“Forget Christian Marclay, Martin Tetreault, Grandmaster Flash and Grand Wizard Theodore.”

 
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Tony Conrad Collection no. 25)

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Thuunderboy
Thuunderboy! 
2002

Tony Conrad’s Audio artKive/
Table of the Elements
[Osmium] TOE-CD-76
Compact disc, poster, fluorescent ink, enclosure + catalog

"What, after all, does one make of a two-year-old boy, a child who ultimately comes to be armed with two turntables and a microphone, creating a sonic collage through his instinctive abuse of a stylus and various 45 rpm vinyl recordings—including that of a popular novelty tune sung by 1970s Mormon pre-adolescent media sensation Donny Osmond? Does the resultant accumulation of scratching sounds, surface noise, and reiterations of fragmented vocal phrases—offered up in varying turntable speeds: slow, fast and juuuuust right—constitute a signal moment in the age of mechanical reproduction? Is it fair to argue that a precocious Ted, the once and future Thuunderboy, anticipated in these excursions of the early '70s everything from the rise of turntablism and hip-hop to the creative strategies of such disparate entertainers and/or conceptualists as Fatboy Slim, Christian Marclay and that erstwhile Savior of Pop (circa 1997), Beck? And if so, then what sort of volatile questions might this pose about the creative appropriation and manipulation of pre-recorded sources, about artistic intent, about the virtues of repetition and about the subversive deployment of consumer electronics in the dark and wild years before Napster? If, to paraphrase the archetypal Philistine's response to an abstract painting, a two-year-old can do it, does that diminish the accomplishment of the seasoned turntablist who has dedicated years to mastering the wheels of steel and cultivating its staccato language? Or, rather, does it affirm some unerringly democratic quality inherent in the very act of scratching and spinning, that a mere toddler could create hypnotic and deconstruct pop banalities into perversely humorous after-the-fact commentaries on the star-making machinery?

"What a splendidly infantile provocation!"

Steve Dollar, from the liner notes
Recorded and produced by Tony Conrad, 1973

"Forget Christian Marclay, Martin Tetreault, Grandmaster Flash and Grand Wizard Theodore. The true foundations of experimental turntablism have been revealed, thanks to archive recordings just released on the Table of the Elements label. Minimal master Tony Conrad has executive produced Thuunderboy!, a compilation of hitherto unreleased tracks by his son Ted, then aged 22 months, in which Conrad Jr (no doubt inspired by John Cage) deftly anticipates the use of the turntable as instrument, not to mention the current craze for bootleg pop reconstructions, as early as 1974. In a daring mash-up of hits such as Puppy Love", creates a series of hypnotic loops that deconstruct the banality of pop while simultaneously celebrating its timelessness. For the record, on a blind test, (we) could have sworn it was a new John Oswald record."
The Wire

"Thuunderboy sounds contemporary, fresh, even as it mines a vein since made familiar by twenty years of turntable scratching under rubrics of hip-hop, pop, avant-garde bricolage, you name it. Thirty years old, this record finds its groove and its age more easily now than had all those years of virtuosic manipulations not swung our way ... a surprising enlightenment."
Art Papers

"When Tony Conrad's two year old son holds aloft his magic stylus, he becomes Thuunderboy!, the most powerful DJ in the universe. Young Master Conrad's treatment of Puppy Love, and other kid-friendly classics, recalls the cut-up experiments of Terry Riley and the scratchier works of Christian Marclay ... really, some of this stuff ranks amongst the great works of turntablism."
Audible Records

"...The overall quality of these recordings, and the time period from which they hail, makes them intriguing no matter who the performer. Total genius or total put-on? Either way, this is an impressive and potentially provocative collection..."
The Yale Herald

"Top-10 'Outer Limits' Record of 2002."
The Wire

"Thuunderboy sounds contemporary, fresh, even as it mines a vein since made familiar by twenty years of turntable scratching under rubrics of hip-hop, pop, avant-garde bricolage, you name it. Thirty years old, this record finds its groove and its age more easily now than had all those years of virtuosic manipulations not swung our way ... a surprising enlightenment."
Art Papers

"When Tony Conrad's two year old son holds aloft his magic stylus, he becomes Thuunderboy!, the most powerful DJ in the universe. Young Master Conrad's treatment of Puppy Love, and other kid-friendly classics, recalls the cut-up experiments of Terry Riley and the scratchier works of Christian Marclay ... really, some of this stuff ranks amongst the great works of turntablism."
Audible Records

"...The overall quality of these recordings, and the time period from which they hail, makes them intriguing no matter who the performer. Total genius or total put-on? Either way, this is an impressive and potentially provocative collection..."
The Yale Herald

"Top-10 'Outer Limits' Record of 2002."
The Wire

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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