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“Maybe I should have bought the other cd where everyone is holding their Mao books …a total rip off.”
Amazon Customer Review

“Behold rock energy mobilized against nostalgia!”

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Presocratics
Pure Capitalism
1998

edition [ . . . ]
Table of the Elements
[Indium] TOE-SS-49/edition i
7”single, custom die-cut jacket and sleeve, handwritten insert, mylar

If Gastr del Sol were Led Zeppelin, then Presocratics are Black Sabbath. Or, in even more meaningless terms: If Gastr del Sol were Nathaniel Hawthorne and the sophisticated moralism of his age, then Presocratics are the autodidactic posturing of Edgar Allan Poe.

Limited pressing of 200, with red labels, red vinyl, a red die-cut sleeve from Independent Project Press, and a clear, hand-lettered insert; a joint release with the edition [...] label.

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Presocratics
Works and Days
2000

Table of the Elements
[Hafnium] TOE-CD-72
Compact disc

Presocratics baffling debut CD is best described as electro-acoustic agit-prop. Works and Days is an audacious cross between the old-school tape manipulations of Bernard Parmegiani and the wry politics of Red Krayola circa Corrected Slogans; it culminates with a faithful, lovingly orchestrated version of the Mercer/Mancini classic, “Moon River.”

“Presocratics present minimalism at its most complex. From the droning onset of "Radio Esplanade" to the haunting vocalizations of "Self-Evident" and delicate digi-skronks of "One Step Back", Windham and Philpot have provided an insightful look at the friction that occurs when digital technology butts heads with analog recordings. As the grinding emptiness of "Radio Co-Worker" gives way to the lush piano and violin in a rendition of Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini's 1961 classic "Moon River", Presocratics takes a final glimpse into its past while diving headlong into its future, making Works and Days as progressive as it is introspective."
Alternative Press

“We were not prepared for this. From the stable of one of the most respected experimental music labels around charges this mythical, unexplainable record. There are slight references, one direct relative in in all those fragile Gastr del Sol records, but for the most part this is a new beast ... Electro-acoustic pop for reckless dreamers. Beautiful."
Popstocker

“Glorious ... a coruscating river of electronic sound that sits somewhere between metal machine Lou Reed and Kraftwerk, while having a simplicity and bright energy that neither would have achieved. At its midpoint, while irregular, churning pulsations mutate into great glistening blades of sound, it becomes a tremendous and gorgeous aural experience."
The Wire

“Formidable avant-rock."
Art Papers

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Presocratics
Presocratics Serve Imperialism
2001

Table of the Elements
[Platinum] TOE-CD-78
Compact disc 

“The body politic, as well as the human body, begins to die as soon as it is born, and carries in itself the causes of its destruction."
Rousseau, 1762 The Social Contract

“Dead men's opinions in all things control the living..."
Nathaniel Hawthorne

Presocratics Serve Imperialism is the latest dispatch from the doubted underclass intelligentsia. Here, Presocratics employ consumer and post-consumer goods to interrogate history and insomnia in their bid to wrest philosophy from professional academia and the class system it supports, thereby returning it to the people (in general, and those people who pay for CDs with only 20 minutes of music in particular). This EP starts by wrapping vocals and instrumentation around recycled heavy metal (“Nestor Mahkno Discovers America”) and climaxes with the society debut of “The Break-Even Point,” the most breathtaking ballad ever to grace the electro-acoustic stage. Behold rock energy mobilized against nostalgia!

”The interesting album design, the group name and the quotes from Heraclitus and Rousseau made me assume that these guys would at least be interesting. I was wrong. For many long stretches of the cd you can't even hear anything, then there is some static, then some acoustic guitar and mumbling, then nothing, then a little more static, then a cover of ‘Moon River’ comes blasting on. That's it. Maybe I should have bought the other cd where everyone is holding their Mao books.

"I just don't get it. It makes me nauseous, in a way I haven't felt from listening to a cd since I bought the first Storm & Stress album because it had neat album art as well. (I knew this was ‘experimental’ coming into it, I just don't follow the experiment.)"

Amazon Customer Review
1.0 out of 5 stars
a total rip off
March 30, 2002

OWN THE ARCHIVE

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.

~~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

All contents ©1992–2024 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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