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.

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.