Monthly Archives: June 2025

Arvo Zylo & Hal McGee – The Bubblegum Variations (HalTapes)

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description:

The Bubblegum Variations consists of more than 350 recordings by Arvo Zylo and Hal McGee mixed together in a chance process assemblage.

Arvo Zylo’s notes for The Bubblegum Variations:
— Hal McGee has been recording experimental music and noise since 1981. Arvo Zylo was born in 1981, and has been active since the year 2000. For this project, Arvo initially intended to contribute solely walkie talkie recordings of himself from 2014 and 2015; “Image streaming” in a free association, dream-like style. This audio has largely not been listened to by Arvo since shortly after it was recorded.
— That single creative spark gave way to other ideas, which included harmonium & toy pipe organ (thanks to Jason Lazer), and also stems from rare, long out of print tapes, unreleased recordings sometimes dating back to 2001, various field recordings, and occasional attempts at singing. Some of the recordings included a Yamaha RM1x Sequencer, a Casio SK-1 knock off called an “SS330”, some elements of the Korg Elektribe series, two Line6 Delay Pedals, A haunted BOSS Micro BR handheld recorder, a USB handheld recorder, a coronet, a belt sander, a sampler, a smart phone, and a laptop. Thanks Hal for your friendship!

Hal McGee’s notes for The Bubblegum Variations:
— I was quite happy in mid-May 2025 when Arvo proposed that we do a collaboration. I immediately started making recordings with two Sony ICD PX-470 stereo digital dictaphones, of sounds from my daily life, diaristic entries, my dog Stanley, my brother Mark McGee, circuit bent Casio SK-1, Stylophone CPM DS-2 analog synthesizer, KQ Unotone iPhone synth, Haltoid noise box, miscellaneous sounds from Apartment Music 54, and my friends Ben Keselowsky, Josh Tippery, and Alex Smith. I read aloud two texts by Lenny Pearlman.

Home-brewed CD-Rs of The Bubblegum Variations are available for sale and trade from Hal McGee — haltapes@gmail.com

Laibach – Alamut (Mute)

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description:

Laibach and A/POLITICAL present Alamut – a brand-new album of original symphonic work based on the novel of the same name – released on double vinyl and CD box set via Mute.

The album was recorded by Laibach and the musicians who performed Alamut live at a former Crusader castle in Ljubljana in 2022. The musicians involved include the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, the Human-Voice Ensemble vocal group from Tehran, the Gallina Women’s Choir, and AccordiOna, a women’s accordion orchestra backed by additional accordion players, conducted by Iranian conductor Navid Goharib.

Alamut is an original symphonic work by Laibach based on a famous story from eleventh-century Persia, as told by the Slovene writer Vladimir Bartol in his novel of the same title published in 1938. The central character is Hassan-i Sabbāh, the charismatic religious and political leader of the Nizari Ismailis and the founder of a mysterious military formation known as the Assassins, whose name is still feared and respected today. Hassan-i Sabbāh is a self-proclaimed prophet who leads a holy war against the Seljuk Empire from his eyrie – the castle of Alamut. Alamut looked at mechanisms of propaganda at the time when Bartol, a Slovenian author, witnessed the rise of Fascism in Trieste, Italy, where he lived.

In Laibach’s Alamut, the ideas of radical nihilism interweave with the classical Persian poetry of Omar Khayyam, the sensual verses of Mahsati Ganjavi blend with minimalist orchestral colours derived from Iranian tradition. Hassan-i Sabbāh’s propaganda mechanisms are echoed in the industrial principle of the workings of the orchestra and Laibach’s unique sound.

Available on double vinyl and CD box set.

The Legendary Pink Dots – Apparition (2025 Expanded Remaster) [Klanggalerie]

Posted by John Lithium on

Label Description:

From a very early source tape, “Apparition” has been given the sonic overload it desperately deserved and even boasts a couple of bonus tracks from the time.

Patrick Q. Wright (violins/viola/synthesisers); Keith Thompson (drums/percussion); Barry Gray (guitars); Roland Callaway ( Bass/ keyboards); Edward Ka-Spel (voice / keyboards); Sally Graves (effects)