Text of Light
052402 echo 4
Lanthanides Series
2004

Table of the Elements
[Dysprosium] SWC-LP-66
Phono LP, silkscreen, luminous ink
Image: Harry Smith
Christmas Ornament
c. 1978
Courtesy Harry Smith Archives

The visionary ensemble Text of Light extends free improvisational experiments into an intermedia environment; the result in is a new chapter in the annals of free improvisation and mixed media.

The all-star members first gathered in 1999 to perform music to the films of Stan Brakhage and other members of the American Cinema avant garde of the 1950s-’60s Brakhage's film Text of Light was the premiere performance and namesake of the group, whose original premise was to improvise to (rather than "illustrate") works from this under-known era of personal expression and breathtaking visual poetry.

The group features Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) and Alan Licht (guitars/devices), Christian Marclay and DJ Olive (turntables), William Hooker (drums/percussion), Ulrich Krieger (sax/electronics), and most recently Tim Barnes (drums/percussion). To date the group has performed with the following films: Brakhage's Text of Light, Dog Star Man, Anticipation of the Night and Songs; Harry Smith's Mahagonny outtakes, Oz: The Approach to the Emerald City, and Late Superimpositions.

This beautifully packaged LP is the group's first commercial release, and features original artwork by the late, great filmmaker, magician and alchemist, Harry Smith.

“The new 'Text of Light' quintet with Lee Ranaldo and Alan Licht on guitars, DJ Olive on turntable/sampler and Ulrich Krieger on sax accompanied films by Stan Brakhage, which were very strange and constantly in motion. Their sonic soundscapes fit Brakhage's films with a well seasoned and well placed stew of restrained, yet occasionally explosive results."

Downtown Music Gallery

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.”

—Pitchfork

“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, Jeff Hunt 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.”

—Thomas Peake, 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 ©1992–2025 Table of the Elements ®2025 Table of the Elements Ltd. 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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