An image from Robert Longo's Pictures for Music (1979), which will be played alongside Rhys Chatham's Guitar Trio...

Since 1993 the record label Table of the Elements has staked its claim on a massive enterprise, intending nothing less than to rewrite the history of American music in the second half of the 20th century, and beyond. Its projects have focused on musicians whose light shimmers outside the frames of convention, and comprise a vital contemporary archive of experimental, minimalist, improvised and outsider musics.

The Table of The Elements is caling it quits after eighteen years, and will go out with the three-day Copernicum Festival at Issue Project Room that kicks off tonight (5/12). Electric harpist Zeena Parkins, M2 (improv duo made up of Mission of Burma's Roger Miller and brother Ben Miller), Agathe Max, and electronic musician Ateleia will round out the first night entitled "TotE from A - Z". Tickets are still available. Agathe Max will perform selections from the silver string, which is due on Table of the Elements in September.

Friday night (5/13), " Free/Not Free" night, will honor Rhys Chatham's 1977 opus Guitar Trio with projections by Robert Longo and a performance from The Lords of Tinnitus (Robert Longo, Jonathan Kane, Robert Poss, Ernie Brooks, Zach Layton, Adam Wills, Colin Langenus, Bill Brovold). Text Of Light (featuring William Hooker, Alan Licht, Nels Cline), Jon Mueller, and Peg Simone round out the lineup. Tickets are still available.

Finally, the Table of The Elements wraps up their celebration on Saturday, "Drone x 4" night, with the previously discussed Stephen O'Malley solo show with Jonathan Kane's February, a Tony Conrad / Gastr Del Sol performance film, and Igor Cubrilovic. Tickets are still available.

R.I.P. to Table Of The Elements, but at least they're going out with a bang.

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In related news, Zeena Parkins is also on board for the upcoming Undead Jazz Festival as part of Zeena Parkins and The Adorables.

Roger Miller also has a show coming up as part of the Alloy Orchestra who will "perform its original live score to the newly restored version of Fritz Lang's Metropolis" in Prospect Park this summer.

Stephen O'Malley also has a show coming up in Pennsylvania.

The Table of the Elements fest lineup in list format, below...

Continue reading "the final Table of the Elements Festival is this week @ IPR, Alloy Orchestra plays Prospect Park this summer"

The National show in Prospect Park (more by Amanda Hatfield)

We already knew that 'Celebrate Brooklyn' is hosting an impressive lineup of ticketed Prospect Park Bandshell shows this summer: The Decemberists, Animal Collective, Sufjan Stevens, Bon Iver & Cut Copy. And we knew that the 33rd annual series of free shows would start with an Andrew Bird show on June 10th, and that BRIC is also hosting three free 'dance parties' in Brooklyn Bridge Park this summer too.

Now the entire 2011 lineup of "24 free performances, including 20 music concerts, two dance performances, two film screenings with live music, and a family concert" is here! You can check it all out (The Feelies, Real Estate, The Books, Junip, Doveman, Justin Townes Earle, Punch Brothers, Raekwon, Oumou Sangaré, Times New Viking, Ra Ra Riot, Delicate Steve, Buke & Gass and Hal Willner included), below...

Continue reading "Celebrate Brooklyn - complete 2011 Prospect Park show lineup"

by Chris Gersbeck

Roger Miller (Mission of Burma) @ Maxwell's (more)

"Of all the punk-inspired bands that came out of Boston in the early 80s, none were better than Mission of Burma. Arty without being too pretentious, capable of writing gripping songs and playing with ferocious intensity, guitarist Roger Miller, bassist Clint Conley, drummer Peter Prescott, and tape head Martin Swope galvanized the city's alternative rock scene, and despite a too-short existence, set a standard for excellence that has rarely been equalled -- a standard the band upheld when they unexpectedly reunited in 2002." [AllMusic]

Mission of Burma has two announced shows coming up in the near future. On January 28 you can catch them at Maxwell's in Hoboken with Grandfather (tickets). On January 29 they hit the Bell House with Buke and Gass (tickets). A few days later Roger will be back for three more NYC shows with his less-punk trio Alloy Orchestra.

BV photographer and writer Chris Gersbeck caught up with Roger on the phone on Monday. Here's what they talked about...

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Chris: How are you doing?

Roger: Pretty good, I'm in Vermont, I'm kind of in a mountainous area which is why my cell phone doesn't work.

We're excited to talk to you, thanks for doing this. Last time I saw you guys you were opening for Yo La Tengo for one of their Hanukah shows.

[laughs] That was pretty out of control.

How did that come about, I know the connection with Clint producing their debut, but do you all still keep in touch?

Yeah, we're friendly with them, we've played festivals with them and shows. There's a few bands around that I consider to be kind of like us in the sense that they started a long time ago and they still exist. You know, they aren't a new band, but they're still a band, they're a band of veterans that people respect and to some degree Burma is like that. Sonic Youth, Shellac, these are kind of people that are similar to us in my mind. Wire.

continued below...

Continue reading "interview w/ Roger Miller (Mission of Burma, Alloy Orchestra)"

Alloy Orchestra - Terry Donahue, Ken Winokur, Roger Miller

ALLOY ORCHESTRA is a three man musical ensemble, writing and performing live accompaniment to classic silent films. Working with an outrageous assemblage of peculiar objects, they thrash and grind soulful music from unlikely sources.

Performing at prestigious film festivals and cultural centers in the US and abroad (The Telluride Film Festival, The Louvre, Lincoln Center, The Academy of Motion Pictures, the National Gallery of Art and others), Alloy has helped revive some of the great masterpieces of the silent era.

An unusual combination of found percussion and state-of-the-art electronics gives the Orchestra the ability to create any sound imaginable. Utilizing their famous "rack of junk" and electronic synthesizers, the group generates beautiful music in a spectacular variety of styles. They can conjure up a French symphony or a simple German bar band of the 20's. The group can make the audience think it is being attacked by tigers, contacted by radio signals from Mars or swept up in the Russian Revolution.

Alloy collaborates with some of the worlds best archives and collectors (such as the George Eastman House, The British Film Institute, Paramount pictures, Film Preservation Associates and The Douris Corporation) to present audiences with the very best available prints of some of history's greatest film.

Mission of Burma's Roger Miller has been a member of the Alloy Orchestra since 1999, when he replaced original member Caleb Sampson who took his own life. Between the reincarnated Mission of Burma, Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, Alloy, the occasional guitar lesson and other projects, Roger keeps busy.

Mission of Burma are playing twice in NYC at the end of January. Alloy Orchestra are playing three free NYC shows in February. More details below...

Continue reading "Alloy Orchestra playing 3 free shows w/ silent movies in Feb."