we have been collaborating on music since 1989.Below is the latest CD by Phinney/McGee released on the HalTapes label. Some are available from Harsh Reality Music. Others are available from Haltapes. See the link at the bottom of the page or the CD link to Haltapes.
Phinney/McGee - Escape From Earth
Phinney/McGee's
Stranded
On Earth CD told the story of how explorers from alien planets
and their progeny (from union with terrestrial females) became stranded
on Earth. Escape
From Earth continues the story, and tells how, having realized
their common heritage and origin on other worlds, our Earth-marooned
aliens formulate a plan to escape from their bondage. Even though
widely separated by massive geographical distances, the aliens are
able communicate with each other through electronic music, which
is their common, universal language. They undertake a scheme to
disrupt the space tourism trade, and use their electronic instruments
to create diversions and paralyze the machinery of the Earth cops
who are trying to stop them. They fight their way to a giant orbital
city, via a space elevator (a high-tech conveyance for space tourists).
At the space-station city they hijack several space-ships and make
their escape.
Abstract cosmic electronic music with a harsh, noisy, glitchy edge.
Chris Phinney and Hal McGee played Moog Rogue synthesizers, Moog
Prodigy, Moog Etherwave Theremin, Korg Poly 800, Subtractor, Malstrom,
and Synoptic Probe software synthesizers; Casio VA-10, shortwave
radio, space flute and treated guitar. Mix, mastering and production
by Phinney.
Track
Listing/order
:
1 - Prisoners Of The Earth, Come Out !
2
- Alien Diaspora
3 - Electronic Language
4 - Incident On The Space Elevator
5 - Orbital City
6 - Escape From Earth
Prisoners
Of The Earth, Come Out ! - 10:31
Alien
Diaspora - 11:33
Electronic
Language - 10:43
Incident
On The Space Elevator - 10:48
Orbital
City - 9:42
Escape
From Earth - 12:10
Phinney/McGee - Homemade Alien Music, Vol 2 Ancient Astronauts
This release includes a comic book by Bob X & sells for $10 plus shipping. Recorded 1997-1998 by Chris Phinney and Hal McGee collaborating by mail. Chris Phinney - ARP Axxe, Moog Prodigy, Moog Rogue, Korg Poly 800, homemade ring modulator, guitar & prpared guitar, loops, sequences, ART Proverb 200, Boxx distortion DS-1, Digitech Digital Delay Sampler 7.6 Second Time Machine, Ibanez analog Delay, Boxx Digital Sampler Delay DSD-2, Audio Technica AT-RMX64 6 Channel Mixer/Recorder.
Track
Listing/order
:
1 -
Through The Inter - Dimensional Portal
2
- Nazca
3 - Plutonium Mining
4 - Return
Of The Star People
5 - Siver Discs Over The Jeweled City
6 - Chichen Itza
7 - Crop Circles At Stonehenge
8
- Vimanas
9 - Tiahuanaco
10 - The Great Pyramid
Through
the Inter - Dimensional Portal - 7:38
Nazca
- 7:01
Review:
Phinney/McGee - "Homemade Alien Music Volume 2: Ancient Astronauts" (HalTapes 1997/1998, HT 097)
From Aural Innovations #13 (October 2000)
For Ancient Astronauts, Chris Phinney and Hal McGee combined their respective arsenals of electronic gear to produce over 70 minutes of pure space music, atmospherics, noise, and fun sounds. I won't even try to list the equipment each used but suffice it to say that this is analog synth heaven. By way of introduction to the music I should mention that each copy of the Ancient Astronauts CD comes with a very cool comic book titled... you guessed it... Ancient Astronauts!! Monsieurs Phinney and McGee are on the cover suited up and strapped into the seats of their flying saucer which they navigate with moogs and theremins. Our heroes travel (at 91 million miles per second) to the planet Earth where - they being the Ancient Astronauts - they visit the Mayans, the Druids at Stonehenge, and become the likenesses for the pyramids. Basically this well researched work fills in the cracks left open year ago by Von Daniken.
All the track titles represent different stages of the story told in the comic book. The atmosphere is, for the most part, cold and dark throughout... but so is space itself. The disc opens with our heroes leaving their home planet of Sono. On "Through The Inter-Dimensional Portal", wails, washes, and drones set the tone for our travelers' journey. I like the way varied synth lines are slowly phased giving the feeling that we're twisting and turning through space. This same effect is heard again on "Return Of The Star People". A heart thumping cosmic drone keeps the pace as lots of spacey bleeps and blurps dance about. The drone is relentless and when the phases kick in it's a bit jarring. The volume increases steadily and I think I now know what it must have felt and sounded like to be present in Close Encounters as the mothership was descending from overhead.
Two of my favorite tracks are "Chichen Itza" and "Crop Circles At Stonehenge". "Chichen Itza" features harsh, brain searing electronics that forced me to take off the headphones... I'm way to close to this ship's engines. But even though I ended up with my brain fried, this isn't just a massive wall of noise. All the sounds are still detectable and distinct from one another, which is important for me with this kind of music. "Crop Circles At Stonehenge" is like the daily operations of an industrial space factory. The pace and central theme are fairly static throughout. But there is a continual parade of sounds, like the goings on at the factory, or the everyday sounds of a bustling urban metropolis.
But Ancient Astronauts does have it more peaceful moments. "Tiahuanaco" and "The Great Pyramid" are the two examples on the disc of mind soothing ambient space music. And "Silver Disks Over The Jewelled City" is a calmer track as well, but with no shortage of freaky synth noodlings.
In summary, far from being an ambient form of floating electronica, Ancient Astronauts is a busy work in the sense that there is usually too much going on for it to be meditational in any way. Certainly there's ambience, but the cold mechanical atmosphere works well and listeners who are attentive to aurally exploring all that the music reveals will be rewarded. Each subsequent listen uncovers new little passages, sounds, and atmospherics making this an overall enjoyable experience. Highest recommendation to fans of cosmic electronic space music.
Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz
CHRIS PHINNEY & HAL McGEE: Ancient Astronauts (Homemade Alien Music Volume 2) (CDR on HalTapes) from Matt Howarths Sonic Curiosity.
This release from 1998 features 71 minutes of dark ambience.
This music possesses fleeting definition, as the relentless droning is flavored with a sense of anticipation. Electronic noise is sculpted to form liquid structures of astral consistency. Waves of harsh tones and squealing cycles unfold to generate tuneage that is gritty but strangely gentle.
A melodic sense is present, but only barely as the tracks generally consist of atonal structures compressed into an ambient flow. Passages display few eventful incidents as the sonic grind unfolds with a resolutely atmospheric demeanor. But this ambience carries little in the way of sedation, serving more to agitate the subconscious than relax the listener. The growling synthesizers achieve a constant tension that is lightly tinged with more synthetic noises. The overall effect is one of a never-ending slowburn.
This release comes with a 16 page B&W comicbook (sized 8.5x11) by artist Bob "X". The story involves a pair of extraterrestrial astronauts (Phinney and McGee from the planet Sono) who examine evidence that other aliens have visited the Earth before their arrival.
Phinney/McGee - Gnarl/Knot
Originally released on cassettes Gnarl and Knot by Hal McGee's HalTapes label in 1996, this is a collection of audible textures that traverse electronic noise and analog synthscapes. Melodies maneuver through the brush offering a spellbinding release. ARP AXXE, Moog Rogue, Korg Poly 800, Guitar, FX. The two covers below the Gnarl/Knot cover are the full releases on the Haltapes label. More info is here.
Track
Listing/order :
1 - Variation In Texture
2 - Eclectic Style
3 - And They Were Savages
4 - The Silence Of Anger
5 - Strange Doings In The Nooks & Crannies, Pouring Out of
The Cracks & Crevices
Variation
In Texture - 16:03
The
Silence of Anger - 10:11
Review:
Phinney/McGee - "Gnarl/Knot" (Haltapes 1996, Harsh Reality 2001, HRCD008)
The first Phinney/McGee collaboration I heard was the excellent Ancient Astronauts CD (see Chris Phinney profile in AI #13). Gnarl/Knot is a similar space adventure with both musicians playing ARP AXXE, Moog Rogue, Korg Poly 800, FX, and some guitar from Chris. Five long tracks in the 10-20 minute range give the boys plenty of room to stretch out and develop. My favorite tracks are "Variation In Texture" and "And They Were Savages". The former features and intense mechanical noise/drone backdrop that winds a slowly shifting path through the cosmos accompanied by totally spaced synths and a siren sound that conjures up images of some kind of space ambulance rescuing casualties of an inter-galactic battle. I dig the phased effect as the waves of drone float along their determined path. An icy engine room atmosphere contrasts nicely with the lively character of the space synths. Like a 50's sci fi flick soundtrack with the noise and drones adding the texture. "And They Were Savages" is pure cosmic space, covering territory that straddles the line between ambient and aggressive. The music starts off light, and then slowly builds to a high volume frenzy exceeding that heard on "Variation In Texture". This is the busiest track on the disc as a non-stop parade of synth patterns and sounds float and fly through the headphones... and, consequently, the listener's HEAD. I also dig the more purely avant-garde improv closing track with Chris on guitar. Excellent stuff and one of the standout discs in the catalog.
Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz
Here are some sample mp3s from some of the Phinney/McGee releases recorded over the years. The Cds are available to purchase from Haltapes.
Phinney/McGee - Antenna Club
We are adventurers in space and time. We have witnessed the birth of stars, the rise and fall of civilizations, the majesty of multiple universes in a teardrop. We have ridden wild comets, plumbed the depths of black holes, and plucked the blossoms of females from Earth to Canis Major. Antenna Club rides on waves of sound, bristling static, pulsating currents of noise, dissonance and audio sensation. These recordings catalog some of our adventures in this and other universes. More info here.
Stargrove
- 7:51
Calcutta
Brothel Raid (Delayed Transmission) - 7:04
Reviews:
Phinney/McGee
- "Antenna Club"
(HalTapes/Harsh Reality 2003, CDR)
Uploaded to Aural Innovations: August 2003
The latest collaboration between two of the elder statesmen of the homemade electronic music underground is jam packed with noisy, chaotic and totally cosmic exploratory fun. Chris and Hal blast out of the starting gates full tilt toward the sky on "Timetunnel". The engines are fired up but this old clunker is making lots of straaaaaange noises. I don't know if there's trouble on board but the sirens are blaring and it's like somebody decided to hold an air raid drill on the Challenger (I'll give away my age and say that I remember having air raid drills in grade school). But throughout this 10 minute slab of space terrorism I felt like I was a stowaway on a rocket and the only decent hiding place I could find was smack in the belly of the engine room. I often make such engine room references with these guys and they always manage to keep it interesting and exciting. In this case it's much more intense than usual and Klaus Schulze fans can expect to have that dreamy smile of serenity wiped clean off their faces. But it's funny that I should get that impression from the opening track because the last track, "Milky Way Marauders", is the one piece on the album that does fall very nicely into the Schulze/Tangerine Dream style of syncopated cosmic space.
"Tapestry Of Creation And Destruction" is similar to "Timetunnel" but with lush orchestral symphonics rising and falling in the mix. A wild as hell combination. Things calm down a bit on "Shocking Secrets Of The Crab Nebula", though the music is still multi-layered and busy, and a sense of urgency permeates throughout. Chris and Hal excel at creating image inducing scenes of cosmic chaos that keep the listener wide eyed and at attention. "The Wrong Kind Of Galaxy" keeps the pace moving briskly, combining dark bubbling patterns and short wave radio space madness. "Calcutta Brothel Raid (Delayed Transmission)" directs us into different territory as tribal drumming and chants takes center stage while whining minimal keyboard lines drone along like bagpipes, ocean waves crash against the shore, and an assortment of freaky sounds rear their lovely heads. The aptly titled "Insectoid Assembly Line" has a strange robotic head boppin groove that I enjoyed. And things get downright heavenly on "Stargrove"... fallen angels raining down like kamikaze pilots at a Toy R Us picnic with the pops. Veteran of the HalTapes and Harsh Reality catalogs will be delighted, and newcomers who are in any way intrigued by these descriptions should throw caution to the wind and take the plunge.
Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz
Review of Phinney/McGee -Antenna Club CD from Neozine
Phinney / McGee ?Antenna Club? (See Hal McGee) When these two get together, some of my favorite alien space surrealism is created. I?m often left with the jaw hanging, wondering where they got those sounds and how they were able to put them all together in such an articulate way. This is noise that you cannot help understanding. It pulls you in with rich fantastic waves of cycling sounds whose warm and friendly colors call you to approach with no fear of danger. Much of this is distortion and feedback, but it doesn?t sear through you like the ?hot knife through butter? stuff that attacks and attempts to harm the ear. This tickles the ear in a playful way that yearns for attention and exploration. It?s so musical, without conforming to any of the rules of musical formatting. Some percussion was used, which puts this more square with convention, but you have to trust me when I say that it does not add enough form to ruin the abstraction.
Phinney/McGee - Usufruct
Usufruct was the first collaborative effort of Chris Phinney (of Mental Anguish and Viktimized Karcass) and Hal McGee (of Dog As Master and Viscera). Recorded at Electronic Cottage Headquarters in Apollo Beach, Florida on October 13-15, 1989. Live improvisations of abstract, spacey electronic music forged with classic analog synthesizers. The CD reviewed below which combined tracks from the two releases is no longer available. More info is here.
Sunrise/Sunset
On The Bay - 22:09
Review:
Phinney/McGee - "Usufruct/Heads: Electronic Music 1989-1990" (Harsh Reality/Haltapes 2002)
from Aural Innovations July 2002
The Usufruct/Heads CD reissues two cassettes of the same titles from 1989 and 1990. Usufruct includes two lengthy excursions of 22 and 16 minutes. Having heard several of their collaborations now it's clear that Chris really brings out Hal's cosmic side. The duo take off into the colder and more remote regions of space, encountering all sorts of obstacles and challenges along the way. This is powerful image inducing stuff and I guarantee you if these guys were cranking out sounds in the 1950's they'd be legends among sci fi soundtrack aficionados. I also liked the combination of freaked out space electronics and slow dark melodic keys that provoked thoughts of the Phantom of the Opera having joined the Residents. Eerie and enjoyably strange. The sound voyages on Heads are equally cosmic though some of it is a bit more raucous and rough round the edges. There are some shorter tracks, but these guys can cover a lot of ground in just a few minutes. The duo apparently left many stones unturned while exploring the space quadrant they visited on Usufruct and have returned to continue their investigations. But things seem a bit more difficult for the team at first because the pace and atmosphere is somewhat more frantic and intense and the sounds are much more aggressive. Soon things quiet down and we briefly end up with some of the calmest and most meditative music on the Heads portion of the set. Overall, it's the side by side cosmic space and harsher brain bristling stuff that tripped my trigger. It flows smoothly and make for some fun listening.
Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz
Phinney/McGee - Heads
Heads was the second release by Chris Phinney and Hal McGee. More classic spacey electronic synth music exploration, featuring the sounds of the Korg MS-20, Moog Rogue and ARP Axxe. This P/M album was a mail collaboration. Much of the raw material of this music actually pre-dates Usufruct. More info is here.
If
Swallowed, Do Not Induce Vomiting - 7:27
Rub
In Thoroughly, Repeat Four Times A Year For Best Results - 14:13
Phinney/McGee - Stranded On Earth
This CD is a collection of music of the Alien Diaspora. Electronic music as a means of communication between like-minded beings who realize the horror of existence on earth, never to return to their true home, trapped forever in terrestrial bodies, and subject to all the disease, violence and mental anguish of life on earth. More info here.
Grate
- 11:02
Culdesac
- 7:17
Reviews:
Phinney/McGee - "Stranded On Earth" (Haltapes 2002)
from Aural Innovations July 2002
Also recently released are two more collaborations between Hal and Chris "Mental Anguish" Phinney, one a set of new recordings and the other a reissue of two cassettes from 1989 and 1990. Stranded On Earth is the new disc and includes some totally cosmic electronic space with just enough noise and harshness to keep listeners wide-eyed and alert so they don't get any silly meditative thoughts. Single or slowly developing tones and noise waves are accompanied by busier and continually evolving sounds, along with all the otherworldly bleeps and blurps you could ever want. "Suffering" is a standout track featuring howling wind tunnel waves, brain shattering tones, mucho fun freaky Forbidden Planet sci fi electronics, and a faint pattern that reminds me of an old Alan Parsons tune on speed (last thing you were expecting huh?). "Sway" and "Sweat" are among the darker and more intense tracks, as well as featuring some of the more avant-garde sound sculptures, with their minimalist patterns and loads of banging and clattering on the former. An excellent set of electronic excursions that are deep in the chaotic (as opposed to ambient) realms of the cosmos.
Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz
CHRIS PHINNEY & HAL McGEE: Stranded on Earth (CDR on HalTapes) from Matt Howarths Sonic Curiosity
This release offers 70 minutes of battling machine noise.
Electronic drones provide an edgy backdrop for hissing diodes and chittering computers. Atonal structure dominates here, as the sounds conspire to generate a territory of angry resonance. Duels between the various pitches flourish as each track chronicles this sonic struggle. The screams of one machine are countered by the squeals of another device, often creating rhythms as the combatants wrestle with each other.
There is an anguish to this tuneage, as if the machinery bemoan their state and long to be far from this blue planet.
Phinney/McGee - Pig
Recorded in 1996 at Harsh Reality, sonic excursions in sound.More info here.
Fucking
Pig Fucking ! - 11:24
Phinney/McGee - Skull
Skull was recorded over a three day period and consists of four 13 minute multi-tracked works based on free improvisations with analog synthesizers. More info here.
Precipice
- 13:03
Phinney/Jackson/McGee - Ditch
Abstract
electronic sound paintings that build slowly over time, and then
careen off in all kinds of different
directions. More info here.
Ditch
- 26:50
Phinney/McGee - Maneuvers
Sonic analog synth explorations, also released as a cassette by Sound Of Pig. More info here.
Electromagnetic
Tide - 29:33
Phinney/McGee - Fester
After a hiatus of four years Phinney/McGee returned with this mail collaboration recorded in early 1996. It's an unusual work for Phinney/McGee: in essence a 60 minute tape collage of fragments from daily life, lo tech electronics, keyboards and samples. The fragments repeat over and over throughout the course of the work in varying patterns. More info here.
Souls
Sentence/Parasites - 29:38
Phinney/McGee/Moneymaker/Henson - Cobra
The session was at Roger Moneymaker's house. Roger recorded and mixed the whole thing, and played synthesizer. Robert Henson played percussion. Phinney and McGee played synthesizers.Some really fine free improv ambient space experimental electronic music. More info here.
Track
Four - 14:09
Phinney/McGee - Quake
Recorded in 1990 at Hals place during the suppossed earthquake which was due to hit Memphis at the time.More info here.
The
Juiceman - 9:37
Phinney/McGee - Shell
Recorded in 1990 at Hals place in Apollo Beach. Analog synth explorations.More info here.
Momentum
Of A Rectangle - 10:13
Phinney/McGee - Coincidence
Recorded in 1991 at Harsh Reality Music, 51 minutes of synthesis.More info here.
Wilderness
- 5:29
Phinney/McGee/Dimthingshine - Dimdogmentalasanguishmastershinething
James
Garcia (Dimthingshine) writes:
On the surface I feel a time period of the seventies when I ponder
back, though it was the beginning of the 90's when we did this.
I suppose we brought that decades of energy into that get together.
Children of the 60's, we were post modern hippies, smoking pot,
drinking beer, questioning authority, pondering the mysteries of
life, and acquiring a taste for experimental avant-garde music along
the way. More info here.
Tune
#4 - 15:15
Phinney/McGee/Martin/Bramhall - Krispeeee
Recorded in 1996 at Harsh Reality Music, live freeform improvisations with Richard Martin (Viktimized Karcass, Corn For Texture, Macroglossia) & Mark Bramhall (Puddentate).More info here.
Self
Can Tainerous - 8:14
The CD's may be purchased from Haltapes Here ! !
All music copyright Phinney/McGee/Haltapes/Harsh Reality Music