10-The Michigan Daily - Monday, July 31, 2006
Chasny fli'es under the radr
By Uloyd Cargo
Daily Aets Writer
Quietly, Ben Chasny is building one of the most enviable discog-
raphies in post-millennium rock music (well, quietly under his acous-
tic moniker of Six Organs of Admittance, but
tpar-scorchingly loud with his psyche-rock outfit Six Organs of
Comets on Fire). It's more than a bit puzzling Admittance
that Devendra Banhart is hailed as a genius tn
the freak-folk scene and Dungen can garner rave The Sun Awakens
reviews on Pitchfork, but Chasny can release stag City
better records in each genre and still be rela-
tively slept on.
The Sun Awakens isa wake up call. 2005's School of the Flower, Six
Organs's previous effort, was excellent, providing a glimpse at the softer
side of Chasny with mostly solo acoustic tunes that sounded like a long-
Jost record from 1971. This time around, Chasny has taken Six Organs
a little further towards the acid-soaked riffing of Comets on Fire, all the
while maintimning a completely separate identity - avoiding sounding
like an acoustic version of those San-Fran psych warriors.
In fact, 2006 may well be the year of Chasny, with the next Com-
ets on Fire record, Avatar, due August 8, (but with a promo copy
already in heavy rotation in this writer's stereo) showing significant
growth in almost every way - lyrically, vocally, tonically, cosmi-
cally, you name it.
It seems as if the two projects have heavily influenced each otherwith
Comets on Fire inspiring songs like the drawn-out, drone-laden "River
of Transfiguration" and the rollicking "Black Wall" and Six Organs giv-
ing that groupsa lesson in composition and arrangements.
The Sun Awakens is another step away from the freak-folk scene,
as defined by the 2004 Devendra Banhart curated compilation Golden
Apples of the Sun (which featured a Six Organs of Admittance track,
"Hazy SF"). But it seems more like a progression away than a retreat
from that sound, building upon that whole stoned guy with a beard and
a Martin aesthetic. The addition of Comets drummer Noel Harmonson
and a ton of guitar pedals furthers the distance between Six Organs and
the pared-down, to-fi sound of the Golden Apples crowd.
It's rare these days for an artist to have multiple, thriving, active
bands that put out increasingly great releases at a reasonable pace (are
you listening Matthew Friedberger?!), and it's also increasingly rare
for an artist so talented to escape the Internet hype machine that makes
and destroys careers in the indie scene. Chasny has done it by making
Courtesy ot Drag City
Apparently this guy missed the point of "Grizzly Man."
incredibly raw music that defies easy classification, and his star shows
no signs of fading anytime soon. The Sun Awakens and soonAvatar,
are two more pillars of the new music pantheon Chasny is building
- they are records built to last rather than some Pitchfork flavor-of-
the-month bullshit, and they are hopefully harbingers of more mind-
bending music to come.
Cash's 'Highways' a fitting end to a long road
By Elyssa Poarlsteln
5Daily Arts Writer
Old age, regret, morality and redemption are
matters everybody must confront throughout
life; the y are also earnest
fixtures in the music of
the great Johnny Cash. In Johnny Cash
American V:" A Hundred American V: A
Highways, his last recorded Hundred Highways
album, Cash explores these Uivsersal
issues with exception-
al passion.
American V commences with guitar, piano
and violin - continuing in Cash's tradition of
juxtaposing these tranquil instrumentals with
morbidly reflective lyrics.
Of course, they wouldn't be complete without
Cash's famous rhythm section, the Tennessee
Three, currently built of W. S. Holland and origi-
nals Dave Roe and Bob Wootton.
Doubtlessly a result of Cash's old age, many
of his lyrics seem to represent a quest to come
to terms with his life decisions - which inevi-
tably lead to ruminations on romance. "Roses
of My Heart" and "Love's Been Good to Me"
are typical Cash ballads, but "If You Could Read
My Mind," arguably the LP's most beautiful
track, succeeds above and beyond a normal lov-
ing croon. Cash heart-wrenchingly yearns for his
unnamed love to return, but knows that what they
once had can never be again - that it's merely a
ghost of the past.
Along the lines of old age, Cash reflects on the
idea of God and redemption. During "Help Me"
he laments, "But as sure as God made black and
white / What's done in the dark will be brought
to the light:' Several songs on the album possess
a similar, frigidly catchy quality. Increasingly
chilling is "God's Gonna Cut You Down," which
tells the toils of how one day, God will bring jus-
tice to "ramblers" and "back biters."
On the more hopeful end, "I Came to Believe"
contains almost prayer-like lyrics: "I pray that
God / Will give me courage / To carry on! 'Til
we meet again," hr chants.
Sorrow, another common emotion in the music
of "The Man in Black,' makes an unusual pres-
ence in "On the Evenine Train." "The baby's
eyes are red from weepin' / His little heart is
filled with pain / Oh daddy it cried!/ They're tak-
ing momma away from us I on the evenin' train."
Not many songs capture such a subject in the
calm, aching manner of Cash.
"I'm Free from the Chain Gang Now," the
CD's final song, overtly explores prison and the
life of the outlaw. Despite the fact that Cash never
served a prison sentence (just a couple overnight-
ers), the song comes across as genuine and mov-
ing. Perhaps the chains represent other figurative
aspects of Cash's life, though he never specifies
what they might be.
While most of Cash's music has mirrored a
number of dim, pensive subjects, American V:" A
Hundred Highways comes across excentionally
with Cash's languishing spirit.