Well, Ben, you’re at it again. As if all your many solo efforts (Six Organs of Admittance), side-solo efforts (Benja Minh), bands (Comets on Fire, Badgerlore), and side projects (Rangda, August Born, and such) weren’t enough to keep those pickin’ fingers agile, you’ve gone and added another branch to the monolithic Tree of Chasny, this time carrying the name 200 Years. This new project is a collab between Chasny and Magik Markers’ Elisa Ambrogio that developed over an 11-month stretch where they holed up in a former toolshed in Seattle and wrote tunes, the results of which will comprise their forthcoming debut album. The two are probably hitting up Key Club Studios right now to start the documentation of those many months of hibernation-style guitar craft. Luck would have it that Drag City, the home of both their main projects, has already staked claim on whatever form this session takes and is planning on releasing the recordings in LP form sometime next year. Also planned is a follow-up, “more abstract” release on Ba Da Bing! as part of the label’s subscription series. Given the known musical wanderings of both musicians, I could take a swing at what this’ll come out sounding like, but I’d rather wait to hear it myself.
• Six Organs of Admittance: http://www.sixorgans.com
• Magik Markers: http://arbitrarysigns.blogspot.com
• Drag City: http://www.dragcity.com
• Ba Da Bing!: http://www.badabingrecords.com
[Photo: Ned Raggett]