Ateleia / Benjamin Curtis - Baghdad Batterie

Table of the Elements continues to celebrate its 15th anniversary with the second installment in its Guitar Series Vols. 3 & 4. It’s a 12xLP romp of deviant fretnoise by some of experimental music’s most prominent players, including Christian Fennesz, Thurston Moore, and Sunn O)))’s Stephen O’Malley. On Baghdad Batterie, Ateleia and Benjamin Curtis fuse splendidly, as perfectly synchronized audio alchemists, and when they dip their axes in a vat of liquid electronica, the transmutation is complete: thick, glistening beats throb and undulate, without a tell-tale twang in sight. Baghdad Batterie is a fabulous piece of laptop psychedelia, and certain to delight fans of Curtis and Elliott’s previous collaboration, the exhilarating School of Seven Bells EP, Face to Face on High Places. The packaging of this vinyl-only release is similarly spectacular. It’s a one-sided, 12-inch LP, pressed on clear vinyl; the reverse is laser etched with an original illustration by acclaimed UK artist Savage Pencil, whose credits include album art for The Fall, Big Black, and Sonic Youth. It’s a limited-edition pressing, so get it while you can – disks from the label’s original Guitar Series in 1993/1994 are now some of Collectorville’s must coveted treasures. “The supremacy of Table of the Elements for the past decade as an unwavering outpost of ultra-experimental strains can be attributed to its concomitant adherence to valiance. Most of the Table of the Elements catalogue has no broad commercial appeal, and many of its projects – scores for films directed by early-60s Conrad associate Jack Smith or a 3xCD box set by an unknown two-guitars-and-drums trio from Atlanta – are risky ventures, even with respect to the experimental marketplace. Yet, this philosophy of risk works because everyone 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. “Table of the Elements [are] fearless purveyors of the wildest stuff around.” KYLE GANN (NEW YORK TIMES). “A national treasure.” PITCHFORK.

TRACK LIST-1. Baghdad Batterie [13:52]

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