A complete list of 2008 releases from the storied experimental recording label Table of the Elements — Table of the Elements

2008

COLLECTIONS OF COLONIES OF BEES
SIX GUITARS
GUITAR SERIES VOL. III
2008

Table of the Elements
[Uranium] TOE-LP-92
Phono LP, laser etching
Illustration by Savage Pencil

ATELEIA AND BENJAMIN CURTIS
BAGHDAD BATTERIE
GUITAR SERIES VOL. III
2008

Table of the Elements
[Neptunium] TOE-LP-93
Phono LP, laser etching
Illustration by Savage Pencil

JON MUELLER
STRUNG
GUITAR SERIES VOL. III
2008

Table of the Elements
[Plutonium] TOE-LP-94
Phono LP, laser etching
Illustration by Savage Pencil

OREN AMBARCHI
A FINAL KISS ON POISONED CHEEKS
GUITAR SERIES VOL. III
2008

Table of the Elements
[Americium] TOE-LP-95
Phono LP, laser etching
Illustration by Savage Pencil

BELONG
SAME PLACES (SLOW VERSION)
GUITAR SERIES VOL. III
2008

Table of the Elements
[Curium] TOE-LP-96
Phono LP, laser etching
Illustration by Savage Pencil

LEE RANALDO
COUNTLESS CENTURIES FLED INTO THE DISTANCE LIKE SO MANY STORMS
GUITAR SERIES VOL. III
2008

Table of the Elements
[Berkelium] TOE-LP-97
Phono LP, laser etching
Illustration by Savage Pencil

ANDREW BURNES
TELESCOPE
GUITAR SERIES VOL. IV
2008

Table of the Elements
[Californium] TOE-LP-98
Phono LP, laser etching
Illustration by Savage Pencil

DAVID DANIELL
I/IV/V/I
GUITAR SERIES VOL. IV
2008

Table of the Elements
[Einsteinium] TOE-LP-99
Phono LP, laser etching
Illustration by Savage Pencil

FENNESZ
JUNE
GUITAR SERIES VOL. IV
2008

Table of the Elements
[Fermium] TOE-LP-100
Phono LP, laser etching
Illustration by Savage Pencil

JON MUELLER
METALS
2008

Table of the Elements
[Hassium] TOE-CD-108
Compact disc

COLLECTIONS OF COLONIES OF BEES
BIRDS
2008

Radium/Table of the Elements
TOE-CD-810
Compact disc

NEPTUNE
GONG LAKE
2008

Radium/Table of the Elements
TOE-CD-811
Compact disc

NEPTUNE
GONG LAKE
2008

Radium/Table of the Elements
TOE-LP-811
Phono LP

RHYS CHATHAM
JONATHAN KANE’S FEBRUARY
MEGAFAUN
PAUL DUNCAN
COLLECTIONS OF COLONIES OF BEES
NEPTUNE
ATELEIA
SCHOOL OF SEVEN BELLS
+
BELONG
MELISSA ST. PIERRE
(JAPAN)
IMPALA EARDRUMS: A RADIUM SAMPLER
2008

Radium/Table of the Elements
TOE-CD/LP-812
Compact disc, video, poster; phono LP, 2x posters
Artwork by Bradly Brown and Jeff Hunt

RHYS CHATHAM & HIS GUITAR TRIO ALL STARS
“GUITAR TRIO IS MY LIFE!”
2008

Radium/Table of the Elements
TOE-CD-813
3x compact discs, 64-page book

MELISSA ST. PIERRE
SPECIMENS
2008

Radium/Table of the Elements
TOE-CD-814
Compact disc and video
Video by Bradly Brown and Jeff Hunt

MEGAFAUN
BURY THE SQUARE
2008

Radium/Table of the Elements
TOE-CD-815
Compact disc
Artwork by Bradly Brown

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AGATHE MAX
THIS SILVER STRING
2008

Xeric
XER-CD-115
Compact disc

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JON MUELLER/JASON KAHN
TOPOGRAPHY
2008

Xeric
XER-CD-116
Compact disc, debossed enclosure

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OWN THE ARCHIVE

(Posted by Within Things, May 18, 2023)

From 1993, US recording label Table of the Elements has staked its claim on a massive enterprise. It intends nothing less than to rewrite the history of American music in the second half of the 20th century. The label’s 150-plus releases are a vital contemporary chronicle, a survey of meaningful eruptions across a broad horizon of improvised, experimental, minimal and outsider sounds.

The label’s carefully cultivated archive now contains over 15,000 CDs and LPs, an impossible quantity to logistically or financially maintain. Rather than “recycle” the majority of these modern sound and design artifacts, Table of the Elements is making them available to the public via Within Things.

From rich bundles of obscure recordings, exclusive printed material, and limited quantity “holy grails,” Within Things is excited to help connect this important archive to the public. We’re very honored to collaborate with a label that helped define a path and inspire what we do, long before our store even existed.

Click the image above to be taken directly to the Table of the Elements section on our site, and stay posted for the announcement of limited offerings via our newsletter.

~~o0o~~

"The supremacy of Table of the Elements as an unwavering outpost of ultra-experimental strains can be attributed to its concomitant adherence to valiance. Most of the Table of the Elements catalog has no broad commercial appeal, and many of its projects are risky ventures, even with respect to the experimental marketplace. Yet, this philosophy of risk works because everybody associated with the label feels like they're doing important work releasing important records, and they're willing to go for broke to make it happen.”

—Pitchfork

"The music made and cultivated by such artists as Tony Conrad, Captain Beefheart, John Fahey, Cecil Taylor, Rhys Chatham, Charlie Feathers, Dock Boggs, Jim O’Rourke, Faust, Derek Bailey, Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, Keiji Haino, Arnold Dreyblatt, Charley Patton, Harry Smith, and scores more, is at once among the most radical and deeply rooted of the 20th century, transcending time and place through the agency of the vibrating string, the resonance of the drone, the terrifying beauty of electric amplification, the hypnotic power of repetition, and the revelatory genius of cranky individualism.

"How does someone begin to represent that in a visual manner? The trick involves some old-fashioned alchemy. Everyday commodity has to be constructed as both miniature museum and theater. No longer a mere object, it now becomes a site in which one can endlessly indulge a sense of wonder, love and, yes, obsession. It’s not often that someone can cast an influence on a broader design aesthetic — think Blue Note in the 1960s, with its hip Reid Miles album covers — but as this sizable body of work took shape, that’s exactly what happened.”

—Steve Dollar

“The hallmarks of this New Archivism [are] beautiful and innovative packaging, elaborate and idiosyncratic liner notes, rare and obscure recordings ... Working with graphic designers such as the Grammy-winning Susan Archie, [the label] produced a collection that combines varied textures, lavish finishes, and period details with art from the era of the original source recordings. Their treatment of Robert Longo’s late 1970s photographs for Rhys Chatham’s releases could, for instance, measure up to what’s on view at most contemporary art centers. In addition to its archival endeavor, TotE also releases the new work of its avant-garde heroes and their devotees. TotE’s active support of the work of sonic pioneers ensures that theirs are living traditions – not ossified museum objects.”

—Art Papers

Tony Conrad: Completely In the Present
A Film by Tyler Hubby

"Hubby's film captures Conrad in all his facets ... broadly as a man determined to make 'abstract art funny, happy, energetic, joyful.' Conrad lived long enough to see his early recordings, barely or never released, get the reissue and the attention they deserve. ... [Completely In the Present] is a sharp, sweet, eloquent documentary about the merriest, most artistically expansive minimalist on record. His work and his life asserted the importance of listening for the sounds nobody else has heard."

—Chicago Tribune

“Joyous, exhilarating, and transformative, Tyler Hubby’s documentary is essential viewing for anyone involved in the history of music and visual art.”

—Artforum

"Conrad was 100 percent badass. Without Tyler Hubby’s documentary and Table of the Elements ... one of the great stories of American music and art might have gone underappreciated.”

—Henry Rollins

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