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previous record label: taalem		there are 53 titles on table of the elements in stock. they are listed below.		next record label: taiga

$14.04

new to stock as of
october 1st, 2008

threads:
minimalism-drones
modern-composition

xeric (usa) #xer 115 cd
table of the elements (usa) #xer 115 cd

agathe max “this silver string” compact disc

this silver string (17:40)
frederic (12:06)
ashes of broken furniture (9:48)
raw bow (7:08)
black needle (6:51)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "this silver string"

october 2008 release ; debut release from this young french violinist, utilizing an array of loop & guitar pedals to yield a sound-on-sound approach to massed string sonics in real time ...

despite my usual aversion to this approach (i can’t even count the number of set of guitar - ebow - akai headrush / alesis wedge sets i’ve endured at this stage) ; i must say that ms. max is onto something here ... the wall of low-end thump that kicks in when she hits the octave divider is pretty sweet (esp. the myriad tracking errors ; like hiring a drunk bass player to dovetail your lines - super wobbly) and her lyrical lines are far friendlier than you’d realize judging solely from the wall of overdriven sludge that hits you pretty much non-stop throughout ...

i must say ; listening to this disc a few times, then catching her performing this set in a room w/ only the p.a., her violin, and a bare-minimum of effects was rather illuminating ; she’s at the top of her game in regards to the variety of sounds she can coax out her simple setup in addition the natural flow of the pieces she performs on it ...

the various tony conrad comparisons are more surface than anything else (esp. given her company over @ table of the elements) ; think of this more along the lines of recent records by colleen, alexander tucker, and the like ...

xeric press release...

agathe max
this silver string

this silver string is the transformative debut by french violinist agathe max. at times her work approaches the supersonic escape velocity of tony conrad; elsewhere, she introduces delicate repeating threads, then slowly weaves them into a fabric of vast, billowing sound more reminiscent of steve reich. with an elegant command of melody and a strident use of rhythm, max manages to create a remarkably accessible collection of tracks, one that bridges the gaps between minimalism, post-classicism, the avant garde, krautrock, and plain old-fashioned pop – there’s even a nod to the high lonesome raga as filtered through henry flynt. this silver string is a genre-bender for certain, and a fine debut by any definition.

"agathe max delivers a drone to keep the earth turning on its axis, with a keen and romantic sense of swing. everything you need to have a good time" — jonathan kane

$13.91

new to stock as of
february 15th, 2008

threads:
modern-psych

table of the elements (usa) #toe 815 cd

megafaun “bury the square” compact disc

find your mark (5:14)
tired and troubled (4:46)
where we belong (11:16)
his robe (4:47)
drains (7:24)
lazy suicide (6:20)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "tired and troubled"

debut from this durham-based trio, recently seen on tour w/greg davis & the akron family ... a mix of backwoods appalachiana-leaning acoustic psych-pop, occasionally descending into the sort of tape-mangled field recordings & feedback clusters you’d more readily associate with the label they record for (listen to the sound-sample for one of the more exotic moments) ...

as baffling as it at first might seem to read of a band in that loose animal collective mold recording for tote, it helps to put them in the same lineage as labelmates san agustin (albeit with vocals) or even oren ambarchi & chris townend’s sun project (there’s the same sort of fascination with am-radio era pop music dotted with between-the-cracks noises & cues from the avant-garde/freak scenes of yore...)

i’m going to let my guard down here a bit & mention that, in all honesty, i quite enjoy this record; it takes a bunch of chances & detours far enough from the road-tested travelling sideshow / collective caravan methodology to make it work w/out seeming too derivative of the groups that have walked those particular shadows over the past few years. i’m not going to blanket recommend this for everyone that shops here, but if you own more than one neil young / the band record (or, hell, even jim o’rourke’s “song” albums) you just might see the light ...

table of the elements press release...

megafaun bury the square

from the vibrant southern quasi-capital of durham emerge megafaun, wearing earnestness across the chest and abstraction along the sleeves. they pour forth dulcet harmonies, as seeking vocals tug banjo lines up the appalachian mountains; redemptive noise soaks everything, like thick air wafting from the atlantic.

bury the square, megafaun’s debut, is a triumph, bearing an essential consequence: folk music has been wrestled from purist hands. clawhammer banjo and strummed acoustics lock and roll with electric guitars and electronic textures. they realize that folk implies deep, personal, intense expression, whether the instrument is a parlor piano with the lid thrown back or a distortion pedal with the case cracked loose. in this band, orthodoxy and unorthodoxy flow together as one.

$23.18

new to stock as of
february 29th, 2008

threads:
guitar-themed
modern-composition
minimalism-drones

table of the elements (usa) #toe 813 cd

rhys chatham “guitar trio is my life !” triple compact disc set

guitar trio pt. 1, brooklyn (19:27)
guitar trio pt. 2, chicago (23:34)
guitar trio pt. 1, buffalo (21:15)
guitar trio pt. 2, toronto (19:20)
guitar trio pt. 1, montreal (22:24)
guitar trio pt. 2, cleveland (16:35)
guitar trio pt. 1, minneapolis (6:45)
guitar trio pt. 2, milwaukee (19:04)
guitar trio pt. 1, chicago (30:23)
guitar trio pt. 2, brooklyn (16:27)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "guitar trio pt. 2, milwaukee"

... as psyched i am for this mammoth set of alternating renditions of rhys chatham’s “guitar trio pt. 1” and “guitar trio pt.2” - i can’t help but be a little bummed at the omission of either of the boston takes (which, to my amp-damaged ears, sounded quite fine w/chris brokaw, david daniell, winston bramman, myself, and the devil music guys essentially playing a single-chord to a sold-out allston-rock-city crowd for over an hour) - but that’s neither here nor there ...

what you do get from this excellent triple-disc box are takes from the brooklyn, buffalo, chicago, cleveland, milwaukee, minneapolis, montreal, and toronto stagings of the piece during february 2007, performed with ludicrously high levels of energy by chatham himself, along with such notables as andrew broder, tony conrad, david daniell, kim gordon, alan licht, robert longo, rob “lichens” lowe, doug mccombs, thurston moore, jon mueller, harris newman, jeff parker, lee ranaldo, chris rosenau, adam & ben vida, etc ...

if you don’t know the piece ; it’s essentially an exercise in yielding what chatham himself describes as “choiring” - a heavy, upper-register buildup of harmonic movement that results when so many guitar players, over 20 minutes, slowly work across an open e minor chord from the low e to the high e, at deafening volume, while a single drummer keeps time on a hi-hat (pt. 1) or contributes with a “driving backbeat” followed by a long fill / freak-out (pt. 2) - it’s the ultimate in high-gain rock ‘n’ roll minimalism, really, and because of the open interpretation, the piece can swing pretty heavily in a number of directions given the players - hence this collection offering 5 different realizations of each part by 8 different groups ...

highly recommended as a historical document and as a testament to the piece’s lasting relevance ...

table of the elements press release...

rhys chatham & his guitar trio all-stars
“guitar trio is my life !”

utilizing multiple electric guitars and a single chord, 1977’s “guitar trio” is composer rhys chatham’s signature work, and a euphoric, minimal-punk classic. it’s an inspired amalgamation — the droning, shimmering harmonics of john cale and tony conrad fused with the power and fury of the ramones — that had a meteoric impact. it placed chatham at the forefront of the burgeoning no wave scene; its influence then spread further, as protégés and participants in chatham’s ensembles — including glenn branca and members of sonic youth — folded the sound into their own. “guitar trio” remains a composition with a half-life, an adventure in sound that continues to radiate influence and inspiration.

now, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of “guitar trio” on an epic scale, chatham musters an all-star guitar army for the 3xcd set, “guitar trio is my life!” the sprawling collection features members of sonic youth, swans, tortoise, godspeed you! black emperor, hüsker dü, modern lovers, silver mt. zion, town and country, die kreutzen, 90-day men, collections of colonies of bees, and many more; even tony conrad gets in on the act. together these artists celebrate chatham’s wordless anthem, with its minimalist origins, rock & roll rhythm, ecstatic whorl of harmonics, and ever-evolving, ever-expanding nature.

so, take a listen, and hear what one man can do with hundreds of guitars, 30 years, one chord, and a skyscraper of amps set to liquefy. “guitar trio” endures.

3xcd set of previously unreleased material;
includes 32-page book with liner notes and unpublished photographs

$15.61

back in stock as of
july 17th, 2008

first in stock on
may 13th, 2008

threads:
guitar-themed
free-improvisation

table of the elements (usa) #toe 812 lp
radium (usa) #toe 812 lp

“impala eardrums • a radium sampler” long playing record

rhys chatham - untitled (1986) (5:20)
jonathan kane’s february - pops (6:26)
megafaun - beloved binge (3:15)
paul duncan - silver eagle (4:24)
collections of colonies of bees - athlete (4:37)
neptune - lightning and the flight of birds (4:11)
ateleia - grasses (5:14)
school of seven bells - limb by limb (4:27)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "athlete"

may 2008 release ; first label-comp for this table of the elements sub-series ; something of a springboard for the friendlier / contemporary styles / artists affiliated with the label ... exclusive material from the majority of the roster ; much variety makes for a nice, diverse listen ... lovely milky-white lp.

table of the elements press release...

impala eardrums a radium sampler

for fifteen years, table of the elements has been the preeminent source of avant audio, championing minimal, improvised, and outsider musics of various spots and stripes. now, as its influence radiates outward, the label presents radium, its “rock” imprint, showcased here with impala eardrums, a radium sampler.

while minimalist legend rhys chatham leads the way with a delightful unreleased piece from his mid-80s archives, most of the other contributors are younger folks, from a new generation of performers. it’s a diverse bunch, ranging from the raw americana of megafaun and jonathan kane, to the humid, pulsating krautrock of ateleia and the spectral songcraft of paul duncan. neptune serves up its version of home-forged proto-clangor, while collections of colonies of bees and school of seven bells pour forth in glistening, shimmering waves.

together, these eight tracks — all previously unreleased — have one thing in common: a resolute will to march headlong into the untamed brambles and briar patches of 21st-century sound.

$14.04

back in stock as of
july 17th, 2008

first in stock on
may 13th, 2008

threads:
guitar-themed
free-improvisation

table of the elements (usa) #toe 812 cd
radium (usa) #toe 812 cd

“impala eardrums • a radium sampler” compact disc

rhys chatham - untitled (1986) (5:20)
jonathan kane’s february - pops (6:26)
megafaun - beloved binge (3:15)
paul duncan - silver eagle (4:24)
collections of colonies of bees - athlete (4:37)
neptune - lightning and the flight of birds (4:11)
ateleia - grasses (5:14)
school of seven bells - limb by limb (4:27)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "grasses"

cd version ...

table of the elements press release...

$15.45

new to stock as of
february 15th, 2008

table of the elements (usa) #toe 811 lp
radium (usa) #r 88 lp

neptune “gong lake” long playing record

silver pool (1:33)
grey shadows (4:25)
paris green (3:50)
purple sleep (4:15)
yellow river (4:17)
copper green (2:38)
blue glass (3:08)
black tide (4:23)
red sea (5:37)
ebbing (0:50)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "copper green"

cause celebre; pretty much the first mass-market album by one of boston’s longest-running experimental rock bands, neptune. i remember the first time i saw jason sanford’s guitars hanging in the stairwell of the e.u. wurlitzer shop on mass. ave (thankfully now r.i.p. - fucking awful place...) - garishly sharp things forged of scrap iron w/nails for frets - i couldn’t even begin to imagine the sort of music that would get played on these; until i caught the band at an outdoor concert on the m.i.t. (or was it tufts?) campus a few years later (maybe jessica rylan was playing bass w/them at that stage? no? they did collaborate w/her recently on that lp on golden lab) - their angular-yet-somehow-also-tribal-sounding art-punk piqued my interest, having just discovered savage republic, the fall, & crash worship (all fairly good reference points for their sound ... at the time at least)

in the intervening years they’ve mixed things up considerably - we’ve shared a few bills over the last year-or-so & i must say that their current stage-show (an entire vansworth of repurposed wwii era surplus electronic crap, carefully rewired by the band & controlled by jason & mark mainly by flipping lightswitches ::

... along with a full complement of jason’s guitars & dan’s by-comparison traditional drumkit) is terrifying; and quite a sight/sound to behold ...

this record consists of short art-punk lineage songs built around repeating electronic patterns (not too dis-similar to the silver apples in that regard) and jason’s at-times indecipherable prose. it all sounds great, a kind of almost primitive calculators / suicide-esque flair resounds throughout ...

table of the elements press release...

behold: neptune, the most harrowingly original band on this planet — or the next. its three members are equal parts musicians, sculptors, scientists, blacksmiths, electricians, and industrial machinists; relentlessly inventive, possibly sane. together, they construct all of their instruments, forging guitars and drums out of circular saw blades, gas tanks, oil drums, bike parts, vcr casings, and miscellany from the trash. electronics, and even cords, are homemade as well. the combined effect is a bizarre, post-apocalyptic mélange of steel, iron, wire, rust, rivet, knob, and cable; it's lunacy, arc-welded for maximum destruction. concerts are seizures of motion. wearing 40-pound guitars assembled entirely from scrap metal, the members don't play their instruments — they battle them, like mechanized golems.

but make no mistake, this is not simply art with sharp edges and serious customs issues. neptune rocks. hard. recalling the slapdash angularity of the fall, the rhythmic ack-ack blasts of this heat, and the sheer proto-clangor of einstürzende neubauten, they count as one of the best experimental rock bands of any era. their dynamic, expertly wrought songs and skilled improvisations don't start; they explode. gong lake is the band's first unlimited cd release, and with it listeners will discover what fans of their live shows have known for years: neptune is otherworldly.

$13.91

new to stock as of
february 15th, 2008

threads:
experimental-instruments
art-punk
circuit-bending
modern-psych

table of the elements (usa) #toe 811 cd
radium (usa) #r 88 cd

neptune “gong lake” compact disc

silver pool (1:33)
grey shadows (4:25)
paris green (3:50)
purple sleep (4:15)
yellow river (4:17)
copper green (2:38)
blue glass (3:08)
black tide (4:23)
red sea (5:37)
ebbing (0:50)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "copper green"

table of the elements press release...

$14.68

back in stock as of
february 29th, 2008

first in stock on
january 17th, 2008

threads:
modern-psych
digital-musics
beat-research

table of the elements (usa) #toe 810 cd

collections of colonies of bees “birds” compact disc

flocks i (7:08)
flocks ii (10:26)
flocks iii (11:03)
flocks iv (8:47)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "flocks ii"

january 2008 release; the fourth album by this milwaukee-area supergroup featuring jon mueller (pele, crouton label), chris rosenau (pele), jim schoenecker (pressboard), daniel spack, and thomas wincek (emotional joystick) ...

in a time when i’m all-but-drowning in cruddy room-recordings of sparsely attended basement gigs presented as limited tape/cdr-as-album masterworks, it’s refreshing to hear such an immaculately recorded / constructed / presented album of digitally-enhanced through-composed post-rock ...

much in the way that oren ambarchi’s day job as an improvisor/composer of avant-garde music enriches his sun pop-music project, the level of detail and care put into the solo works of the 5 cocob members transfers over to their collective rock-band is evident at every stroke. really nice stuff ...

table of the elements press release...

collections of colonies of bees
birds

format: cd
packaging: standard jewel
release date: january, 2008
file under: rock
catalog no: toe-cd-810

in an era of pervasive lo-fi meandering and leaden, self-indulgent navel-gazing, collections of colonies of bees sweep in grandly, as their name implies, in great, billowing swarms of sound, bourn aloft on a thousand wings of minuscule, elegant detail. in these extended instrumental tracks, guitars chime and soar, recalling the best campaigns of the guitar armies of both glenn branca and rhys chatham; deft yet intensely focused percussion propels towards an inevitable dawn; covering it all is a gossamer veil of subtly nuanced electronica.

birds is a joyous, expansive experience; crisp, clean, and clear; dappled in sunshine; mottled with dew; epic minimalism in exquisite registration. that’s saying something. in our present musical climate of smoggy lassitude, collections of colonies of bees are diligently producing a sound that is dazzling ñ and as sweet as honey taken straight from the comb. dig in.

$11.59

back in stock as of
january 17th, 2008

first in stock on
september 13th, 2007

table of the elements (usa) #toe 807 lp

school of seven bells “face to face on high places” long playing record

limb by limb (4:28)
face to face on high places (8:58)
s.ada.licht (2:56)

table of the elements press release...

from the breathing clouds of the living mountain emerge school of seven bells and their dazzling 12-inch debut, face to face on high places.

benjamin curtis, formerly of secret machines, leads the esoteric cabal. heliospheric guitar invocations with that band garnered him considerable distinction, as have collaborations with michael rother of neu!/kraftwerk. alternately, the rhythm rises from the underground; bassist james elilott records ambient electronica as the critically acclaimed ateleia, while the guitar armies of minimalist legend rhys chatham march to drummer joe stickney's beat. at the center are twin sisters alejandra and claudia deheza. their achievements with on! air! library! are substantial; multi-instrumentalist claudia has also worked extensively with prefuse 73 and a cloud mireya. together, their celestial vocal arrangements and lush, transcendental songsmithing cast the irresistibly intense psychomagical spell that illuminates school of seven bells.

face to face on high places is a dizzying whorl -- from the pounding ecstasies of the title track, to the mystic lyricism and lucid dreamscaping of "s.ada.licht" and the mesmeric groove of "limb by limb." luminous voices beckon from the far side of a mirage; whispered electronic infernos are swept away by raging torrents of percussion.

submit to school of seven bells, then ascend atop a thousand cyclones to a plain of infinite bliss.

clear, laser-etched 12-inch ep; beautifully packaged with metallic inks; limited-edition, vinyl-only release

$9.27

back in stock as of
january 17th, 2008

first in stock on
february 20th, 2007

threads:
art-punk

table of the elements (usa) #toe 805 cd

arkansaw man “arkansaw man” compact disc

the ballroom (7:36)
angels/aliens (3:17)
health (3:57)
question #2 (3:11)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "question #2"

some very nice, scratchy early 80s west-coast no-wave blat from this hitherto unknown group that burned bright from ‘81-’82 and left only the ep that these four tracks were taken from. personally, i’m feeling the dna-on-quaaludes ruminations from within... great stuff for fans of just-post-punk cromp.

table of the elements press release...

here is the unlikely cd debut of arkansaw man, a wildly obscure san francisco art-punk band that flickered to life all so briefly, between 1981 and 82. this self-titled ep was its only 12-inch release. 25 minutes of music, 25 years ago and sayonara. were we now in the 1920s, such output would be the equivalent of a long-neglected 78, stuffed in someones attic. three minutes and a pile of dust.

still, the best things in life in the life of music, anyway often are tucked away where they are hard to find. this is a great and unique record. it revels in terse and choppy guitar, the languid, sour leakage of keyboards and horns, and occasional lyrics sung as ironic disclaimer. the spare yet vaguely ominous bass lines recall the gang of four played back at 4 rpm. with a brilliant economy of means and a sparseness reminiscent of dub, the band got an amazing jump start on the whole post-slint, post-gastr, post-rock thing.

a quarter of a century ago, the spindly funk machinery and discordant scraping guitars of arkansaw man failed to give the world much to latch onto, so its music got lost, abandoned in a locker at pop cultures bus depot, the key left floating in a gutter somewhere one day to be scavenged. theres no better place to find a glimmer of artistic gold.

$10.04

back in stock as of
january 17th, 2008

first in stock on
october 24th, 2006

threads:
minimalism-drones
modern-psych

table of the elements (usa) #toe 803 cd

jonathan kane “i looked at the sun” compact disc

bqe (5:35)
i looked at the sun (13:37)

table of the elements press release...

table of the elements launches its new rock imprint radium with a bang. jonathan kane's rollicking, majestic and critically-acclaimed debut february set you up with his lustrous, deep-grooved sound; now comes the bare-knuckled knock-out punch. on the opening track, "bqe," kane compliments his signature wall of guitars with the high-lonesome serenade of pedal steel, then puts that pedal to the metal and barrels through the psychedelic badlands of mississippi fred mcdowell's classic "i looked at the sun." add the dixie-fried strut of zz top's billy gibbons to glenn branca's guitar armies and you're still only halfway to kane's mind-blowing reinvention of both minimalism and the blues — it's a blistering day's drive from anything you've heard before.

$16.22

back in stock as of
january 17th, 2008

first in stock on
october 24th, 2006

threads:
guitar-themed
minimalism-drones

table of the elements (usa) #toe 802 lp

rhys chatham “an angel moves too fast to see” long playing record

prelude 7:36
intro 5:06
allegro 8:39
no trees left: every blade of grass is screaming 6:35
adagio 14:48

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "no trees left..."

table of the elements press release...

rhys chatham altered the dna of rock. the new york-born composer began as a classically-trained prodigy, but by 1975, chatham was fusing the overtone-drenched minimalism of john cale and tony conrad with the relentless, elemental fury of the ramones. it was an inspired amalgamation — the textural intricacies of the avant-garde colliding with the visceral punch of electric guitar-slinging punk rock — and with it chatham created a new type of urban music. raucous and ecstatic, this sound energized the downtown new york scene throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, prefigured the no wave movement and cast a huge influence over the subsequent work of chatham’s many protégés, including glenn branca and future members of sonic youth.

however, by the late 1980s, chatham was chafing against the logistical and financial constraints imposed upon him in the states; in his mind was a vast, unprecedented sound. moving permanently from new york to paris, chatham began composing his masterpiece, a piece for one hundred electric guitars, electric bass and drums. the result, an angel moves too fast to see, is one of the most extraordinary works in the minimalist canon, one that demonstrates the majesty inherent in chatham’s amplified imagination. now widely available for the first time, this lavish cd presents this sonic revolution in all its glory, and cements chatham’s reputation as a monolithic figure astride both rock and classical musics.

$21.06

back in stock as of
october 28th, 2008

first in stock on
october 24th, 2006

threads:
guitar-themed
minimalism-drones

table of the elements (usa) #toe 801 lp

rhys chatham “die donnergötter (the thundergods)” double long playing record set

die donnergötter (1985/86) 21:48
waterloo no. 2 (1986) 7:57
drastic classicism (1982) 7:49
guitar trio (1977) 8:11
guitar trio take two (1977) 8:11
massacre on macdougal street (1982) 18:42

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "die donnergötter"

double lp version, contains an extra take of “guitar trio”, worth it...

table of the elements press release...

rhys chatham altered the dna of rock. the new york-born composer began as a classically-trained prodigy, but by 1975, chatham was fusing the overtone-drenched minimalism of john cale and tony conrad with the relentless, elemental fury of the ramones. it was an inspired amalgamation — the textural intricacies of the avant-garde colliding with the visceral punch of electric guitar-slinging punk rock — and with it chatham created a new type of urban music. raucous and ecstatic, this sound energized the downtown new york scene throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, prefigured the no wave movement and cast a huge influence over the subsequent work of chatham’s many protégés, including glenn branca and future members of sonic youth.

this release contains all of chatham’s best work of the period, from the notorious “guitar trio” (1977) and the tumultuous, brass-based “massacre on macdougal street” (1982), to the soaring, euphoric masterpiece, “die donnergötter” (1986). the gatefold jacket (lp version) and the 32-page book (accompanying the cd version) feature rare photos plus essays by chatham, tony conrad and sonic youth’s lee ranaldo, as well as artwork by famed visual artist robert longo. now widely available for the first time, these tracks vividly document those glorious years in the life of a city and a milieu in which the raw, the sophisticated and the danceable merged, and a new era of rock was born.

$14.68

back in stock as of
january 17th, 2008

first in stock on
april 19th, 2007

threads:
free-improvisation

table of the elements (usa) #toe 202 cd

zeena parkins “nightmare alley” compact disc

sleep (3:44)
empty bottle (1:15)
model for a colossal moment (7:29)
love letter (1:26)
freak (1:51)
nightmare alley (2:02)
wonder woman (0:30)
hula (2:14)
peephole (7:01)
zig x (2:07)
black on black (2:50)
dirt tone (1:45)
out of the past (3:31)
dreamer...she dreams (1:05)
hairless (2:57)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "peephole"

reissue of 1992’s “nightmare alley” by experimental harpist zeena parkins; the initial release on the then-fledgling table of the elements label. a nice mix of electric-harp/distortion freakouts & more somber material...

table of the elements press release...

step right up and meet the astounding zeena parkins, the world’s greatest electric harpist. forget about angelic choirs; zeena cites jimi hendrix as a major inspiration, and her harp work is similarly explosive, often blurring into fuzz-distorted terrain.

parkins is a lightning bolt of a performer, and a much sought after collaborator; she works frequently with sonic youth’s thurston moore, lee ranaldo and jim o’rourke, and has recorded and toured with courtney love, yoko ono and bjork.

recorded in 1992, nightmare alley was zeena’s first solo release and the first cd on table of the elements. a hypnotic classic, it lures the listener into a parallel world of sensations, one that is disorienting and surreal, strangely pleasurable and more than a little dangerous. step inside if you dare - you won’t believe your ears!

includes new artwork and liner notes by journalist steve dollar.

$13.91

new to stock as of
january 17th, 2008

threads:
modern-composition
doom

table of the elements (usa) #toe 108 cd

jon mueller “metals” compact disc

trace essential (9:46)
homeostatic (12:13)
mineral balance (11:28)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "homeostatic"

january 2008 release; an entirely impressive trio of solo percussion & drum-kit pieces from collections of colonies of bees’ jon mueller ...

from what i can glean from listening alone (the cd packaging is fairly spartan) jon plays this material straight through sans overdubbing, using combinations of amplified tones to vibrate various parts of his gong/drum array... but put aside any notions of this being a sean-meehan-esque recital of butterfly-winged surface-resonance studies; when jon gets cooking (listen to the sound-clip) it’s full-on wail blast-beat wail, living up to the implications of the title...

pretty intense stuff; highly recommended !!!

table of the elements press release...

jon mueller
metals

format: cd
packaging: standard jewel
release date: january, 2008
file under: avant
catalog no: toe-cd-108
jon mueller is internationally recognized as a percussionist, composer and free-improvisor; he is a founder of the band collections of colonies of bees; and he has performed with an array of artists, including rhys chatham, and members of swans, wilco, and more.

for the past several years, mueller has worked with rhythms that come from gong frequencies, from vibrations of the bodies of bass drums, and the surprising sonorities that occur with the combination of these elements. now he applies these techniques to his latest solo effort, to stunning effect: metals is, as its name suggests, a bold, all-percussion foray into heavy metal.

no theatrical silliness here; just sheer exhilaration; the fundamental power of loud, organized, precise rhythms; ringing, heavy anti-melodies. it's this sound, in the many forms it has taken over the years, that continually inspires new philosophies, drives independent thinking, and causes hundreds of thousands of people to bang their heads. jon mueller takes it, shapes it and makes it his own.

$14.82

back in stock as of
september 16th, 2008

first in stock on
january 22nd, 2007

threads:
guitar-themed
modern-composition
minimalism-drones
concert-recordings

table of the elements (usa) #toe 106 cd

rhys chatham “a crimson grail for 400 electric guitars” compact disc

a crimson grail: part one (20:42)
a crimson grail: part two (16:00)
a crimson grail: part three (19:49)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "a crimson grail: part three"

september 2008 ; this was unavailable for the last year or so, but is finally back in stock !!!

january 2007 release of this titanic piece by rhys chatham for rhythm section (the incomparable ernie brooks & jonathan kane) and 400 guitarists (including jean-françois pauvros !! try to pick him out !!!)

not since “lesson nº 1” have i heard such a triumphant wall of pick-string energy; the massive guitar-amp din that filled the space must have been overwhelming. this room-recording is as close as we’ll get to the event; the distance from the mics to the amps adds a nice ambience, merging all of that energy into one cohesive sound.

chatham’s been on a roll for the last few years; more power to him. this is an essential bit of massed guitar sound that i can and will recommend uncategorically. just plain awesome.

table of the elements press release...

rhys chatham a crimson grail for 400 electric guitars

rhys chatham, the man who rocks the minimalist canon like a hurricane, gathers up the city of light in the evanescent beauty of his latest piece - written for 400 guitars and performed live in the basilica of landmark sacre coeur - with 10,000 people watching and 100,000 more on national tv. as the music shimmers, it offers a snapshot of eternity, an echo of a moment a thousand years gone - and a thousand years yet to come

$16.38

new to stock as of
october 28th, 2008

threads:
guitar-themed
minimalism-drones
electro-acoustic-composition

table of the elements (usa) #toe 099c lp

david daniell “i-iv-v-i (mustard vinyl)” one-sided long playing record

i (4:18)
iv (5:09)
v (5:03)
i (4:43)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "i "

november 2008 release ; the eighth in the guitar series vols. 3 & 4 ...

a four-part suite from mms perennial david daniell, starting with a hugely resonant buzzing drone, following through with an overdubbed steel-string mantra, a fine bit of ghostly bedroom-guitar wail coalescing into a doom-cloud, then a bit of soukous-influenced upper-neck staccatto playing with bowed raga undergrowth ...

as each segment focuses on an area of guitar-centric music that david does extremely well, this is something of a sampler-pack for his abilities ; each section comes across as fully formed, as a whole it’s a pretty damn breathtaking set of pieces ...

along with the oren ambarchi entrant, this is inarguably the highlight of the series thusfar (and with only the fennesz & o’malley sides left, most likely overall as well) ... highly recommended !!!

table of the elements press release...

david daniell
i-iv-v-i

table of the elements continues to celebrate its 15th anniversary with the sixth installment in its guitar series vols. 3 & 4. it’s a 12xlp romp of deviant fretnoise by some of experimental music’s most prominent players, including christian fennesz, thurston moore, and sunn o)))’s stephen o’malley.

david daniell is one of the hardest-working guitarists in avant-garde show business. he leads the troops in rhys chatham’s guitar armies; he was a member of jonathan kane's rollicking band february; and he performs regularly in a duo with tortoise's doug mccombs. he's collaborated with tim barnes, thurston moore, and loren connors; and his guitar work with his own band, san agustin, is the stuff of which fleeting blues-drone dreams are made. with influences rooted in blues, american minimalism, and post-punk ideologies, daniell's guitar playing is always inspired; when fused with his intricate electro-acoustic compositions, the results are breathtaking.

$16.38

new to stock as of
october 28th, 2008

threads:
guitar-themed
minimalism-drones
electro-acoustic-composition

table of the elements (usa) #toe 098c lp

andrew burnes “telescope (green vinyl)” one-sided long playing record

telescope (20:12)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "telescope"

november 2008 release ; the seventh in the “guitar series vols. 3 & 4 ...

first solo release from san agustin / haunted house guitarist andrew burnes, 20+ minutes of sliding ebow / lap-steel tones reminiscent of a more present take on folke rabe’s “was?” ; that this is being released on vinyl adds just so much more to the overall feel of the piece - the slight pitch-slide that happens with each successive rotation of the record (listen to the sound-sample) lends a certain woozy vibe to the proceedings ...

this is a really nice one, esp. if extremely “gradual” music is your thing ...

table of the elements press release...

andrew burnes
telescope

table of the elements continues to celebrate its 15th anniversary with the sixth installment in its guitar series vols. 3 & 4. it’s a 12xlp romp of deviant fretnoise by some of experimental music’s most prominent players, including christian fennesz, thurston moore, and sunn o)))’s stephen o’malley.

table of the elements happily presents the long-overdue solo debut of andrew burnes. burnes, along with david daniell, is a founding member of the ethereal, post-blues ensemble san agustin; he’s also a member of haunted house, alongside loren mazzacane connors; and he’s performed in improv settings with the likes of ken vandermark and thurston moore. finally committed to vinyl, he doesn’t disappoint: telescope is a glittering chunk of sound, as burnes transforms that particular emblem of americana, the steel guitar, into one vast, slowly undulating drone.

andrew burnes’ name may not be familiar, but fans of the genre needn’t worry. back in 1993, table of the elements’ original guitar series featured what was only the second us solo release from a similarly unknown artist: jim o’rourke. you can trust us again with this one.

$16.38

back in stock as of
october 28th, 2008

first in stock on
july 17th, 2008

threads:
guitar-themed
electro-acoustic-composition

table of the elements (usa) #toe 097 lp

lee ranaldo “countless centuries fled into the distance like so many storms (clear vinyl)” one-sided long playing record

1. (4:05)
2. (3:28)
3. (1:15)
4.( 2:07)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "2."

july 2008 release ; the sixth in the table of the elements “guitar series vols. 3 & 4” (don’t panic, you didn’t miss #5 - it’s a belong 12” & will be out in a few weeks out-of-series) by sonic youth guitarist & recent bang-on-a-can collaborator lee ranaldo ...

“a final kiss” consists of four short guitar-centric miniatures, ranging from the detuned feedback & echo patterns of “1.” to the “intelligent” digital / time-stretch algorithms & field recordings of “2.” (listen to the sound-sample) to the pitch-shift staccato of “3.” to the noise-shrapnel frenzy of “4.” ...

one of the briefer entrants in the series thusfar, but a good one ...

table of the elements press release...

lee ranaldo
countless centuries fled into the distance like so many storms

table of the elements continues to celebrate its 15th anniversary with the sixth installment in its guitar series vols. 3 & 4. it’s a 12xlp romp of deviant fretnoise by some of experimental music’s most prominent players, including christian fennesz, thurston moore, and sunn o)))’s stephen o’malley.

sonic youth's lee ranaldo was part of the original table of the elements "guitar series" in 1993; now he returns with countless centuries fled into the distance like so many storms. it's an epic earful, replete with shimmering textures and an inimitable charging clangor. with ecstatic, rocking squalor, he summons some dazzling shronk, reminiscent of early sy, the soaring drone of john cale, and even the looping orientalia of dream syndicate-era la monte young. so duck and cover, as lee fires an impeccably aimed fusillade across the screaming fields of sonic love.

$16.38

back in stock as of
october 28th, 2008

first in stock on
august 4th, 2008

threads:
guitar-themed
minimalism-drones
lo-fi
modern-psych

table of the elements (usa) #toe 096 lp

belong “same places (slow version) (clear vinyl)” one-sided long playing record

same places (slow version) (14:16)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "same places (slow version)"

august 2008 release ; the fifth in the table of the elements “guitar series vols. 3 & 4 ...

i raved about belong’s “colorloss record” a few months back when it hit the shelves here ; this new single seals the deal. a single 14-minute build of myriad overdubbed, low-pass filter guitar ; a veritable orchestra of swelling undertones & granular haze ; just excellent.

table of the elements press release...

belong
same places (slow version)

table of the elements continues to celebrate its 15th anniversary with the fourth installment in its guitar series vols. 3 & 4. it’s a 12xlp romp of deviant fretnoise by some of experimental music’s most prominent players, including christian fennesz, thurston moore, and sunn o)))’s stephen o’malley.

wafting, vaporously, from the suffocating heat of new orleans, belong shimmers like a mirage: vaguely discernable, yet always at the edge of an unobtainable horizon. collaborators mike jones and turk dietrich employ a singular and remarkably inscrutable studio technique (dietrich’s remix skills extend to nine inch nails’ “the frail”) to wholly liquefy source material – here electric guitars – into wave upon breaking wave of sound. comparisons are frequently made to william basinski’s notorious “disintegration loops,” and both efforts speak to intimate loss experienced on an epic, collective, and horrific scale: 9/11 and katrina, respectively. but while basinski’s self-destructing loops articulate a one-way road to oblivion, belong’s music is not only degenerative, it’s regenerative.

with “same places (slow version),” belong evinces a slow-motion transformation – plate tectonics, wired for sound. aural mountains melt into seas; yet icy barrens yield to breathing jungles of detail. the single, sprawling track may evoke decay, dissolution and destruction, but underfoot are tendrils of inexplicable joy. belong sings a lullaby of obliteration, and the paradox it embodies would make both kevin shields and tony conrad proud: crushing melancholia and shuddering euphoria, inexorably intertwined.

$16.38

back in stock as of
october 28th, 2008

first in stock on
july 17th, 2008

threads:
guitar-themed
minimalism-drones
electro-acoustic-composition

table of the elements (usa) #toe 095c lp

oren ambarchi “a final kiss on poisoned cheeks (blue vinyl)” one-sided long playing record

a final kiss on poisoned cheeks (20:21)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "a final kiss on poisoned cheeks"

july 2008 release ; baby-blue vinyl version of the fourth in the table of the elements “guitar series vols. 3 & 4” from oren ambarchi ...

a single 20+ minute drone-burner, with oren’s trademark deep sine-tone throb cut with walls of pedal-sourced telemetry-noises, granular haze, and (at the end there) deep, slightly o/t bells & chimes yielding a thick wall of continuous sound ...

easily the best of the half-dozen in the series thusfar. highly recommended !!!

table of the elements press release...

oren ambarchi
a final kiss on poisoned cheeks

table of the elements continues to celebrate its 15th anniversary with the fourth installment in its guitar series vols. 3 & 4. it’s a 12xlp romp of deviant fretnoise by some of experimental music’s most prominent players, including christian fennesz, thurston moore, and sunn o)))’s stephen o’malley.

there is a vivid breadth to the guitar deconstructions of australian oren ambarchi. sometimes his work takes a delicate lilt; it can also dive into dark and deep pools of sound when he joins cowl-core ensembles sunn o))) (with stephen o’malley) and burial chamber trio (with greg anderson). whether with those bands, solo, or in collaboration with luminaries ranging from mike patton and john zorn to christian fennesz, he consistently reroutes his instrument into zones of arch, alien abstraction.

a final kiss on poisoned cheeks offers a dizzying gaze straight into a chasm of extreme frequencies – paint-peelingly high and bowel-churningly low – all set atop a sub-strata of menace, angst, and contemplative beauty.

$16.38

back in stock as of
october 28th, 2008

first in stock on
july 30th, 2008

threads:
guitar-themed
minimalism-drones
electro-acoustic-composition

table of the elements (usa) #toe 095 lp

oren ambarchi “a final kiss on poisoned cheeks (clear vinyl)” one-sided long playing record

a final kiss on poisoned cheeks (20:21)

click the play button to hear an excerpt of "a final kiss on poisoned cheeks"

july 2008 release ; clear vinyl version of the fourth in the table of the elements “guitar series vols. 3 & 4” from oren ambarchi ...

a single 20+ minute drone-burner, with oren’s trademark deep sine-tone throb cut with walls of pedal-sourced telemetry-noises, granular haze, and (at the end there) deep, slightly o/t bells & chimes yielding a thick wall of continuous sound ...

easily the best of the half-dozen in the series thusfar. highly recommended !!!

table of the elements press release...