Ascent - Six Organs of Admittance (#3, 2012)

I gotta move on with these Top 10 from 2012. I was floored by how much I dug this record. Some light drone-folk, some blistering guitar shredding, some pared-down tunes, some full-band... But all of it worked so well, and somehow fit together as an actual album.

Although a 3xLP vinyl retrospective of 6OA rarities did make it to #10 of 2009.



"Waswasa" from Ascent (2012)

If I don't go looking for full-album streaming, then it doesn't exist. You can get that opening rocker free on In vveirdo veritas (2012), volume 9 of our blog MP3 collections. Would it have been so inappropriate to name my own MP3 comp in the yearly top 10? So... "Waswasa" rocks out with a fury that Ben Chasney & friends don't really maintain or replicate elsewhere on this disc.



"One Thousand Birds" from Ascent (2012)

More full-bodied take on an 11-year-old freak-folk-fest. This also happened with "Close to the Sky," updated as a slow-burn jam with Comets on Fire, compared to the original version (from 2003). I didn't listen to his stuff back then, so that's pretty rad.



"Solar Ascent" from Ascent (2012)

I like that one quite a bit - kinda reminds me of Six Organs' probable influence on Barn Owl. Slow, stately, mystical, desert/space folk-drone. Last couple live (and full Glasgow show)... Show opener was this tune, I guess that's how he does it.



"Even If You Knew" from Ascent (2012)

Slowly growing epic. Also for what it's worth, I detect a hint of Jandek (#3 Live, 2009) in the recipe. Notsomuch in the cosmos-shattering ax-ploration parts, but in parts.

Haven't found the final smoke-out "Visions (from Io)." But in looking, I learned about a 2012 Three-Lobed Records RSD exclusive called Eight Trails, One Path - which includes the narcotic drone-out of "Stranded on Io." So there's some bonus 6OA from last year!

And I guess check out this Ascent-heavy 4-song live set, and/or this randomly-selected interview.

Genre - Folk + Rock Guitar-Heroics
Official - sixorgans.com/
Myspace - myspace.com/sixorgans
Location - California, USA

Review - Filter Magazine
Download - Amazon, iTunes
Purchase - Forced Exposure