Devotion
Lanthanides Series
2004
Table of the Elements
[Lutetium] SWC-LP-71
Phono LP, silkscreen
“Effortlessly switching between serrated noise and controlled feedback outbursts to delicate extended harp improvisations, Zeena Parkins's solo performance is a stunning display of her extraordinary talents."
All Music Guide
“Zeena Parkins is my favorite living harpist ... the kucks of sonic gristle that she pulls from it are dandy as jack. A truly ginchy exploration of forgotten string potential."
Spin
“There's great fixity and coherence to the mini-essays she develops. In the end, it's classical NYC avant garde—garrulous, multi-faceted, ironic and open."
The Wire
RADIO/GUITAR
Thrum
Lanthanides Series
2004
Table of the Elements
[Holmium] SWC-LP-67
Phono LP, silkscreen
PAULINE OLIVEROS
A Little Noise In the System
Lanthanides Series
2004
Table of the Elements
[Thulium] SWC-LP-69
Phono LP, silkscreen
ZEENA PARKINS
Devotion
Lanthanides Series
2004
Table of the Elements
[Lutetium] SWC-LP-71
Phono LP, silkscreen
The Harp Factory on Lake Street
1994
Table of the Elements
[Potassium] TOE-CD-19
Laser-etched compact disc, poster
“Hyperactives David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke break further out with an entertaining coup d'etat on the rock group format. Uproarious orchestral massifs level out into a Nick Drake-style interlude of lyricism knocked cleverly and chromatically askew from its harmonic center; the baroque and introspective middle section for guitar and piano hangs together as beautifully as a well-crafted mobile. This is ample testament to the growing critical belief that in O’Rourke’s case, you can never have too much of a good thing."
The Wire
“Gastr del Sol's musical universe is filled with juxtapositions; for years Grubbs and O'Rourke have constantly futzed with the musical boundaries of the hybrid genre of 'innovation,' one they seem to spontaneously reinvent."
Artforum
Un Peu de Neige Salie
1997
Table of the Elements
[Gallium] TOE-CD-31
Compact disc, six-panel insert, foil stamps
"100 Recordings That Changed the World"
The Wire
Un Peu de Neige Salie
1997
Table of the Elements
[Gallium] TOE-CD-31
Compact disc, six-panel insert, foil stamps
"Radical and pertinent at every level ... a pure miracle."
Revue et Corrigée
Rare Earth
Lanthanides Series
2004
Table of the Elements
[Ytterbium] SWC-LP-70
Phono LP, silkscreen
"LaDonna Smith has been doing improv for almost 30 years. A virtuoso violinist, teacher, and co-founder of The Improvisor ("the international journal of free improvisation"), she is the image of feminine empowerment, the female criminal in pursuit of the ecstatic, potent, subversive and transcendent ... She just drops the sonic block on you while she plays. Her eye is your storm."
Perfect Sound Forever
Daxophone
1993
Table of the Elements
[Beryllium] TOE-SS-4
7" single
"The daxophone is completely a Reichel creation, and it is as much a masterwork in carpentry as it is an instrument. A block of wood (the "dax") changes the vibration frequency of a wooden blade inside another block with contact microphones. Whether plucked or bowed, these different shapes of wood create extraordinary sounds, many of which sound strangely human. Reichel, ever the tinkerer, has built a number of his own instruments, though none of them speak to awesomeness quite like the daxophone."
National Public Radio
Basic
1998
Table of the Elements
[Molybdenum] TOE-CD-42
Compact disc, mylar inserts, silkscreen
“To CM von Hausswolff, sound is not a graceful category of formal expression, but a way of creating conscious activity and contact, and to determine the direction in which they develop. For him, sound is a way of stating your position and making it influence others, a way to declare something, perhaps the existence of an unknown phenomenon, and at the same time ironically to demystify it."
SIKSI, The Nordic Art Review
The Dew Line
1994
Table of the Elements
[Titanium] TOE-CD-22
Compact disc
"As a guitarist, Michael Morley undertakes a leap of faith similar to that of rugged individualists Keiji Haino and Borbetomagus' Donald Miller, restoring devotion to his archaic instrument's electric threat through the organic mutilation of volume and lethal distortion. A low-tech delay-pedal-as-phantom-turbine is his most ubiquitous processor; an analogue synth vibrates oblique planes of sound; songs become dust, dispersed by the mercurial rhythms of undulating mirages."
The Wire
The Monolake
1996
Table of the Elements
[Krypton] TOE-CD-36
Compact disc
"Napalms the entire history of rock."
Blow-Up
MMMR
1997
Xeric
XER-CD-99
Compact disc
"This is great improvised music. It is beautiful and complex and, most importantly, it breathes. As good and as moving as anything you'll hear this year."
John Fahey
MMMR
1997
Xeric
XER-CD-99
Compact disc
"This is great improvised music. It is beautiful and complex and, most importantly, it breathes. As good and as moving as anything you'll hear this year."
John Fahey
The Harp Factory on Lake Street
1994
Table of the Elements
[Potassium] TOE-CD-19
Laser-etched compact disc
"Gastr del Sol's musical universe is filled with juxtapositions; for years Grubbs and O'Rourke have constantly futzed with the musical boundaries of the hybrid genre of 'innovation,' one they seem to spontaneously reinvent."
Artforum
Nefertiti, The Beautiful One Has Come:
Live at the Cafe Montmartre, 1962
1997
Revenant
No. 202
2x compact discs, custom enclosure
“So, why get so worked up about a Cecil Taylor reissue? Well, my friends, this is not just any Cecil Taylor reissue. When this recording first found its way onto vinyl, Nefertiti unequivocally documented this trio’s emergence as the preeminent ‘new thing’ ensemble anywhere, period. Even though the regulars at the Monmartre were commonly treated to late night sessions with Ayler, Monk, Coltrane and Miles, this trio opened up doors that haven’t closed since. This was Taylor’s first release to declare that he was unquestionably committed to taking his music well beyond the contemporary jazz orthodoxy he exceeded with his 1959 debut release, Jazz Advance. Nefertiti literally finds Taylor, Lyons, and Murray on fire. Taylor’s indefatigable buffeting is matched step by step by Jimmy Lyons’ screaming alto and Sunny Murray’s unrelenting percussion barrage. There’s a certain elevated pathos between Cecil and Sunny that drives the music ever forward. The two feed off of each other’s energy to continually raise the group’s momentum to higher and higher levels. In contrast, Lyons’ horn almost acts as a necessary counterbalance to Taylor and Murray’s rhythmic propulsion; tempering the trio’s music with a somewhat less frenzied color and cadence. It’s amazing how Lyons appears to blow a string of notes so effortlessly, when for all intents and purposes, the man is dancing atop an active volcano. With as much frenetic energy as this music exudes, it also possesses a certain lyricism and abstract tranquillity (cf. ‘Call’). Moving beyond the musical holism embraced by Ellington, Monk, and Tristano, Cecil Taylor saw (and still does see) music as existing on meta-scales far beyond the individual notes and chords of which it is comprised. (Now when was it that Ayler said, “It’s not about notes anymore”?) We are indeed fortunate to be able to once again listen to ‘the sound of jazz to come’ as it was recorded on that momentous evening, because on the morning of 24 November 1962, the world was forever a different place.”
Mike Trouchon
Music and Dance
1997
Revenant
No. 201
Compact disc, custom enclosure
“I have always thought of Derek as a musician whose work has been based on the consistent belief that music is a constantly evolving and mutating language, an open-form able to accommodate all life that surrounds it. Music and Dance is another spellbinding performance, not diminished one iota by the passage of time, or the transfer to a new medium; in fact, the music's unutterably alien qualities are enhanced by the abstraction of home listening. But once again, what comes across most strongly is the feeling of advanced intelligences searching for a common language in which to communicate across the vast distances of time, space, culture and geography."
Tony Harrington, Publisher, The Wire
Earliest Recordings:
The Complete Rich-R-Tone 78s (1947-1952)
1997
Revenant
No. 203
Compact disc, custom enclosure
“Collects 14 ancient sides by these protean explorers of the hot, sad art of bluegrass, complete with an extremely well-researched book that appeals to the Greil Marcus inside us all.”
Spin
“5 Stars. Along with the Dock Boggs set, one of two absolutely stunning early country collections from Revenant.”
Downbeat
Earliest Recordings:
The Complete Rich-R-Tone 78s (1947-1952)
1997
Revenant
No. 203
Compact disc, custom enclosure
“This is the first time these titles have appeared on CD, and the first time without technical tampering of any kind. The improvement in remastering technology over the past three decades is truly remarkable. As never before we now are hearing these songs in all their exquisite beauty, just as they were originally sung and played. The enclosed booklet, with period photographs, text, and discography written by Gary Reid, makes an already wonderful reissue all the more enjoyable.This is pure, unadulterated, way-up-the-creek high-lonesome bluegrass‚ the lonesomest you are ever going to hear in this life. This set should be required listening – again and again – especially for those just getting started who think they already can sing bluegrass.”
Bluegrass Unlimited
American Primitive Vol. 1
Raw Pre-War Gospel (1926-1936)
1997
Revenant
No. 206
Compact disc, custom enclosure
“26 tracks of uncut religious fervor, clearly selected for maximum intensity”
Downbeat Magazine
American Primitive Vol. 1
Raw Pre-War Gospel (1926-1936)
1997
Revenant
No. 206
Compact disc, custom enclosure
“Best Records of 1997: #1 Gospel Release”
Tower Pulse
American Primitive Vol. 1
Raw Pre-War Gospel (1926-1936)
1997
Revenant
No. 206
Compact disc, custom enclosure
“Diabolically great.”
Playboy
All photography in this gallery: Bradly Brown
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