Brightblack Morning Light ... WTF?

dude lives in Joshua Tree now apparently. he put out a bunch of cassettes or something didn't he?

played this stuff for the first time in yearsss while gardening over the weekend, so much love for them still.

weird that people aren't as familiar with the first record, it's by far my favorite and definitely the one i have the most sentimental attachment to. they popped up at some big sur folk fest thing around that time (2004?) and sorta blew everyone's minds, that organ sound + so much analog bassssssssss. one of the only records i was obsessed with at that time that i still am not ashamed to support.

does any of the other mid 2000s freak-folkish stuff hold up this well? i should probably bust out some sunburned hand of the man and tower recordings / mv+ee records too, but none of them establish this kind of ecstatic drone and consistent mood/texture. i guess bbml is more in the mazzy star / cowboy junkies vein of slow vibey country so maybe it's lazy to clump them in to freak folk, tho that was very much how they were received at the time

weird that people aren't as familiar with the first record, it's by far my favorite and definitely the one i have the most sentimental attachment to.

ala.cali.tucky? i've had a hard time finding it, still haven't heard it

freak folk was always a poor genre label. a lot of MV + EE records are good but 1.) not very consistent and 2.) in some cases, grossly derivative.

i can dig matt valentine's neil voice but i'd never pretend they are on par w/ BBML. mv + ee have some pretty great peaks though. gettin gone and space homestead are probably my favorite, though there is great stuff on most of their records

sun araw have a different vibe and repetoire than BBML but something like "on patrol" satisfies some similar needs for deep groovy blissed out spacey grooves

freak folk was always a poor genre label

definitely, lots and lots of stuff clumped in together that didn't make much sense as a whole. i like a lot of those records but you're definitely otm when you say

in some cases, grossly derivative

i think my main takeaway from that whole thing was basically "listen to the incredible string band ffs"

someone should do a good mv&ee comp tho, there are definitely some gems

yea and even some of the grossly derivative stuff is good!

sun araw is a good comparison actually, tho yeah def different in many ways

sun araw have a different vibe and repetoire than BBML but something like "on patrol" satisfies some similar needs for deep groovy blissed out spacey grooves

otm, i almost made this exct post a few weeks ago

he's v v different, but i'd think any BBML fans who haven't yet checked out Connan Mockasin wouldn't regret doing so:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Teyy1A_AJso

like if you swapped BBML's freak folk for freak decadent lounge crooner maybe

raaaaaaaaaaad

marcos if you arent in to this, u should be:

High Maintenance - Very good web-series. Discuss.

haha i enjoyed that episode gr80, thanks

was totally expecting the wife to freak out when she came home w/ the sick child, she was all happy for him that he kept the dress, haha

the closest thing I can think of to BBML also lumped in the freak folk category would be this all-time jomf track. ultra gentle groove

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vqqn2-COxk

cool! i've never really checked jackie o out. was put off by the wire magazine's fascination w/ the band name, felt like they dropped it all the time without actual reference to the music to feel cool or something.

that's definitely my favourite, they weren't always that chill though. there are bits on sticks & stones... by the no-neck blues band that hint towards a bit more to this sort of mellow groove but they never quite went there.

bit more toof this

I didn't have any knowledge of "freak folk" when I heard bbml, remember they reminded me of air (a band I grouped a lot of stuff around at that time, like black moth super rainbow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mqk2tewN1A)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj8z4cngKO0

sry i tried to https the black moth video didnt work out i see

connan mockasin track is great, will check out the album - really grew on me when watching the High Maintenance episode.

Common denominator could be a specific type of really mellow psychedelia.

maybe also bbml fans would be into Darkside?
http://youtu.be/d8NaWT0WvEE

was listening to bill callahan's dream river last night and it satisfies a similar need

not as stoned though. still very deep, groovy, and mellow

Well, there is a dub version of that album.

totally! forgot about that

it is 80 degrees and gorgeous today so the s/t album is feeling right

lemme go over to the grateful dead thread and say the same thing about "live/dead"

it's that time of year

yup

<3 this

Wish these guys were still together so I could force them to cover this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_59gKd1VJ0

wow can't believe it's been nearly 10 years since this record... they should do a deluxe reissue that comes with *TWO* pair of the cardboard glasses emblazoned with marijuana leaves!

hahs yes

Oh my god, I forgot about those glasses.

city lights
oppression
fence line
oppression

I always want to recommend La Hell Gang's "Thru Me Again" in this thread but it's really only the first two songs that have a (slightly) similar vibe. And it's definitely more rocky, especially as the album progresses into Atacama desert psych rock with a heavy Spacemen 3/Loop influence.

Strange synchronicity for this revive. I just yesterday bought the Brightblack S/T and Loop 'Gilded Eternity' CDs to jam in the car while driving around a very hot and wildfire hazy Seattle. Sounds like I need to check LA Hell Gang.

Thanks for the La Hell Gang recommendation - three tracks in and I'm sold.
https://lahellgang.bandcamp.com

Cool! And definitely check them out YL, it's good stuff.

Is anybody else into the original Rainywood recordings from 2002? Not the split with Bonny Billy but the self-released self-titled album? I'm fairly sure I downloaded them on the naturalismo blog like ten years ago, but I came across the MP3's on an old HD this week. I can't find an upload of them anywhere on google, it would be cool to throw them up onto youtube. I think I might do that.

Never heard that stuff. Was it widely released?

it's one of the few things on my discogs want list but i've never heard it.

would love to hear it

ysi?

they're easily found on slsk

i recall the 2006 album being a bit of a disappointment to me after a lot of listening to that one, though now the earlier stuff feels like a bit of an of-its-time new weird america artefact (not that i have anything against those) while the 2006 album still feels v distinct.

fondly remember seeing them play at an atp and shineywater getting increasingly irritated by the loud + inattentive audience, finally at the end going on a rant, except he still had reverb and delay all over his vocals, so who knows what he actually said.

Yeah you're right Elvis! I haven't been on slsk in a long time. You know what I still can't find? The 2010 split cassette with solo Nathan and Berry Shadows with Hope + Colm. I remembering 'preordering' that thing from Nathan via Myspace way back then and I'd say like a year later received a refund out of blue with a message that they oversold their stock, was very sad at the time. Have still held out to this day trying to avoid those x3 discogs costs :(

Live at Valley Society for the Evolutionary Arts
Brightblack Morning Light - (2006-06-17) Unitarian Meetinghouse, MA
https://archive.org/details/autonomous_battleship_collective_061706

This show—the way it was recorded, who they played with, everything about it—has always been some of my favorite BBML material. Slow and moody self-titled era songs. Mariee Sioux was sitting with them on this set. Brings back a lot of memories from college listening to this thing.