Six organs of Admittance?

BR: What new projects do you currently have in the works?

BC: Well, my record with Hiroyuki Usui is already done. He records as L and was recently reissued by VHF. He has been one of my favorite musicians for years and years, so it is a huge thrill and honor to make a record with him. Basically, Six Organs is just a crumpled photocopy compared to L. It's looking like Drag City will release it in August if all goes well.

Woah! I heard about this yesterday and my mind almost exploded. Usui has apparently spent the last 10 years working as a gardener and is only just getting involved w/music again. He's also apparently just recorded some good stuff with one of the guys from Zeni Geva. Awesome news for anyone else who had their brain stoved in by Holy Letters.

Also search: The Manifestation, For Octavio Paz.
The latter has a "Chasney hanging out on the porch" feel to it.
Manifestation is too hard to explain, so here's a big quote:

[i]Originally sprawling across one side of vinyl, The Manifestation is an extended raga of genre-defying madness, a dizzy melding of acoustic fingerstyle, shamanic chants, chimes, hand percussion, space jam and ghostly vocals that effectively blurs the cultural boundaries of eastern and western folk music. It is an ode to the sun, as represented by the original vinyl B-side etching. Ruminating on the sun and the galaxy, Chasny was inspired to incorporate the original artifact into a musical experiment for the reissue, one that adopts the ideas of alchemical astronomers of yore and incorporates them - quite literally. Chasny placed the original record on his turntable, B-side up, laid his stylus down on the sun etching and recorded the results. He then placed the needle down again in a different spot, and then a different one again all the way to the end. Chasny was appropriating the concept of Bode's Law, a rough rule that predicts the spacing of the planets in the solar system in relation to the perceived distance of each planet from the sun. While the stylus clicked and popped as it "played" the sun, Chasny composed music using the ancient Egyptian mode for each of the "naked eye" planets. From Mercury through Saturn, acoustic modals dance, drone and chime in its own particular key as the sun etching crackles, sounding eerily like an old pre-war 78 RPM unearthed from some alien land. As for Earth…the "center of the universe" in the Milky Way has no mode at all, no musical key to speak of. All Earth has is the human voice, and lending his most unique set of pipes for the planet Earth is David Tibet of Current 93. As the sun sizzles statically behind him, Tibet recites a spoken word piece of terrestrial imagery, lending a very haunting, cryptic feel to the otherworldly affair. The result is akin to a musical journey outward from the sun, blending shimmering acoustic guitar and the original B-side's own dissonance for an absolutely surreal listening experience.[/i]

Anyone picked up any of the Badgerlore stuff?

He wrote a list on Pitchfork today.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/features/artistlists/s/six-organs-of-admittance-05/

I'm not sure if that link will work. It's worth reading, though. Not the usual boozhie smug shit they put up, or the spoiled brat rock either. I looked up Space Shantey on AMG and got directed to a band called Khan which had Steve Hillage ca. 1972. That has nothing to do with anything except nothing associated with Pitchfork has ever before been so useful as this list of Ben Chasny's. That is all.

boo, my friend Russ played with him that night, I think.

I don't have a copy of the gig, I was just there is all.

Cool thing is, he's playing in a church when he gets to my neck of the woods.

Cool thing is, he's playing in a church when he gets to my neck of the woods.

Do you have dates anywhere Nick?

Just got back from an awesome six organs gig in glasgow, chasney playing as a duo w/ Elisa Ambrogio from Magik Markers - total boy-girl folk-noise sex-combat fun, not what i was expecting at all (sometimes I think the best gigs are when you get yr expectations confounded) - sonic youth were playing up the road and thurston and lee turned up at the end to give em both a well-deserved hug

sweet nectar!!

Yeah, they debuted (?) that combination a couple of months ago here in LA, fantastic set. Photos here.

New album Shelter From the Ash = frickin' brilliant. I swear he can't do wrong ever (and he still destroys live, every time, every single time).

yeah? better than the last one?

(i liked the last one, but it really didn't leave a lasting impression for some reason.)

The one with the drone at the end? That one was great. (and not just the drone).

that's the one. the drone track was pretty good, but the first half i didn't really dig. felt like it was time to make the donuts.

yeah The Sun Awakens is probably my least favorite of his, looking forward to this. On Drag City?

is it better than School of the Flower? that's his best, i also love The Manifestation though, but for an all in awesome album School of the Flower still feels like the most accomplished

I agree with Ned, frickin' brilliant.

"Shelter From the Ash," the song itself, is as good an end-times song as any ever recorded. And lord knows it suits the air around here.

In-store at Amoeba, Ned?

Figures I would completely miss news on that. When?

November 16th

Hmm...tempting, given our plans w/Colonel Poo and his wife the following day.

Ah yes, sir Colonel and Mrs. of Poo.

ah, the internet!

I love it all.

Totally disappointed with "Shelter From The Ash" It feels phoned in when compared to the last two.

last one felt that way to me, so not an encouraging viewpoint. Still haven't heard this.

yeah, the last one felt sort of rushed and not really there to me, too. still want to hear the new one. and i'd really like to be able to find a fucking copy of school of the flower.

12 bucks from Drag City, still in stock.

I'm liking this considerably more than Sun Awakens, esp. the title track. For those in SF they're playing at Aquarius Records on the 18th.

dust & chimes is fantastic. went to a record shop last night that had quite a few of his albums.

haven't heard the new one though

This is the first album in a long time that I've listened to over and over in a row.

it's so fukking good.

can't wait til i find a full artwork promo and/or used copy of this one!

yeah last thing you'd want is the band to see some money from it

From The Guardian Newpaper:

Folk CD

Six Organs of Admittance, Shelter From the Ash (Drag City)

David Peschek
Friday November 9, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Guitarist Ben Chasny, lynchpin of Six Organs, is the darling of the underground, and has played with Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Current 93 and others. He is a supremely gifted musician. And it's possible that Shelter From the Ash, the first of Chasny's own records to find its way to these ears, may not be his best. But it's hard to fight the feeling that what you're listening to is not pushing forward the boundaries of music but instead resembles a kind of acid-folk Spinal Tap for hipsters. Although there are moments of striking beauty here, the guitar sounds become repetitive, and Chasny's vocal is not particularly convincing. There is a cumulative, stoned appeal, but also a worrying feeling that Chasny is too conscious of how, like, cosmic his playing is, without the chromatic sophistication to back it up. 2/5

That Spinal Tap reference is particularly galling! Cheeky b@stard.

wtf @ "chromatic sophistication". that shit ain't jazz, motherfucker.

I am going to play this record right now.

yeah last thing you'd want is the band to see some money from it

hmm let's see, i can buy it used for about $3 or brand new and a couple weeks earlier for $13.99, which one am i gonna choose here? anyway i like the guy, seen him on tour a couple times before and will do so again, and he'll make some money that way. i'm a college student about to graduate, also saving for a new vehicle short-term and a house down payment long-term, i can't be spending all my money on music anyway. so i'll see the tour when chasny comes around again. and that's that.

please tell me where these stores are that sell used 2007-issue CDs for $3. I'd be lucky to score it for 8 on the west coast.

otherwise, good defense of your position.

Record Surplus in LA often has 2007 releases for dirt cheap, kind of randomly. I found a copy of Kala there for $3, but I already had it. I think things are priced there based on whether or not a random 30-year-old classic rock fan has heard of it.

that guy David Peschek is the single biggest idiot/no-taste indie savant sap writing for the Guardian, and that's saying something - pay him no heed

please tell me where these stores are that sell used 2007-issue CDs for $3.

there are plenty of them around here. you have to find the right balance of know-nothing buyers and clientele who want to trade their promos for weed money.

But it's hard to fight the feeling that what you're listening to is not pushing forward the boundaries of music but instead resembles a kind of acid-folk Spinal Tap for hipsters.

really? you're going to make your stand there, huh, tough guy?

i probably should've arranged that differently so it didn't look like i was attacking sleeve.

no probs, I parsed it.

yeah, this album is pretty nice! some nice death metal folk kinda stuff -- on "Coming To Get You" I half-expect it to segue into "Enter Sandman" or something. I'd say generally that Chasny's vocals are the weak link of Six Organs, but I think he's getting better with each release. Lyrically pretty scary -- sounds like Ben read The Road by Cormac McCarthy ...

please tell me where these stores are that sell used 2007-issue CDs for $3

it's called having a good friend who works at a record store ;-)

still need to hear the new one... people here seem to like it, huh? doesn't seem like it's getting very positive reviews elsewhere.

i've had an order for "dark noontide" on hold at fe for a few weeks now, i hope it comes in.

Still waiting for my review of it to run for the OC Weekly! But there's been a recent backlog.

still need to hear the new one... people here seem to like it, huh? doesn't seem like it's getting very positive reviews elsewhere.

dude's had a very solid career so far. hence, backlash comes whether he "falters" or not, it's just inevitable. see also: Mercury Rev, who had this to say in a Drowned in Sound interview a year or so ago:

“It may just be that the timing wasn’t quite right for that music, and maybe people will come back and rediscover it in five or ten years or whatever. People have glossed over this one, for whatever reason. It’s easy to get tired of a band, if it’s being presented to you a certain way – you know, Deserter’s Songs had all these accolades, and All Is Dream was the same. It’s logical, almost, that at some point it’s going to come back down. It’s no knock against the English press, but it’s particularly apparent here that bands are built up only to be taken down a few pegs. It happens, and we expected it.

“We expected it with All Is Dream, to be honest – ‘Okay, they’re going to come after us on this record, as they want something to take us down’. But it doesn’t matter, because we’re the ones that make the music, and we’re the ones capable of making an album what it is or what it isn’t. What is written about it is simply someone’s opinion – it doesn’t change the music, or how hard we’ve worked, or how I feel about a song, and I’m the one that’s got to live with it! He’s got to live with it, and Jonathan’s got to live with it, so what is written on a page doesn’t keep me awake a night, you can believe that.”

new one's really good. i definitely like it better than the last one. except the long droney track, that was really good, but the songs on the new one are way more interestingly arranged and performed. shitty cover art.

the cover sucks indeed. but the tunes are wonderful, really beautifully arranged and the tag team thing wih new lover elisia works like a charm

didn't like the last one much, school of the flower was a great one too. and the manifestation, dark noontide. different style though

"nightly trembling" REALLY needs a reissue. don't know why everyone keeps slipping on that. i feel like "for octavio paz" will be reissued three more times before that one is.

I had almost forgot about this guy. All I've got is Dust And Chimes, I'll have to pick up somethin' else...

now i've heard a decent chunk of six organs' stuff (though still not the new one). 'dark noontide' is awesome but i think i like 'dust and chimes' the best.

manifestation is really good too (i think that's what it's called? i just heard it on internet radio).

are recent live shows worth it? like, 10 bucks worth it?

Oh god yes.

oh god no.

oh god yes!!!!!!!! i saw him last night in austin and it was WOWWWWWWW.

i also need more Six Organs. i'm picking it up as i find it in the used bins, so i've got Dark noontide, School of the flower, The sun awakens, and the newest one i bought brand new, just because. but i want more!

yea you gotta hear dust and chimes. it's awesome.

A little something to look forward to -- received some PR guff today:

Six Organs of Admittance - RTZ
Street Date: January 20, 2009
3xLP/2xCD

...

The double-CD, triple-LP epic called RTZ (named after the button on a 4-track that "returns to zero") fashions several lesser-known pieces from Six Organs of Admittance’s early years into an massive prismatic arc, colossal and organic like some wonder of the ancient world. How could it be otherwise? Even when existing as only one half of a record, as many of these pieces once did (and still do, somewhere), Mr. 6OOA (Ben Chasny, y’all!) leans into the eternal – letting the winds of Time scar his face and the light of All There Is burn his skin black. Grandmaster Chas has sacrificed the body for his music time and again over the years. RTZ is an iridescent chimera in full flight, viewed through stained glass.

Cataloging these early non-album excursions requires a bit of leg-(and mind) work. RTZ travels back to the dawn of this century to locate “Resurrection,” half of a Time-Lag split 12” with Charlambadies. “Warm Earth, Which I’ve Been Told” is half of a Mental Telemetry split CD with Vibracathedral Orchestra and Magic Carpithans from 2003. “You Can Always See the Sun,” was part of Three Loved Recordings’ Purposeful Availments subscription CD series in 2002. And “Nightly Trembling” was released way back in 1999 in an edition of 33 copies, all given away for free! That’s some spiritual shit right there. Combined with a never-before released extended piece called “Punish the Chasm with Wings” from pre-millennial days and you’ve got yourself a deep, DEEP box set, crammed into a multi-faceted LP jacket.

about time.

awesome. i like his earlier stuff a lot more than, say, the past couple of albums, so this is pretty exciting.

man, i have so, so, so been wanting nightly trembling to get reissued... yeah, the early stuff was great.

"that's some spiritual shit right there"

hopefully the triple LP isn't going to be retardedly expensive?

What would drone-folk do without inflated prices?

make more cdrs.

"Warm Earth Which I've Been Shown" and "You Can Always See the Sun" are two of my favorite Six Organs tracks. I picked up that Mental Telemetry split at Terrastock 5 in Boston and listened to it on my flight back to the midwest. Seriously haunting shit. "You can Always See the Sun" is a nice contrast to that, it's like his most triumphant and optimistic epic. This is gonna be a nice set.

hey Ned what label?

drag city, right?

Yes, Drag City.

Exciting that the track from the Charalambides split is gonna be available! That track is amazing. Now all we need is a new album...

re: a new album, tbh if they just kept rolling out stuff from his early years' vaults i'd be happier....

tho i should probably give his newer albums more of a chance

I've got that Time lag split.It's really good & part of a 2 record set that was officially titled "A Tribute to Popul Vuh".And his newer stuff is as good & he manages not to repeat himself to obviously.Check out some of his work on the latest Magik Markers. Warm Earth is from the Trighplane Terraforms disc.They were selling it at he Gladtree Festival a few years ago.About 18 minutes of trippiness.It will nice to have all of this music in one place.

Mackro to thread....

Free All Ages In Store Sun November 16th @ 5PM
SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE
solo acoustic performance!

Wall of Sound
315 E. Pine St.
Seattle,Wa 98122

I will be at this!!!

Nice. Got a review copy of the comp today, looks v. good.

Can't wait to hear the compilation.

"RTZ"'s out, any word?

will likely get this either way, though how much of it has already been available/floating around the web? i've got quite a few random, out-of-print or non-album six organs mp3s, am just wondering if this has 'from the vaults' stuff on it that hasn't seen any previous release?

IT'S GREAT

but all of it is previously released save the last 19 minute track on disc one. it is HIGHLY recommended, though, especially if you dig the early, epic six organs stuff.

nice.

yea, i'll be getting this.

I'm thinking about getting it even though I've got the Nightly Trembling LP and the Triplane Terraforms CD and a CDR with You Can Always See the Sun on it. This is my favorite Six Organs stuff, without a doubt.

yea definitely. i listen to this stuff + dust & chimes/dark noontide the most by far

My interview with him for the Quietus hasn't run yet but hopefully soon!

a CDR with You Can Always See the Sun on it

Is this not widely available? I have it on a one-song CD EP, came out on Three Lobed if I recall...

My buddy burned it for me. I think it is probably out of print? I thought it was maybe a subscription only thing.

RTX is really, really good! Might even be my fave thing by Six Organs!

just checked, three lobed website says "OOP." I guess that's probably why there's a reissue on Drag City.

I will probably pick up the 3LP on the way home from work this evening. Looking forward to it, haven't heard any of this stuff...

Yeah, I really need to pick this up over the weekend.

RTZ 3lp was $20 at Rasputin SF. Not bad at all. Haven't listened yet tho.

Okay, my interview with Ben is up at the Quietus:

http://thequietus.com/articles/01318-six-organs-of-admittance-s-ben-chasny-reflects-on-music-and-technology-in-a-singular-time

Really enjoyed doing this piece but Ben did all the heavy lifting, to his credit.

Good article, Ned.

Thanks!

anybody know anything about this "live bootleg" lp that i saw in the shop yesterday?

is it Days of Blood? or something else. There's a new one coming in September, btw -- wasn't sure if I was into it at first, but it's grown on me big time. Kind of softer than the last one, but still intense.

yeah, Days of Blood i guess. Maybe it's not a bootleg, but that's the store had written on the sticker ...

It's an electric set IIRC and pretty decent sound quality but nothing life-changing.

wow 1st track on the new one is lovely. lots of flute, but good flute.

great album. favorite drag city one
this
http://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/840
is a somewhat interesting interview

ha, that guy writes goofy reviews. interestingly, Chasny just responded to it: http://dustedmagazine.com/features/840 Kind of a cool feature Dusted has going there.

yeah, that's the one i put there. the original review was glowing. i'm loving the album. intentionally or not, first song and "bar-nasha" smack of early steve hackett solo stuff

oh oops, you did link to that ... my bad! but yeah, I'm liking this new one more and more, maybe a bit more than the last one, which I like a lot at first, but haven't gone back to that much.

I should pick this up. Haven't loved the Drag City stuff all that much, tho.

looking forward to this album. but reviews like that are why i don't read reviews anymore.

so, first listen to the new one and the vocals on "anesthesia" are actually giving me a bruce dickinson vibe!

"Haven't loved the Drag City stuff all that much, tho."

School of the Flower is my favorite thing he's done, though I can't say I've listened to the last two albums all that much after a once-through

yeah, I love school of the flower too. but none of the other DC stuff made an impression.

Just got home from seeing them live. Fricking awesome, as you might expect.

who is them? i mean, who's playing with ben?

Elisa Ambrogio – guitar
Andrew Mitchell – guitar
Alex Neilson – drums

so you're in vienna too.....

i didn't go though...

Anyone jumped for this book/soundtrack thing yet?
http://www.emptythesun.com/emptythesun.html

Lucky enough to have a copy, but haven't settled in to read it yet. Saw a show in LA where Ben et al played and Joseph read from a selection of the novel a while back, pretty impressive.

new album is kind of underwhelming imo. just doesn't cut as hard as he used to.

you mean the new new one with the book? if so I agree, not very engaging. I liked Luminous Night more than the two before it, though. I want to hear more stuff like "Cover Your Wounds With The Sky". did you see the Rangda thread?
RANGDA (Richard Bishop, Ben Chasny, Chris Corsano)

No sorry, I meant Luminous Night. Sounds kind of New Age-y to me. Haven't heard the book one.

At the moment Ben is working on a new project based on Maria Chapels for the Incubate festival
http://inlog.org/2010/06/15/a-perfect-day/

I cannot say enough about Ben & whoever may be sailing with him. Six Organs & all his collabs are very consistent. Tasteful, creative guitar work, sweet melodies. What's not to like...? So very recommended.

listening to that drug city comp of early recordings for the 1st time in a while. so nice, like i wanna run out and buy some scented candles and a big glass bong. when he's on, there's no contemporary musician i'd rather drool to than BC.

Just in from Drag City

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE
Asleep On The Floodplain
February 22, 2011


Comprised of ten blissful, primarily acoustic tunes, a delicacy wafts forth from Asleep On The Floodplain, the new album by Six Organs Of Admittance. After 2009's sonically dense Luminous Night, Chasny returned to the familiar environs of home recording to sculpt and assemble this batch of jams, freeing himself from the restrictions and deadlines studios might normally impose upon a song. Thus creating a living nest in which this material could grow and breathe, the album took longer to complete but sounds effortless-- and bright with light. Much of Asleep On The Floodplain draws on imagery from Chasny's youth, a time spent in Elk River. "Dawn, Running Home" remembers sleep-overs in a friend's tree-fort and the subsequent morning return to Ben's own house. Maintaining Six Organs' penchant for cameos, Elisa Ambrogio Magik-ally contributes to "River of My Youth." The theopoetics of Catherine Keller resonate on "S/Word and Leviathan"; while Gaston Bachelard's poetics of reverie are felt throughout the record.

Working alone allowed for what could be described as a more cohesive album, giving Chasny time to reflect and make his own conclusions about how a song should move, or when it was finished, in his own time. To that end, each song is memorable of it's own volition, yet drifts as necessary onto the common plane of Asleep On The Floodplain. Six Organs Of Admittance has completed a new album, and we wish to share it with you so that you, in turn, will share it with others. Allow the comfort of beasts, Asleep On The Floodplain.

*adds to Most Anticipated 2001 Albums list*

Luminous Night was top ten of '09 for me easily -- sooooo good!

whoops, that should read 2011

"Six Organs Of Admittance has completed a new album, and we wish to share it with you so that you, in turn, will share it with others."

also so we can real paid

worried by that DC description that BC's ditching his recent majestic ren-faire stuff like "little wing" and "actaeon's fall"

I dunno, the last 6OOA tune that really grabbed me was "Home" off of "School Of The Flower", so I am ready to get all mellow again.

great news

BC's ditching his recent majestic ren-faire stuff like "little wing"

??

uh, i meant "final wing," on shelter from the ash

hahah oh. definitely had me excited.

"Alone with the Alone" is my fav but that's more in the jam/freak vein than your "ren-faire" stuff

but everything this guy does is godlike brilliance.

my fav off of Shelter that is

but everything this guy does is godlike brilliance.

agree 100% ^^

Looking forward to this.

Wish Ben, SRB & Corsano would tour the west coast soon.

Ben is recording an album with Elisa Ambrogio (Magik Markers) as well. I'm very curious about this new project.

oh, and the band is called 200 Years

one time I saw Six Organs live that was the line-up anyway.

new one sounds great! maybe a bit less doomy than the last few. some excellent guitar work.

Echoing that, finally getting through a listen here myself -- less doomy perhaps but not out of the shadows. I am constantly impressed by how over time he's always remained 'himself' -- you can pretty much tell it's his guitar playing now from a mile off -- while finding new ways to express it.

are you guys talking about the song on NPR or the whole album? if the latter, where do i get

Re: the latter: this is where being a music writer helps. (I'm interviewing Ben for the Quietus.)

i'm kind of a lapsed music writer, but drag city still sends me stuff on occasion

anyhoo, listened to this a few more times -- really, really good. i'm always kind of at a loss as to what to recommend to people who haven't heard six organs, but this one might be the one?

Well I think the thing with Ben that's clear is that there really is no ONE release -- as you say, you think about everything he's done, on his own or in collaboration, and it's daunting. This certainly serves as a good 'well this is what's happening now' release with him, but it'll change soon enough.

Meantime just a little preview that I'm working on an extensive interview with Ben that will be running fairly soon. Great stuff, as has always been the case when I've talked with him.

Ned, can you ask him when Rangda will tour the west coast?

just preordered this from the drag city website, can't wait :D :D :D

WHOA -- so, this doesn't officially come out until late Feb (2/22 sez Amazon) but Drag City shipped my order today, that's awesome! along w/ the Basinski re-release(!!!!) and another O'Rourke collabo, v. excited wooooo

sweet. really been digging this one.

looking forward to ned's interview, too

i think ben chasny should also interview ned, in turn

yeah, he's a friendly, funny guy, which doesn't quite come across in his music.

I sat in a candle-lit room and listened to Dark Noontide last night, anticipating Snowmageddon 2011.
It was a good choice.

Ned, can you ask him when Rangda will tour the west coast?

To quote the man himself:

It looks like we are all going to be quite busy with our other projects this year. I think the next plan is to record out here on the east coast sometime this year. We will definitely tour the west coast before we tour any other part of the US. Its just hard with two of us living out here on the east coast now because there are so few places to play out here and not many people come to the shows so there's not a lot of money to cover costs, so we have to plan it very tightly! but we'll be there, no doubt.

i think ben chasny should also interview ned, in turn

Hahah well...it's interesting, how suggestions can work.

!!

???

..... (!)

i seriously cannot take this anymore, i need this

Patience.

still waiting for the new rekkid to arrive from drag city (soooon!) but in the meantime, picked up a copy of Empty the Sun CD + book on the cheap and LOVING this record. really low-key chasny, mostly instrumental, restrained but occasionally breathes fire ("goddamn the sun" woooooow)

looove the epic drone on the new one, especially the headsplitting ending. totally worth the wait.
haven't heard the empty the sun thang, where'd you get it cheap? online or a real record store ... ?

ebay! $5 or $6 incl. shipping

oh cool, i'll dig around

ah sorry i guess more like $8 shipped, still a good deal tho. the seller i got it from has 6 more available -- i think he had 10 or 11 a week ago when i bought. he sent me a brand new copy too! cd still sealed.

(notice the link there)

thx!

Listened to this twice today and loved it. The epic drone is soooo good. This one reminds me a bit of School of the Flower in parts.

Okay folks, my interview with Ben is up:

http://thequietus.com/articles/05689-six-organs-of-admittance-ben-chasny-interview

(And the second/flipside part of it will run later this week elsewhere...)

nice interview, ned!

Thanks!

good stuff ned, new album is faaaaantastic btw guys, really awesome

sort of tangentially related but: http://grapefruitrecordclub.com/
anyone signed up for this? i can't really afford it, but it looks cool. the 200 years chasny side project is included.

Okay, so, yesterday I interviewed Ben...

...today, Ben interviews me.

OMG Ned wins the universe

A+

Give yourself credit, you were the one who suggested it!

there was a random suggestion on ILX saying that Ben should interview me, which I passed along to him more as a random joke than anything. But by god if Ben didn’t ask me a set of great questions

O_O !!!!!!!!

What do you think about every music writer comparing every acoustic guitar player to John Fahey as if he had the greatest influence on everyone? Isn’t this the same sort of critical reductionism that would not be allowed in any sort of serious art journal? Wouldn’t that be the equivalent of comparing every abstract artist to Picasso? Or closer to home, perhaps comparing every single music writer to Lester Bangs? Does this sort of non-crtitcal thinking have a detrimental effect on how others view the importance of music criticism? Am I leading the witness? What do you think?

my hero

btw, did you actually mention ILX to Ben? wonder if he will visit/read/post?

I've no idea! It's up to him.

he seems smart-- like, ned raggett level smart, could recite digits of pi ad infinitum level smart

we could use more smart ilx posters imo

i realize i am part of the problem btw before anyone says so ^_____^

so i've pretty much got ned's sloppy seconds, i guess, but i did an interview w/ ben here

really nice guy!

Ned interviewing Ben and Ben interviewing Ned were both great! Thanks for sharing.

Yer welcome!

cool NPR feature on Ben's fav song from the new record: link

nice tidbit from yr interview ilxor: I always have a big space in my heart for, like, Nikki Sudden, you know? For me it kind of satisfies that little itch. I always wanted to be in a band like that.
that makes me excited!

me too!

really liking this so far. "dawn, running home" is reminding me of early tyrannosaurus rex. ben even sounds a little like marc on downers

the rest is very nice too but 's/word' is amazing.

Chasny played an excellent acoustic set last night in New York. I really haven't seen him live as much as I'd like to. Has anyone heard the 200 Years stuff, his duo with Elisa from Magik Markers? Markers played an earlier set so I was hoping for a team up but no such luck.

the rest is very nice too but 's/word' is amazing.

it was a lot more boring in the light of day. : ( and on my proper headphones—the added bottom end made it all atmospheric and took away the concentratedness of the droning from the saz.

loving this new record, listened to it like eight times this week.

Ned, that ruled (both of 'em).

Thanks!

new live recordings from a church concert on Soundcloud http://soundcloud.com/incubate/sets/six-organs-of-admittance-live-2010/

nice, thanks!

oooooooooohhh!

this sounds awesome.

should i go see this band in a few weeks? i think so, but would like to know if there is a compelling reason not to.

You absolutely should go. No question.

Ben was also nice enough to send me something through the mail lately that fans of his will want to keep an eye out for.

Ok! It's already on my calendar. This means I have to set about convincing someone to join me. It'll tide me over until the Swans show a few weeks later (!!!!)

ned, braggin' :)
i'd love to see this guy but he never plays in colorado! weak.
that live set posted above is lovely.

THANK YOU to this thread, bc I checked on his tour and found out he's playing in town next friday. my favorite dude right here.

all depends who he's playing with though

current tour is solo iirc

best show I've ever seen him do was a duo with elisa ambrogio. also, put alex neilson on drums behind him and sparks will result.

yeah i guess this 200 Years collab w/ ambrogio hasn't come out? they had it slated for spring of this year.
http://www.dragcity.com/news/254

i wonder who else is coming on this tour? i don't recognize the opening bands.

Saw him years ago in Kansas City, all alone, local openers. One of the most memorable shows I've ever been to.

saw him open for om with a solo set and shitheads talked over it all. could barely hear the guy. :-/

same night - some aggro guy also slammed into this peaceful, stoned longhair that was grooving to om and sent him flying. there was no pit, they guy basically just charged right into him. people suck.

Where do you live? I went to a sold out OM show and everyone waited patiently throughout a 40 minute solo drone set from Lichens.

lol, brooklyn

Huh that's interesting I missed that last tour (Six Organs/OM) I think that show was at Europa? I live in BK too now, but the show I was referring to was in SF. Maybe the old cliche is true that Bay Area audiences are just more stoned and docile. I have no compunction about telling people to shut the fuck up at shows.

dunno, i mean i can see people going to a six organs show maybe expecting a more loud, psych-y blowout thing, if they weren't very familiar with the records. since he plays w/ loud psych-y blowout bands like rangda and comets on fire...

yeah, it was the europa show. not my fave venue for sure.

I guess I saw lichens there too but I honestly don't remember how that went down. but the whole place was talking over the six organs set, wasn't just a couple folks. v. annoying. aggro mosher was the icing on the cake.

x-post

and I don't really think a quiet set is any reason to talk over someone. if anything, it's much worse! and lots of the six organs material is very mellow.

saw this tonight, it was awesome
convinced people to go with me (2!)
whoa can he can play -- so captivating to watch/hear
now i am going to bed

And in spinoff news:

200 Years
"S/T"
LP/CD
November 8th, 2011

Drag City is happy to announce the release of 200 Years!! 200 Years is none other than those straw dogs of skull counting (and flowers!), Ben “Six Organs of Admittance” Chasny and Elisa “Magic Markers” Ambrogio.

The PR goes on from there but I'll be honest, I gotta spare ya.

Excellent news!

interested to see what this'll sound like

first listen sounded a little underwhelming -- nice but not mindblowing? I'll have to dig in a little further, it might be a grower.

more side projecting -- hadn't even heard of this til now: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16437-broda/
sample sounds pretty groovy, different stuff for Chasny.

i'm gonna go see 200 years on friday. never heard them. just wanna see something.

it's pretty mellow, but they've been growing on me. this is great
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo-JSFRVexA

the 200 Years album is pretty, quiet, and a bit insubstantial—but some good tunes on there. best when it's deliberately chasny-esque and not just "acoustic magik markers" mode. i wrote about it here.

cannot fuckin wait for new Rangda and Six Organs records, btw....

Ben has returned to rock! Well he never left but anyway:

ANNOUNCING THE ELECTRIC, FULL BAND-SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE EXPERIENCE; NEW ALBUM, ASCENT, OUT AUGUST 21ST ON DRAG CITY
LISTEN TO SIX ORGAN'S "WASWASA" NOW

six organs

Six Organs of Admittance as an electric entity is not without precedent. Ben Chasny regularly performs with a full, electric band, often cascades an electric guitar solo in the middle of an acoustic jam, and has recorded entire sides of electric drone. This element goes all the way back to 2002, when a short-lived rock version of Six Organs (with the members of Comets on Fire) toured the West Coast and etched a few demos to tape before moving on. Ten years later, with the idea to record new songs as a full rock band firmly entrenched in his mind, Chasny warped over to Tim Green's Louder Studios with members of Comets as his backing band. He emerged with Ascent, the rollicking realization of the Six Organs full band experience.

No, these aren't those dusty old 2002 moments with the dust blown off. We live today, and so does Six Organs of Admittance! To manipulate the past would change the world forever. Instead, the time line for Ascent occurs on our identical Earth, on the other side of the sun, telescoping the strength and power of that moment in 2002 and it's electri-Six-O after-affects by viewing it through the mind's opera-glass, in the present. From the opening red storm of "Waswasa" to the sentinel strength of "Even If You Knew" and the sensual lilt of "Visions (From Io)," the sound of this Six Organs is that of full-tilt rock band. The fun and fury of electric Six Organs of Admittance is evidenced in every molten groove.

Ascent will reach this Earth via Drag City Records come August 21st.

DOWNLOAD/LISTEN TO/SHARE SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE'S "WASWASA":
http://www.dragcity.com/system/tracks/downloads/5389/original/1-01_Waswasa.mp3

Ascent tracklisting:

1. Waswasa

2. Close To The Sky

3. They Called You Near

4. Solar Ascent

5. A Thousand Birds

6. Your Ghost

7. Even If You Knew

8. Visions (From Io)

<3 a good molten groove

Great news!

psyched for this

so psyched!

Yeah, high hopes for this. Gonna listen to "Waswasa" right now. Sure hope the Howlin' Rain ethos is not too present.

album of the year potential for me.... can't fucking wait for this

looks like this album is going to be ... cosmic
http://www.dragcity.com/system/album_products/images/1999/large.jpg?1338313449

!

Stoked. New Rangda and new Six Organs this year? Combine that with the Blues Control record and I think it may be a Drag City kind of fall.

combo of the new one and the new rangda is basically psych guitar heaven.

getting a sabbath meets neil young vibe from Ascent

Check this out, pretty funny
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjdUJku5yso

are these the same recordings as the 'electric six organs' thing that (i think?) was linked up thread? if so, i can't wait to hear more!!!
8/21 here i come

at least a few of the same song titles -- 1000 Birds and Even if You Knew? Right? Maybe that was on the Rangda thread.

these are new recordings -- those electric six organs things were from way back, 2004-ish? but there is some crossover w/ songs from those sessions.
interview here: http://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/wild-mercury-sound/interview-six-organs-of-admittance

oh ok that's good news! those recordings kinda suck and i keep wanting them to be LOUDER

yes, these are more hi-fi!

I was surprised when I noticed that Thurston Moore's new band Chelsea LIght Moving consisted of the 2 guys who made up the 3 piece electric 6 Organs that toured in 2006 plus the violinist who'd toured with the acoustic TM band.
I liked that electric 6OoA and hoped i'd get hold of more than the Chapel Hill set that circulated.

But great that the new 6OoA is a renamed Comets of Fire on record at least.

Think Thurston kinda poached the band, though not in a dickish way.

There was about a 5 year gap anyway wasn't there. Think Chasny was playing with his fiancee for a couple of years.
& Maloney was more of a Sunburneder wasn't he? Though he'd apparently moved to Leeds UK by 2006.
Haven't heard much on the Sunburned front recently are they still active?

& Keith Wood's been doing several things in the interim hasn't he?

I listened to those electric Six Organs tracks last night and I forgot how much 1000 Birds sounds like Cowgirl in the Sand -- it's mostly just the opening part, but the similarity is unmistakeable.

can't stop playing the new one! the accompanying seven-inch is ace too!

i got it but it's sitting here in my bag til i get home from a work meeting! i wonder if mine came with a 7"?! the only sticker on the outside informs me that i should play it loudly.

Is the 7" more songs with the full band?

yes -- 2 instrumentals
xp oh i don't think it's actually included w/ the LP -- just meant "accompanying" as in "from the same sessions."

Ahh, good to know on both fronts. Thanks.

ok this thousand birds sounds a lot different than the other one! it's a lot tighter, a little faster, and the beginning doesn't sound like "cowgirl in the sand" at all. i still like it though!
was disappointed that there were no downloads
i thought drag city did that?

Nah, they don't at all. Pretty frustrating. I think I need to put a Drag City order together.
My birthday is coming up!

yeah, seems like they don't do the "download coupon with vinyl" thing just to be ornery.

it is frustrating, esp since i have been purchasing their wares for like 20 years. maybe they should get a lifetime loyal customer download card or something. on the other hand, birthdays make a good excuse for purchases of all kinds :)

anyway i listened to this last night and it's great. the little dot matrix printer paper insert/lyric sheet thing is kinda lol.

jamming "One Thousand Birds" on my radio show right now, fresh out of the shrinkwrap

I agree that this is good. Playing with Bishop seems like it is having some influence.

This new album is jam-tastic, "Waswasa" might be the best thing I've heard this year! It's like Chasny all of a sudden configured a band and sound that was designed specifically to ROCK OUT. The guitar tone is so good! Just a really nice surprise after being lukewarm on the last few records. If any of you have also tuned out over the last few years, this is very different and very worthwhile.

Coming to Chicago in December. He's touring with the band, right?! If so, I'm totally there because there will be jamz.

Isn't most of the band playing w Ben on this record the dudes he played with in comets on fire? i liked comets on fire.

yeah i think it's basically comets on fire?
colossal yes is opening a few shows on the west coast (comets on fire drummer solo project) which is pretty cool. kind of different than what you'd expect, but good! also, just found out an old buddy of mine plays bass on their latest record.

pretty great live set from this month's hopscotch fest - http://www.nyctaper.com/2012/09/six-organs-of-admittance-september-6-2012-hopscotch-festival-berkeley-cafe-raleigh-nc-flacmp3streaming/
solo acoustic except fro last track w/ corsano.

Side 2 of this is killing it.

playing tonight, not sure if i'll go

Just heard teh cd for the first time and I don't think it needs any ibnstruction to play loud cos I think it has a built in urge to do so dunnit?
Pretty great anyway, hoping some live sets of this turn up with rocking band. Plus it seeds a desire for the Comets to reunite. Though would also like to see Howlin Rain continue.

i haven't seen a meltdown of that magnitude since the last earthless show! it pretty much was a CoF show

missed colossal yes and jeans wilder, bummer :-(

It's kind of funny that my favorite track on this "crazy rockin" six organs record is this mellow slow burner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_8wqb6GZzc

there were some EARTH type jams (as opposed to EARTHLESS type jams) of the slow spaghetti western variety that i really enjoyed

Whoa yeah, this song rules! Sounds kinda like some of the last Polvo record, "In Prism", too. Lots of sweet spots for me there, more interesting to me than the rockers I have heard so far, though I like those too.

the show at the echo was monstrous.

Just heard Rangda today, must try to make that a habit since they sound pretty fine.
Nice interplay between Chasny, Sir Richard bishop and Chris Corsano.
Found a live set from earlier this year on Dime too. Sounds pretty good.

Ascent has been reminding me of 90s/00s Neil Young/Crazy Horse at its heaviest jamming guitarwise on further listens. Though guitar is even more extreme is it Chadbournesque or what is it at its most overdriven? Certainly reminds me of somebody else.

'ascent' is a amazing imo

a a amazing

Reminds me:

http://thequietus.com/articles/10219-supersonic-2012-ben-chasny-q-a

totes excited about chicago show in december

God that last song - so, like, White Heaven or something (in a very, very good way) - love this whole album (and I say that as a guy who prefers spacy pensive Chasny to blistering shredding Chasny) but this last track is like whoa

seeing him on monday yeaaaah. anyone know what the lineup for this european tour is?

nevermind, i see that it's ben flashman and utrillo kushner. nice.

show is tomorrow night, still totes excited
anyone know if they have been playing that awesome slow jam at the end of the album? visions iirc? i wanna hear that super loud.

show was great but i did not receive the slow jam i wanted. ;_;

bummer

this album is so good, totally jeal of those of you who are seeing them live, slow jam or not.

It's a barn-burner live. I was just re-listening to the Empty Bottle show and I think John Shaw of Magik Markers really adds an excellent guitar counter-play element to Chasny's already awesome playing. 'Close to the Sky' was a whammo - so different from the Compathia original.

"even if you knew" was my personal favorite
it was a total scorcher

can someone hook a guy up w/ that empty bottle recording pretty please

PM'd ya. I was in less than 'pro-mode' recording this night, but it's definitely listenable save for a few incredulous "hey wow mannnn's" ... no selling though - personal consumption only ...

awesome!!!

i had a dream three nights ago that ben chasny shrunk me to the size of a gumdrop and then flushed me down the toilet

INTENSE.
hey is blackironprison out there? i don't think i ever got the PM, still would love to hear that recording...

live footage from last year's tour! they look like they're having fun.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kodlJ5GalBc

Man it has been waaaay too long since I have seen Chasny play electric live. Love him.

He seems to really enjoy shredding. Ideal noise-notes ratio too, if that's a thing.
The person who shot this video has a few more from the same show if you want to really give yourself a hard time.

That noise to notes ratio is definitely a thing! I am a fan of his balance of this for sure. Will check out those other vids, thanks.

nice -- are there any bootlegs of those 6 organs shows from last year floating around? haven't come across any...
also, chasny has a new duo http://newbums.bandcamp.com/
guess they're opening for bill callahan in some places?

Haven't seen any bootlegs, but I am not the greatest source anyways. I get them from you Tyler!

Just saw New Bums, which is Chasny and Donovan Quinn (Skygreen Leopards etc.) and it was cool. Very mellow, just two acoustic guitars and both dudes singing. Chasny soloed some, but it wasn't heavy with pyrotechnics (really all his solos were fairly mellow as well). The songs were cool though, not too far off from 200 Years but a little more humor and a little more range perhaps? Made for a pretty good lead-in to Bill, who was really good.

i'm seeing bill callahan tomorrow night, no chasny unfortunately. some other guy named lonnie holley? looks pretty cool: http://www.dust-digital.com/lonnie/

yeah, lonnie holley is pretty incredible -- haven't seen him live, but those dust to digital things are out of this world.

awesome, looking forward to it!

He is cool live, pretty similar to the recorded stuff I have heard. He essentially does one thing, and it is a beautiful thing. Improvised cosmic testifying and psychedelic organ playing makes for some nice mood-setting, so yeah, definitely get there for Lonnie's set.

rad, will do

you guys checked out this? http://silvercurrentrecords.com/
kind of a boutique label run by the dude from comets on fire - plenty of good stuff. hopefully they put together a "bootleg" of the 6 organs/comets shows...that seems to be their deal.

I have not, will dig in when I have a chance. Thanks!

that silver current stuff is actually pretty cool. i ordered the Eletric Six Organs thing and a live Earthless thing from them, pretty cool handmade packaging.

pretty cool

Chasny also has a new project with Fabrizio out of Larsen, called Coypu. They were supposed to be touring Europe this autumn but the dates fell through at the last minute.

https://soundcloud.com/#off_studio/coypus-o-f-f-sessions-excerpt

I just realized something while washing the dishes -- the rhythm section (or the drum part at least) of 1000 Birds is almost identical to Cowgirl in the Sand. That explains why I like it so much!

got the new bums seven inch yesterday -- pretty low-key but very enjoyable. nice nikki sudden cover on there as well!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSGkHviyl0U

I was surprised to find this 12" by Ben C and Gala Drop (who I'd never heard of) in a record shop's nu-disco section, tho listening to it (the long first side especially, this track is a bit meatier) I suppose it shouldn't have been hard to imagine how his guitar playing would suit Gottschingesque balearic stargazing.

tight song, i'm gonna have to track down that release. funny this was bumped today, been on a big SOoA kick today.

he's been so prolific over the last decade or so, i still feel like i'm catching up with some of the six organs and related stuff. was just jamming RTZ a little while ago, loving it.

that's my favorite overall release of his even though it is really like four different releases lumped together

Ha, literally got that New Bums thing in the mail, haven't had a chance to give it an ear yet. This weekend!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWKMndIWVUk

I didn't know Ben and Richard Youngs had done stuff together, is this from Richard's recent North American tour? Lovely subtle Loren Connors-style adornments from Ben.

track from the new bums full length out next year here: https://soundcloud.com/drag-city/new-bums-black-bough/
really love this.

new bums album delivers big time. nikki sudden/dave kusworth vibes, alex chilton-y moments. chasny really can do no wrong it seems!

label?

drag city -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78dObGiUYPc

Annnd new album next year:

http://www.dragcity.com/products/hexadic

Six Organs of Admittance's Ben Chasny has devised his very own system of musical composition, The Hexadic System, which is the basis for an upcoming new album, entitled Hexadic which will be released on Drag City on February 17th, 2015.
How The Hexadic System came to be...
Ben Chasny's restless intellect has regularly guided the progress of his creation. A lyrical mastery of acoustic finger-picking would be enough to build a body of work for most musicians; this is just the stepping-off point for Ben. From the earliest days of private-press psych home recordings, Six Organs of Admittance has sought out alternative spaces in which to make music and challenge audiences to keep up with his rapid advances into new terrain. Over the last two years Ben assembled a comprehensive system of musical composition. Designed to free sound and language from rational order and replace calculation with indeterminacy, The Hexadic System is a catalyst to extinguish patterns and generate new means of chord progressions and choices.
Though it was not his intention upon creating this unique system, the structures generated were so compelling, that they soon became the bones of the next Six Organs record. This is the longest time between Six Organs records since Ben started making them in 1998. This is also why Hexadic sounds unlike anything else made this year, and generally unlike most other things made ever.
The System builds all of the tonal fields, chord changes, scales, and lyrics on Hexadic, creating the framework of the songs that the musicians engage with. Yet the System is open; within the framework, Chasny's own personal aesthetics - such as the production mode of loud guitars, the order of songs, the editing of length, were all conscious decisions made to communicate the pieces. The exact same combinatorial patterns used on this record would generate infinite results, depending on the choices of the individual. Ben's years of study have produced an operational agent that has not only built all the songs on Hexadic but is also a system anyone can use to restructure their ways of habit.
With a desire to provoke the unconscious and spring past the strictures and limits of the conscious mind, this was the goal: to use the System to make heavy music with as few "heavy" signifiers as possible. The ones that are left: Volume. Distortion. Impact! This is Hexadic: the sound of the System in the hands of Six Organs of Admittance.
We'll reveal more insight into the resulting music in the coming weeks. Additionally, we'll have information about how you can practice The Hexadic System in your own home, via a deck of specially-created cards as well as a book explaining the workings of the System. All these items are set for release in 2015!

Whoa, this seems extremely promising. Right up my alley. Ben is the best.

i have no idea what to make of any of that

it's fine though, i basically come to six orangs for cool stoner sounds and ben's guitar playing. innovation on top of that is a bonus basically

yeah i don't understand any of it, but new 6 organs is always a good thing.

i like systems in general and six orang utans of combinatorial patterns for groovy guitar songs so this is a win win win win win

also i was wondering -- i have had the LP of Ascent since it came out, but continue to be bummed that I can't listen to it anywhere but my living room. can anyone help me out with that problem?

yes, but I can't get to that until around 4 hours from now. Are flacs OK or do u need MP3?

if Drag City provided DL codes, we wouldn't have to deal w/this issue!

i just bought both 'asleep on the floodplain' and 'luminous night' on vinyl. so good.

really need 'ascent', too.

xp thank you!! mp3 would be best i guess? but i'll take anything! my webmail works, lemme know :)

it's such a great album -- i listen to it at least once a month while i'm making dinner.

i guess i can listen to it in the kitchen as well as the living room but i gotta really crank it

indeterminate and irrational but also something to do with six

Okay, first new track from Hexadic here.

https://soundcloud.com/drag-city/six-organs-of-admittance-wax-chance/s-aTF3A

i dig it

Oh man, this is great! It is definitely hitting his love of Japanese gnarl hard, cool move from him. I sure hope he tours this record in this style.

us dates

February 19, 2015 Doug Fir Lounge Portland OR US
February 20, 2015 Electric Owl Vancouver CA
February 21, 2015 Sunset Tavern Seattle WA US
February 26, 2015 Bottom of the Hill San Francisco CA US
February 27, 2015 The Echo Los Angeles CA US
February 28, 2015 Soda Bar San Diego CA US
April 21, 2015 7th Street Entry Minneapolis MN US
April 22, 2015 The Frequency Madison WI US
April 23, 2015 Empty Bottle Chicago IL US
April 24, 2015 The Loving Touch Ferndale MI US
April 25, 2015 Club Cafe Pittsburgh PA US
April 26, 2015 DC9 Washington DC US
April 28, 2015 Boot & Saddle Philadelphia PA US
April 30, 2015 Baby's All Right Brooklyn NY US
May 01, 2015 Great Scott Allston MA US
May 02, 2015 Bar Le "Ritz" P.D.B. Montreal QC CA
May 03, 2015 Mavericks Ottawa ON CA
May 04, 2015 Horseshoe Tavern Toronto CA
May 06, 2015 Beachland Tavern Cleveland OH US
May 07, 2015 The Basement Columbus OH US
May 08, 2015 Zanzabar Louisville KY US
May 09, 2015 The Mill Iowa City IA US

could you give an example of "Japanese gnarl", b/c that makes me think of Merzbow/Masonna which is probably too much to hope for, maybe you mean White Heaven

xp

Damn man, to go to DC or not to go to DC. Wish there was another place close by they are playing, not a fan of DC shows at all for the most part.

think the closest gig for me is 11 hours away lol

Sleeve, it is pretty heavy with staggering kind of plodding rhythms and unhinged soloing. Reminds me some of Haino playing with Dead C a bit. Not Merzbow level gnarl though, and yeah some White Heaven I have heard would be a close-ish comparison. Some headier heads should weigh in though.

Oh man, I LOVE plodding rhythms!!

me too!

Tyler, he is taking a break between the Seattle and San Fran gigs, maybe you can cajole him your way. I also see he is off between DC and Philly. Charlottesville is a short-ish drive from both ....

ooooh good call re: haino. definitely hearing that too - awesome!!

i see where grandavis is coming from - that is a bit fushitsusha-ish. going back to plague lounge noise levels.

OK, sold

haha, this is killer. supremely nasty guitar tone.

Just saw "Pathetique" referenced by someone else in regards to this, so yeah we are not the only ones.

27 seconds in and i'm sold -- super nasty but also not aimless
love it
btw anyone looking to test out the hexadic method who needs some drums, lemme know! dang. this sounds good.

glad he is super loud again

Hahah, Ben just now on Twitter:

Thanks for the kind feedback on this song everyone. It's the pop song on the record. The rest is a bit heavier.

lol

rad

my older brother makes super heavy open-ended noisy improvisational rock and whenever he plays me his music there is always one song that is "the pop song". i totally get where ben is coming from here

I got Rallizes, Fushitusha, Overhang Party and noisy-era Marble Sheep vibes outta that track. Can't wait to hear this album.

finally got to listen to this and everybody otm, loved the super weird mix on the vocals and that strange little fast part

new one is sounding radical

It's extremely good, got the promo last week. Definitely one of his loud ones, possibly the loudest.

yeah -- makes Ascent seem pretty poppy by comparison. but i dig the singlemindedness here.

oh yeah. looking forward to this

Broken record time: man I hope to see this incarnation live.

Ben Chasny interview about the Hexadic system
http://www.attnmagazine.co.uk/features/8723

I don't really get any of that but I'm excited regardless

Just interviewed him earlier today, more to come...

i sorta get it, i think! he needs to figure out how to explain it a little more concisely though, lol

can't wait to hear it.

it sounds like a mixture of ideas taken from Eno, Braxton, Ornette, etc.

yeah, and as he mentions in the interview, morton feldman and his crew as well

hahah i didn't even get that far!

i don't think it sounds like anything groundbreaking but i love when people disappear inside their own systems

me too
love it
way better than a manifesto in terms of kooky behavior

So I did an interview and wrote a thing

http://noisey.vice.com/blog/six-organs-of-admittance-interview

Good piece! Would have loved to read the Dune stuff though, you tease.

Also, this album rules.

Hahah we barely got started on the Dune stuff, but we have ideas...

Anyway, stream now up at NPR.

http://www.npr.org/2015/02/08/383351951/first-listen-six-organs-of-admittance-hexadic

Yes! And cool piece Ned, but please make that Dune conversation happen.

should probably just be a whole publication devoted to psych-rockers talking about dune

Hah yeah man, I would read that. Also, I would read just about any interview with Ben. He is just such an engaging dude. The Ben/Elisa interview payoff is ridiculously high, folks just need to make them speak about stuff all the time.

cool ned!

This here record is a blast.

Co-sign 100%. This record rules. Touches on so much good guitar music, and Marc Masters hits up the territory nicely here:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/20074-hexadic/

Hadn't hit me that Sightings was in the sound mix first time through, but "Wax Chance" does hit on certain aspects of the Sightings sound (definitely Morgan's singing at times), which is of course A-OK by me. I think I am going to need to get the deck of cards too.

Really enjoying track 4 off of this ("Hesitant Grand Light", one of the mellower jams).

Quick question for anyone who has any real liner notes or info: there are two guitars on the tune, an acoustic and an electric. Are the songs done live, meaning is there a second guitarist at times, or is all the guitar Ben's? I assume the latter, but just curious.

Also the piano on this record is really cool (when present). This Chasny as well, or again, a different ensemble for each particular song?

all this talk and the Pfork review today had me excited, thinking it came out today. but man, gotta wait another week! really excited to hear this.

You can stream it if you do that kind of thing. I am gonna buy it, but I couldn't resist taking a listen.

Well, I am on listen four to he honest!

yeah, I know the stream is out there. this is the kind of record that I want to hold out for, but I may end up giving in.

I mean, it'll be a great one to wait for, don't deviate on my account. It is a great straight-through listen in my opinion, well suited to a serious listening session.

yeah this is great -- and as ned alludes to in his interview -- kind of accessible in a weird way? i mean, it's plenty noisy/strange, but it doesn't feel abrasive, i guess.
also - chasny's last name has to be one of the most regularly misspelled names.

I find it immensely pleasing! I mean, it is a little harsh tonally and non-obvious here and there, but it is so well executed and cool that I don't find it abrasive at all. I am pretty hard-wired for this kind of thing though. Broken-record time: I REALLY hope I get to see a show from this tour when it happens. This stuff should be amazing live.

haha yeah, i'm cranking it now, and thinking welllllll maybe it would sound a little abrasive to some people

This is like American Primitive being played inside of a black hole. Refreshing to hear something genuinely far-out sounding.

How is Chasny live lately? He's playing here in a week and I'm tempted to go but have no idea what he actually will do.

i think i'd rather see it live first but i'll buy the record when it comes out

last tour was awesome, enjoyed immensely even if he did not play the song i wanted to hear

ryan you should definitely go

Anyone seen any of this material live yet? Haven't looked at tour dates but for some reason didn't think they were announced/here yet.

Didn't realize Elisa Ambrogio is opening; going to buy tickets now.

So, about the system:

http://www.sixorgans.com/hexadic-differences/

hey does anyone know who the backing band members are for 6 organs and/or elisa a on this tour? will they be same people or different people?

I saw six organs & elisa about six weeks ago so it's possible they have a different crew this spring:
ben and noel von harmonson from comets on fire played behind elisa during the first half of her set. ben played guitar with noel on drums. the solo portion of her set was really fantastic.
six organs was backed by a bass player I'm not familiar with and noel on drums. dark and claustrophobic and really beautiful.

Think I saw a Twitter post about 'east coast' and 'west coast' band lineups. No word on where that leaves us Midwesterners...

weird
well i bought my ticket regardless, looking forward to whatever!

^^ posts that could be about any 6OOA show ever

Haha! True.

Fuck, I am not gonna see this tour and it bums me out. Ugh. All reports welcome. Elisa with Ben and Noel backing sounds amazing.

Well, for folks like me who aren't gonna get to see this tour, here is a streamable set from NYCTaper from an NYC show. Haven't listened yet, but excited to at least get to hear what they are getting up to on stage:

http://www.nyctaper.com/2015/05/six-organs-of-admittance-april-30-2015-babys-all-right-flacmp3streaming/

oh my god, a Coil cover

love u Ben

and they've also got sets from elisa ambrogio as well. god bless nyc taper!

Hah yeah, NYCTaper is doing good work generally. Gonna jam this later, psyched!

Wanna hear the Elisa with Ben sitting in, she has been playing those songs live for a while now and I am sure they are in a new shape from the time I saw them in January. These two are the best.

When I saw them in Ottawa his accompaniment was very low-key.

Cool, thanks. Fine with low-key.

And we got US acoustic/spoken word tour:

http://www.dragcity.com/news/2015-07-30-forget-about-ted-bentalks-hexadic

Note:

The first of their kind in the USA, The Hexadic System book talks may be music-free, but fret not: traditional Six O musical performances are part of the trip at separate venues in the same towns. Notably, they'll mark the premiere of Hexadic acoustic material, an album of which is slated for release later this year!

And further to my July post there, here's my interview with Ben about it all:

http://blog.sfgate.com/loaded/2015/08/25/ben-chasny-of-six-organs-of-admittance-on-his-book-tour/

mentioning a new album next year with Rangda, his trio with Richard Bishop and Chris Corsano

nice!

There's more to come but not all of it could be talked about yet!

Oh cool, thanks for sharing. Gonna read this now.

yaaaay more rangda!!

Ben Chasny apparently playing Hopscotch in a trio with Elisa Ambrogio & Tashi Dorji. Going to be broadcast around 3:15 on WXDU out of Durham. Could be amazing:

http://www.wxdu.org/

And we got Hexadic II announced for November. This one's an acoustic album. First track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPbZ41bNU-E

Nice!

ooh

Yeah he mentioned this to me a couple of weeks back when I did the interview but it wasn't for public knowledge yet. Should be a treat.

Ben on Twitter:

BTW- the 9 songs on Hexadic II are related to the 9 songs on Hexadic. Exultation Wave and Wax Chance use the same "tonal fields."

Ben just posted this list of songs that he was listening to circa "Dust & Chimes", which is getting reissued. Pretty sweet:

http://www.sixorgans.com/songs-that-inspired-six-organs/

great list, never heard of that L record before!

Have you heard the August Born record Sleeve? Really cool record Chasny did with the guy from L, recommend it highly.

Also, VHF Records has that whole L record available for streaming on its site (and like every other record, i.e., tons of Pelt/Vibracathedral Orchestra/Sunroof, crazy shit all around).

https://soundcloud.com/vhfrecords/sets/l-holy-letters-vhf-84

!!!

no, I think I heard abt August Born and then forgot, will investigate

thanks, man

Sure! That August Born is Drag City, so not streaming, but they may still have copies (I have been surprised at what DC has copies of now and again).

One of my favorite tunes from that August Born record:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MuBN1cMMS8

Total bummer folk/psych, perfect for Fall weather.

Nice new Six Organs of Admittance song available to listen to on the Avant Ghetto show on WFMU (open the link and you can open a pop-up player for the track, though the whole radio show is pretty great). From the upcoming Parallelogram series on Three Lobed Records. Very cool, kind of tunefully droney with a little sweet guitar action at the end. I love it:

https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/62834

Good write up by Tyler Wilcox for Aquarium Drunkard in re the nature/background of the track as well (it's from a split with William Tyler):

http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2015/09/30/six-organs-of-admittance-william-tyler-parallelogram/

This Six Organs tune rules.

A cool keyboard solo of all things, or at least that is what it sounds like.

Aquarius instore next Tuesday, livestreamed here:

http://www.pressuredrop.tv/artists/six-organs-of-admittance

And just reconfirming this! Alternate link:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEggLUGWRrQpzyhft-rUL0-wiHNHJ_5mL

Starts in an hour.

6OA also responsible for some of my fav blogposts of 2k15 http://www.sixorgans.com/influential-music-pt-3/

Those posts are great. Ben is the best.

new band/project for Chasny

http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/new-music/coypu-man-wolf-jackal-and-jungle-cat

And new album just announced, Burning the Threshold, in combination with a new song now streaming:

http://www.npr.org/2016/12/05/504173900/songs-we-love-six-organs-of-admittance-taken-by-ascent

From the PR guff:

With a spacious acoustic sound stage, Burning the Threshold may actually more resemble 2011's Asleep on the Floodplain or 2005's School Of The Flower. All of this is speculative, comparative, unverifiable - but our sense of what is true tells us that nobody plays acoustic music quite like Six Organs of Admittance, and that furthermore, nothing sounds so much like Burning the Threshold as Burning the Threshold.

Ben is in a particularly expansive mood this time around, singing and playing with all the thoughts affixed to a quiver of potent melodies launching forth and arcing out through dimensions, seeking infinite space. This space radiates out from the album's first single, "Taken By Ascent", a seven minute plus burner that engulfs the surrounding realm with empathetic waves. Featuring the thrilling vocal accompaniment of Haley Fohr, the massive drumming of Chris Corsano, and flourishing keys of Cooper Crain, "Taken By Ascent" exemplifies Six Organs of Admittance's furvid push into new and thrilling territory with Burning the Threshold.

oh man that sounds great

new song sounds sweet -- with that lineup, this can't go wrong ...

another song off the new album
https://sixorgansofadmittance.bandcamp.com/track/threshold-of-light

sounds a bit like School of the Flower/Shelter From the Ash-era SooA

Pretty cool, this tour's lineup is Ben, Elisa and Donovan Quinn -- guitar trio and vocal trio. Looking forward to the show (currently at the SF show, Meg Baird opening).

Ah fuck, i love Elisa (and Magik Markers). Saw Ben years back, really good if you like freewheeling raucous guitar improv. Enjoy!

yeah, that seems like a great tour ... new 6 organs is great! maybe one of ben's more welcoming LPs?

Wait so no Chris Corsano on the tour?

i don't think so?

He's touring Europe at the moment with Rodrigo Amado.

And a very great performance it was. You need to be logged in on FB to see, I think, but Kathy Harr took a video snippet:

https://www.facebook.com/katherine.harr/videos/vb.100001415534499/1417656364958201/?type=2&theater

Ben started and ended the set solo but otherwise it was as you see in the video. Really great to see three individually strong musicians do the business while following one particular lead. Great version of "Shelter From the Ash" as well, Elisa pulled off a barnburner of a solo.

speaking of donovan quinn, he just put out a pretty damn great mini album (with chasny contributions) over on bandcamp -- close to New Bums II: https://donovanquinn.bandcamp.com/album/apocrypha

He's been quietly doing all sorts of things over there.

New album in the new year:

https://sixorgansofadmittance.bandcamp.com/track/two-forms-moving

Nice! sounds very good, as per usual.
did we take note of Ben's recent Lagniappe Session where he covered the Melvins? Kind of amazing.
https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2019/07/23/the-lagniappe-sessions-six-organs-of-admittance/

I'm behind on this stuff, still haven't heard Burning The Threshold even

WELL

Another new track:

https://sixorgansofadmittance.bandcamp.com/track/haunted-and-known

Tour dates:

4/14/20 @ The Back Room at Colectivo in Milwaukee, WI
4/15/20 @ Constellation in Chicago, IL
4/16/20 @ Trinosophes in Detroit, MI
4/17/20 @ Longboat Hall in Toronto, ON
4/18/20 @ Bar Le Ritz PDB in Montreal, QC
4/20/20 @ Space in Portland, ME
4/21/20 @ Great Scott in Allston, MA
4/22/20 @ Columbus Theatre in Providence, RI
4/26/20 @ Johnny Brenda's in Philadelphia, PA
4/27/20 @ DC9 in Washington, DC
4/29/20 @ The Mothlight in Asheville, NC
4/30/20 @ The Earl in Atlanta, GA
5/1/20 @ Third Man Records in Nashville, TN
5/2/20 @ Zanzabar in Louisville, KY
5/11/20 @ Fox Cabaret in Vancouver, BC
5/12/20 @ Barboza in Seattle, WA
5/13/20 @ Mississippi Studios in Portland, OR
5/15/20 @ Cafe du Nord in San Francisco, CA
5/16/20 @ The Partisan in Merced, CA
5/17/20 @ Fernwood Resort in Big Sur, CA
5/18/20 @ The Crepe Place in Santa Cruz, CA
5/19/20 @ Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles, CA

New album sounds great (although I haven’t been able to keep up with him over the last years, so don’t really know how it compares to recent stuff)

new album is the best thing i've ever heard from him.

gotta wonder how often he breaks his guitar strings.

Tangentially related here, but New Bums (Chasny & Donovan Quinn) launched a new Instagram account last week. Does that mean we might get new material soon?

yeah! I think a new new bums album sometime in the spring.
and there's a great new 6o record coming out early next year too on three lobed.

Man I had forgotten about the cancelled tour earlier this year and I'm just annoyed all over again with 2020.

Sorry Ned!

I hadn't heard anything about new New Bums, but that's great news! Always appreciate more Six Organs as well!

yessss tyler hipped me to the latest donovan quinn album and it is incredibly good, psyched

I HATED that first New Bums record. Not for me.

Was just thinking about this guy this weekend, must check latest album. Previewed his Feb '08 Columbus OH show, which got pretty wild:
Six Organs Of Admittance
Friday @ the Ravari Room

Six Organs Of Admittance is defined by the guitars and vocals of Ben Chasny, who also ignites Comets On Fire. The latest Six Organs album,Shelter From The Ash, tends toward standard psych-folk-rock moves, but Chasny’s standards are high (Six Organs high). He knows how to finger-pick his way through waves of feedback, and, on the title track, “Final Wing,” and “Goddess Atonement”, his sustained, tilting notes successfully pan for stars in a blind sky. Still, live improvisation often provides wider, deeper mind-dilation, for this artist and his audience.

i liked a 6OA-adjacent record that came out this year — can't remember what it was now tho!

Hmm, can't think of what that might have been besides the 6oA album from February. There has been some new Howlin' Rain stuff this year from some of the other Comets of Fire dudes.

there was an actual six organs album that came out at the beginning of this very long year ...

here's new new bums! https://newbums.bandcamp.com/album/last-time-i-saw-grace

It’s been awhile since I’ve bought vinyl from Drag City, do they still not include digital downloads with them? Trying to decide how to get the new New Bums.

think if you buy it through bandcamp you'll get the mp3s — as far as I know Drag City still doesn't do download coupons w/ vinyl. https://newbums.bandcamp.com/album/last-time-i-saw-grace

Great record, maybe even better than the first one.

New 6 Organs coming sometime soon-ish on Three Lobed is absolutely awesome too.

Good call on bandcamp, didn't think of that. Thanks!

Excited for any and all new Chasny coming in!

The last Six Organs record rules. Still listen to it. Didn't even know there was a new one coming, glad to see Ben rolling stuff out.

Why yes please.

https://threelobed.bandcamp.com/album/the-veiled-sea

Per the label:

If you are deeply familiar with the Six Organs of Admittance discography, you know that synchronicities always seem planned and typically are preordained. To that end, it should likely come as no surprise that "The Veiled Sea" (June 25, Three Lobed Recordings) is both the twentieth proper Six Organs album and an installment in the Three Lobed 20th anniversary series. What may come as a surprise, however, is that "The Veiled Sea" is a Six Organs album that contains no acoustic guitar, features multiple tracks with searing/soaring electric guitar solos in excess of five minutes in continuous duration, a track with an out and out dance beat *and* a Faust cover. Yes, you read all of that correctly. Taken as a whole "The Veiled Sea" is like nothing else in the Six Organs - or any other - discography. Concepts of American guitar heroics, galactic postpunk, Popol Vuh-ish pastoralism and heavy psych are all thrown in the blender. "As alwa ys, Chasny finds the invisible threads between incongruous sound worlds" writes Brent Sirota in a wonderfully insightful essay on the album that we urge you to click through to read. "It is an improbable universe, but somehow it all connects." Let "The Veiled Sea" transport you far, far away.

and not just any Faust cover, the fuckin best Faust cover IMHO

bring it

this record is awesome

I'm ready

I knew this day would come

Last record was great. I am sure this one will be too. He is in a good zone right now, I love the things he is bringing into the mix.

Man, got distracted with life and forgot to order the new New Bums, sold out already! Two and a half weeks since release day and completely gone already. I'm not sure if this was an insanely small print run for some reason of whatever, but that is a huge bummer.

Ignore the extraneous "already" and "of" should be "or"

I don't know if this all ends up being fallout from the pressing plant delays or what, but it's kinda wild that I can easily order a copy of their debut record from seven years ago, but I gotta hit up eBay and discogs to buy the album that came out less than a month ago!

While I wait for that to get repressed, going back to Luminous Night, one of the gaps in my Chasny collection. This is great, I really dig the kind of bummer drone vibe.

And another new album due later in the year -- intriguingly, this is specifically a library music album done in conjuction with KPM in the UK

https://benchasny.bandcamp.com/album/the-intimate-landscape

Unfortunately I have to cancel the next few weeks of this tour. I’ll be picking back up in LA on the 19th of May. Apologies to everyone planning to see a show. I’ve never cancelled a 6Ø show and do not take it lightly. Thanks for understanding. More here: https://t.co/Q6yIgGyjYC

— Ben Chasny (@6organs) April 25, 2022

Thankfully not due to Ben getting COVID, but next few weeks of shows cancelled. Don't blame him for the decision in the least and, while it is never stated directly, it's hard not to imagine that the rising rates in Chicago being higher than, say, L.A, had something to do with it. Damn it people, mask up, get vaccinated and let's help these folks stay on the road.

Shame he had to do this, but don't blame him. I do always wonder if Comets on Fire will ever come out with something else. Miss his work in that band.

new album, time is glass, is out today. i'm digging it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a92TJT9ZrnQ

I think it's fantastic.

https://hermithut.bandcamp.com/album/remains

"A mix tape of tracks both culled from the archives and newer tracks recorded for this release. "

Perfect for Bandcamp Friday tomorrow!

lol whoops I snapped it right up, loving this one