School of Seven Bells
Face to Face on High Places
2007

Radium/Table of the Elements
TOE-LP-807
Laser-etched phono LP

From the breathing clouds of the living mountain emerge School of Seven Bells and their dazzling 12-inch debut, Face to Face on High Places.

Benjamin Curtis, formerly of Secret Machines, leads the esoteric cabal. Heliospheric guitar invocations with that band garnered him considerable distinction, as have collaborations with Michael Rother of Neu!/Kraftwerk and U2's Bono. Alternately, the rhythm rises from the underground; bassist James Elilott records ambient electronica as the critically acclaimed Ateleia, while the guitar armies of minimalist legend Rhys Chatham march to drummer Joe Stickney's beat. At the center are twin sisters Alejandra and Claudia Deheza. Their achievements with On! Air! Library! are substantial; multi-instrumentalist Claudia has also worked extensively with Prefuse 73 and A Cloud Mireya. Together, their celestial vocal arrangements and lush, transcendental songsmithing cast the irresistibly intense psychomagical spell that illuminates School of Seven Bells.

Face to Face on High Places is a dizzying whorl—from the pounding ecstasies of the title track, to the mystic lyricism and lucid dreamscaping of "s.Ada.Licht" and the mesmeric groove of "Limb By Limb." Luminous voices beckon from the far side of a mirage; whispered electronic infernos are swept away by raging torrents of percussion.

Submit to School of Seven Bells, and then ascend atop a thousand cyclones to a plain of infinite bliss.

CLEAR, LASER-ETCHED 12-INCH EP; BEAUTIFULLY PACKAGED WITH METALLIC INKS; LIMITED-EDITION VINYL-ONLY RELEASE

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-812/TOE-LP-812
Compact disc, poster, video
Phono LP, white vinyl, 2x posters

Ateleia and Benjamin Curtis
Baghdad Batterie
Guitar Series Vol. III
2008

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

A Conduit for History Exploding in the Present Moment

TABLE OF THE ELEMENTS is a curatorial network and interdisciplinary platform, live-event presenter, and fine-arts publisher of print, audio, and film, lauded by Pitchfork Media as “a national treasure.” Since its origin as a record label in 1993, TotE has been dedicated to preserving, promoting, and promulgating works by international creators of experimental audio, electroacoustics, free-improvised performance, sonic sculpture, microtonality, and modern composition. The label’s 150-plus releases are a vital contemporary chronicle, a survey of meaningful eruptions across a broad horizon of sound and vision.  Each project demonstrates how a publishing concern might romp wild, unbridled from the carousel of convention.

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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.”

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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

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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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