See also: Jon Mueller

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Collections of Colonies of Bees
Birds
2008

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

 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; epic minimalism in exquisite registration. Thatís saying something. In our present musical climate of smoggy lassitude, Collections of Colonies of Bees are diligently producing a sound that is dazzling—and as sweet as honey taken straight from the comb.

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Collections of Colonies of Bees
Birds (Japan Tour Edition)
2008

Radium/Table of the Elements
TOE-CD-818
Phono LP, color vinyl

This is a white-vinyl version of TOE-CD-810, pressed in a limited edition of 200 copies and only sold during the group’s 2009 tour of Japan.

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Collections of Colonies of Bees
Six Guitars
Guitar Series Vol. III
2008

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

Table of the Elements continues to celebrate its 15th anniversary with the second installment in its Guitar Series Vols. III and IV. It’s a 12x LP 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.

Collections of Colonies of Bees is an expansive sound, vast, and billowing; full of ringing guitars; soaring in the best traditions of the Chatham/Branca standoff. Meanwhile, beneath the clouds sprawl dewy meadows of gently rolling electronica. Six Guitars is just what its title states, yet so much more. Wildly versatile drummer Jon Mueller follows the rules by hammering on an electric guitar with mallets, enhancing the Steve Reichian vibe (compare this with Mueller's face-melting solo onslaught Metals). The band sparkles accordingly, lifting to a dazzling climax. It's epic minimalism in exquisite registration, and the perfect selection to introduce the Table ff the Elements Guitar Series (fans will be happy to hear that Mueller is on deck with a solo contribution to the series as well).

Beyond the music, there's the similarly spectacular packaging. It's a one-sided, 12-inch LP, pressed on clear vinyl; the reverse is laser etched with an original illustration by acclaimed UK artist Savage Pencil, whose credits include album art for The Fall, Big Black, and Sonic Youth. It's a limited-edition pressing, so get it while you can—disks from the label's original Guitar Series in 1993/1994 are now some of Collectorville's most coveted treasures.

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Rhys Chatham
Jonathan Kane’s February
Megafaun
Paul Duncan
Collections of Colonies of Bees
Neptune
Ateleia
School of Seven Bells
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Belong
Melissa St. Pierre (Japan)
Impala Eardrums: A Radium Sampler
2008

Radium/Table of the Elements
TOE-CD-812/TOE-LP-812
Compact disc, poster, video (Japan)
Phono LP, white vinyl, 4/C labels, 2x posters

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 on CD — have one thing in common: a resolute will to march headlong into the untamed brambles and briar patches of 21st-century sound.

“Table of the Elements was established in 1993, and since then has released some of the most gorgeous looking and most aurally intriguing releases to grace the music scene. Providing a home to such artists as the hugely respected avant-garde violinist Tony Conrad, harpist Zeena Parkins, Krautrock kings Faust, Sonic Youth mainman Thurston Moore, guitar god Loren Connors, Japanese noise merchant Keiji Haino, British weird-folk lynchpin Richard Youngs and the late Derek Bailey among many, many others, it is pretty easy to see the kind of influence they have had. Fifteen years on and the label shows no signs of letting up. Without Table of the Elements the world would be a far duller place.”
Boomkat

“This philosophy of risk works because everyone 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

“Table of the Elements are fearless purveyors of the wildest stuff around.”
New York Times

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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.

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"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

All contents ©2024 Table of the Elements ®2024 Table of the Elements Archive. All Rights Reserved. Related media from the Table of the Elements Archive published courtesy the estate of Tony Conrad.

Since 1993, 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 -- and beyond. 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.

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