Zeena Parkins
Nightmare Alley  
1993

Table of the Elements
[Hydrogen] TOE-CD-1
Compact disc

Zeena Parkins
Nightmare Alley: 10th Anniversary Edition
2004

Table of the Elements
[Hydrogen] SWC-CD-201
Compact disc, lacquer, wood case, fluorescent enclosure, dyed linen folio, metallic ink, gum adhesive, letterpress pin perforation

The leading New York avant jazz harpist has appeared on hundreds of free improvisation recordings in collaboration with artists such as Fred Frith, John Zorn, Elliott Sharp, Lee Ranaldo, and Ikue Mori, among many others. During the '80s and '90s, she pioneered the electric harp of her own design, an instrument which thrives on the rich tonalities of the traditional harp matched with the flexibility of an electric guitar. The instrument was so unique that it shaped and influenced the music she composed and improvised for it; she thus became an in-demand performer on any number of downtown avant-garde projects. Ranging from free jazz to dance and theater music, her projects are all given the signature of her unique instrument and sharp ear for improvisation. For this solo CD on Table of the Elements she presented a series of exceptional solo improvisations and compositions, some kept within shorter-song format such as the openers "Sleep" and "Empty Bottle." While "Model for a Colossal Moment" and "Peephole" stretch out into extended explorations in the seven-minute mark, most of the pieces are kept to short vignettes. Effortlessly switching between serrated noise and controlled feedback outbursts to delicate extended harp improvisations, Zeena Parkins' solo performance is a stunning display of her extraordinary talents in avant-garde and experimental music.

Dean McFarlane
AllMusic.com

Zeena Parkins
Devotion
(Lanthanides Series)
2004

Table of the Elements
[Lutetium] SWC-LP-71
Phono LP, silkscreen

Zeena Parkins
Between the Whiles
2010 

Table of the Elements
[Darmstadtium] TOE-CD-110
Compact disc

Having collaborated with artists ranging from Sonic Youth to Yoko Ono to Bjork, Zeena Parkins proves it: The classical harp is really a rock ‘n’ roll instrument. Forget angelic choirs; Zeena is the Jimi Hendrix of the amplified harp. With more soar, shimmer, screech, whine and wail than ever before, her new album, Between the Whiles, hurls wildly into oscillating soundscapes, showcasing her artistic vision and technical versatility. The sonic scope is immense, and there’s a lot to explore; dive deep, and you’ll come up with some rare and eerie treasures.

A Zeena Parkins release ushered Table of the Elements into existence in 1993 (Nightmare Alley, Hydrogen), and 17 years and 109 elements later, Between the Whiles brings the two together again. It's been so long that the element labeled on this disc, Darmstadtium, hadn't even been synthesized at the time of Nightmare Alley's release. But what Parkins brought to the table then, she still has in spades. Parkins, let's be frank, simply owns the electric harp, as the instrument's most renowned player and stretcher of boundaries. Her solo recordings, including the still electrifying No Way Back (Atavistic, 1998), are only part of her oeuvre. From the start of her career, Parkins has proven an adept collaborator and compatriot, playing with a roster of artists that stretches from Fred Frith to Hole, and most places in between. Here on Between the Whiles, Parkins cozies up with her trusty harp, a bevy of other instruments, and a collection of friends and family for the first disc to bear her name alone in over 10 years.

In Between the Whiles's liner notes, Parkins is listed as playing 12 instruments, from the harp to paper to the sound processing application Soundhack. Given the diverse array of tools, one can only wonder what the et cetera at the end of the list entails. But even if it's surrounded by numerous noisemakers and other players, the harp remains the centerpiece of Between the Whiles. Parkins' signature instrument is the focus around which other instruments swirl, or the source material for augmentation, alteration and abrasion. Even when it's recoiling from a mournful harmonica melody, like the bits of shrapnel in "Bubble," the harp is the source of the music's most intriguing sounds. She's certainly capable of boisterous brawn, but save for the caustic second half of "Vibratory," and some acrobatics toward the close of "Wire," Parkins keeps things restrained over the disc's hour-long duration. "Glass" uses pitch bending and delay to create a twinkling celestial warp, exemplar of Parkins' approach on the disc. The weird and wild are used for atmospherics rather than aggression, with the chunky distortion Parkins has used so often and to such great effect largely avoided across the album. The music is often simple in scope, however crowded the stage, even the unpredictable menagerie of "Jumping Juggling" moves in a straight line, held on course by a glittering thread at its core.

Parkins has long been a composer for dance, and the majority of Between the Whiles consists of works originally made to accompany dance pieces by Emmanuelle Vo-Dinh and John Jasperse. This is likely a large part of the reason that the album feels far more about Parkins as a composer than a player, more about the larger musical creation than the uniqueness or impressiveness of Parkins' chops. Where this falls on the scale between pleasing and disappointing is obviously up for subjective debate, but what should not be contested is the freshness and vitality that Parkins still brings to her work. Were she to play a more conventional instrument, she'd remain a formidable force in experimental music; that Zeena Parkins is still a trailblazer, changing how we hear the harp, is the icing on the cake -- and, let's be honest, sometimes the icing is the best part of the cake, no?

Adam Strohm
Dusted

Rhys Chatham (France/USA)
w/ “Die Dönnergötter” Guitar Army
+ Jonathan Kane + Ernie Brooks III
+ original artwork and projections by Robert Longo
Arnold Dreyblatt and the Orchestra of Excited Strings (Germany)
Jonathan Kane’s February (USA)
Tony Conrad (USA)
Zeena Parkins (USA)
San Agustin (USA)
Andrew Burnes/David Daniell/Thurston Moore Trio (USA)
Leif Inge (Norway) 9 Beet Stretch: 24-hour performance

Dubnium:
Table of the Elements Festival no. 3
2005

Table of the Elements
[Dubnium] TOE-105
March 15-16
2005

Central Presbyterian Church
8th and Brazos
Austin, Texas
Entry: South by Southwest festival pass
Producers: Jeff Hunt/SxSW

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.

•     •     •     •     •

"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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