The Tarkington Table

by Steaming Coils

The Tarkington Table cover art
  • Type: Album
  • Released: 1 January 1987
  • Label: Rotary Totem
  • Country: United States
  • Length: 37:15
  • Community rating: 3.6/5 from 3 ratings

Artists on this release: Brad Laner, David Chrisman, James Grigsby, Lynn Johnston, Jeff Karlsen

Album Notes & Community Reviews

Emerging from the Los Angeles Free Music Society orbit, this obscure record presents a surreal, fragmented take on experimental rock. The album stitches together tape manipulation, fractured instrumentation, and eccentric zolo rhythms into a deeply unpredictable, avant-garde collage. It serves as a fascinating artifact of the 1980s DIY experimental underground, balancing absurdism with complex, avant-rock sensibilities.

Genres

Descriptors: avant-garde, eccentric, fractured, bizarre, experimental, guitars, lo-fi, improvisational

Tracklist

  1. Emergency Candle (5:39)
  2. Intents And Purposes (2:05)
  3. 4/10 (3:06)
  4. Bible Moss (3:26)
  5. Golding Operations (3:25)
  6. Forth Family (6:23)
  7. Marble (2:37)
  8. Something New Today (1:48)
  9. A Short Stop At The Coleman Lantern (2:05)
  10. Proposed Pink City (6:41)

Credits

  • Steaming Coils - primary artist
  • James Grigsby - bass, keyboards, trumpet, percussion, written-by
  • Lynn Johnston - clarinet, bass clarinet, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, oboe, percussion, written-by
  • Jeff Karlsen - guitar, synthesizer, percussion, written-by
  • Carol Hibbs - lacquer cut by
  • David Chrisman - lead vocals, keyboards, percussion, written-by
  • Kraig Grady - harmonium [microtonal], dulcimer [hammer], written-by

More from Steaming Coils: full discography