Altered Zones

If you've haven't heard of the intrepid American record label Table Of The Elements, they've been turning out artfully packaged releases from some of the most illustrious names in experimental, improvised, and out music-- past and present-- for about two decades now. (Think: John Cale and Captain Beefheart, Tony Conrad and La Monte Young, but also Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo, Rhys Chatham, Derek Bailey, Pauline Oliveros, Fennesz, and the late Jack Rose). 18 years and some 115 releases after its founding by artistic director Jeff Hunt, in 1993, the Radium-affiliate has announced that it is finally shuttering its doors. Don't worry, nothing awful happened; one of the label's particularities was to "number" its releases using symbols from the periodic table, and they've simply run out of elements. To celebrate the project's successful completion, Radium has enlisted TotE recording artist and frequent Rhys Chatham collaborator Jonathan Kane to curate three nights of music at Brooklyn's Issue Project Room next month -- including a performance of Chatham's seminal 1977 composition, Guitar Trio, with projections by Robert Longo. --Emilie Friedlander, Altered Zones

Browse the TotE catalogue over at Forced Exposure. Concert details after the jump

Thursday May 12 - TotE from A -Z
Zeena Parkins
Roger Miller and Ben Miller - M2
Agathe Max
Atelia

Friday May 13 - Free/Not Free
Guitar Trio with projections by Robert Longo
(Rhys Chatham's 1977 composition) performed by The Lords of Tinnitus - Robert Longo, Jonathan Kane, Robert Poss, Ernie Brooks, Zach Layton, Adam Wills, Colin Langenus, Bill Brovold
Text Of Light - William Hooker, Alan Licht, Nels Cline
Jon Mueller
Peg Simone

Saturday May 14 - Drone x 4
Stephen O'Malley
Jonathan Kane's February
Tony Conrad (performance film)
Igor Cubrilovic

With films by Tyler Hubby