Brightblack Morning Light ... WTF?

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It's a nice record, a very consistent vibe throughout, better than average, great sound, good singing, maybe there's a big fuss over it, but for what it is-- a superb summer chill-out record-- it's fantastic.

mcd (mcd), Saturday, 8 July 2006 23:11 (seventeen years ago) link

I have to interview these guys in a couple weeks and i'm sort of afraid. dude is supposed to be weird.

max (maxreax), Sunday, 9 July 2006 02:38 (seventeen years ago) link

you know what this is reminding me of? sandy bull's e plurbius unum, that's what.

GOD PUNCH TO HAWKWIND (yournullfame), Saturday, 22 July 2006 07:55 (seventeen years ago) link

right now my favorite bit is when the horns come in on the last part of "Star Blanket River Child"

non-CD track is called "Miwok Shapes" ... nice instrumental but I wouldn't sweat it

dmr (Renard), Saturday, 22 July 2006 12:59 (seventeen years ago) link

is this what used to be Rainywood?

kyle (akmonday), Saturday, 22 July 2006 14:23 (seventeen years ago) link

x-post yeah the instrumentation on the album is great. i love ray-bob/rabinyah/rachel hughes's rhodes.

max (maxreax), Saturday, 22 July 2006 14:48 (seventeen years ago) link

why in the hell are these guys opening for Os Mutantes on monday? i'm gonna have to arrive a bit late

Mike Hawk (jaxon), Saturday, 22 July 2006 16:35 (seventeen years ago) link

Anyone see the little feature on them in Rolling Stone recently? Sort of turned me off to the whole 'thing', but their record is pleasing... Their website is also completely insane.

trees (treesessplode), Saturday, 22 July 2006 17:49 (seventeen years ago) link

jaxon, have you heard them? i think you might like it! it's pretty soulful esp with the rhodes.

jed_ (jed), Saturday, 22 July 2006 18:04 (seventeen years ago) link

i actually haven't heard them, but everything i read on them at AMG made it sound like it was gonna be beardo slowcore. they compared them to Low. your description makes them sound a bit better.

Mike Hawk (jaxon), Saturday, 22 July 2006 22:12 (seventeen years ago) link

ah well they are fairly similar to Low (who i find soulful too at times!) but check out this mp3 from the matador site.

http://static.matadorrecords.com/mpeg/brightblack/brightblack_everybody_new.mp3

jed_ (jed), Saturday, 22 July 2006 22:23 (seventeen years ago) link

My only problem at this point is that they don't write real songs, so that their hippie chant shtick gets old quick ... though there is some dynamic work on the record (a few of those harmony vocals are inspired).

O'Connor (OConnorScribe), Saturday, 22 July 2006 22:35 (seventeen years ago) link

My only problem at this point is that they don't write real songs

guh, WHAT THE FUCK IS A REAL SONG?!

that post actually makes me want to see them now. i love hippy chant shit. that mp3 is actually pretty rad.

Mike Hawk (jaxon), Saturday, 22 July 2006 23:46 (seventeen years ago) link

still don't know why they're opening for Os Mutantes. SHOULDN'T WE HAVE BECK OR DAVID BYRNE OR TORTOISE? LIKE FUCK!

Mike Hawk (jaxon), Saturday, 22 July 2006 23:48 (seventeen years ago) link

bought this today after downloading it and playing it a lot. it comes with cardboard prismatic eyeglasses emblazoned with pot leaves.

breakfast pants (disco stu), Sunday, 23 July 2006 00:07 (seventeen years ago) link

the glasses are actually a fitting gimmick ... and those are always fun for a few minutes, right?

O'Connor (OConnorScribe), Sunday, 23 July 2006 01:20 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah...good to see a sense of humor when the musical content tends to be rather serious. at least that's how i'm going to read the glasses. there are definitely songs on this album (that mp3 being one of my faves) and i'm enthused about the production/spareness too. i guess you could take the glasses as a metaphor for the way the bluesy 1960s harmonizing is presented in a very 2006 way. i am no expert on bluesy 1960s harmonizing either but i am familiar with stuff like cream and that's the association i get however tangential it may be. there is also some pre-motorik motorik thing going on. what else is like this album anyway?

breakfast pants (disco stu), Sunday, 23 July 2006 02:19 (seventeen years ago) link

i guess the 1960s thing is also because this music is folk that feels somehow excited by electricity and that's how i interpret a lot of psychedelia.

breakfast pants (disco stu), Sunday, 23 July 2006 02:24 (seventeen years ago) link

it's pretty good music to fall asleep to
not sure if that's a compliment or not

kevin barking (arghargh), Sunday, 23 July 2006 03:18 (seventeen years ago) link

ARTHUR: #23 July 2006 MAG (ARTHUR 023) 0.01
On the cover: "Country Life" - Who are Brightback Morning Light and how did they make one of the most beautiful albums of our time? Daniel Chamberlin catches up with the nomadic quiet-souls under a full moon in Joshua Tree.

GOD PUNCH TO HAWKWIND (yournullfame), Sunday, 23 July 2006 03:49 (seventeen years ago) link

Whoever threw out Dusty Springfield above was spot on. Their ultra-hippie presentation is a little bit grating, but the record sounds like a Memphis session band got really stoned and hit "record." I love all the percussion used; chanting aside they are musically tight.

Sean Braud1s (Sean Braudis), Sunday, 23 July 2006 04:07 (seventeen years ago) link

anyone who wants to level the criticism that they only have one trick / one groove is not really wrong but it's a good enough groove that I am happy to indulge it for the length of 1 record

there is also some pre-motorik motorik thing going on.

I thought the same thing. for something that has the trappings of "here we are around the campfire making shit up" the drumming is really locked-on.

xpost - yep, exactly

dmr (Renard), Sunday, 23 July 2006 04:14 (seventeen years ago) link

when i talked to shineywater he gave no hint that the im-part-native-american-and-i-care-abt-the-wilderness thing (in a 40-minute interview he must have said "wilderness" about 500 times) was a put-on. the dude seems to be a dorky hippie.

surprisingly/perhaps not surprisingly they band he namechecked as starting it all was my bloody valentine. and he said "rural gospel." the musicians in the band besides shineywater and hughes (elias reitz of gojogo, paz lenchantin of a perfect circle, any macleod of white magic) are all pretty accomplished and the drumming especially is tres tight. the music has deep pockets, id say its more funky than anything else.

max (maxreax), Sunday, 23 July 2006 15:14 (seventeen years ago) link

they on the cover of Arthur Mag?

WTF?

kevin barking (arghargh), Sunday, 23 July 2006 15:31 (seventeen years ago) link

How is it surprising that they're on the cover of Arthur?

Mark (MarkR), Sunday, 23 July 2006 16:14 (seventeen years ago) link

I'm with everyone who thinks the music in toally incongruous with their professed nature vibe. In fact, I think the record sounds rather urban. And I also think it has some of that Spacemen 3 heroin-gospel vibe albeit in a very impressionaistic way. (However, they did talk up their love for My Bloody Valentine in their cover story for SF Weekly). I'd also say there's early-70s Floyd and some Mazzy Star dream pop in there as well. I think the new one is pretty darn catchy. It might be a cheap thrill, but it work.

QuantumNoise (Justin Farrar), Sunday, 23 July 2006 16:25 (seventeen years ago) link

id say its more funky than anything else.

funky is pushing it but it is pretty groovey.

jed_ (jed), Sunday, 23 July 2006 16:42 (seventeen years ago) link

SHOULDN'T WE HAVE BECK OR DAVID BYRNE OR TORTOISE?

Wow, talk about something that would have ME arriving late. Or not at all.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 23 July 2006 16:43 (seventeen years ago) link

for real, they are the #1 most likely band to be on the cover of Arthur

dmr (Renard), Sunday, 23 July 2006 17:43 (seventeen years ago) link

I also think it has some of that Spacemen 3 heroin-gospel vibe albeit in a very impressionaistic way.

OTM, but an even more accurate comparison, perhaps: Spiritualized's "Shine a Light."

Dave Segal (Da ve Segal), Sunday, 23 July 2006 18:08 (seventeen years ago) link

Also, Brightblack's cover appearance on Arthur = least surprising news all month.
I can't wait to read it.

Dave Segal (Da ve Segal), Sunday, 23 July 2006 18:09 (seventeen years ago) link

Kevin you got some 'splainin' to do re Arthur shockah!

PS I'm gravely sleep-deprived right now so pls to forgive for confessing I don't know if anything at this precise moment can excite me more than the idea of 'campfire motorik'

Roque Strew (RoqueStrew), Sunday, 23 July 2006 18:37 (seventeen years ago) link

i guess I don't know arthur well enough. just thought the album didn't merit coverage of that sort from any publication.

guess I was wrong

kevin barking (arghargh), Sunday, 23 July 2006 22:23 (seventeen years ago) link

trombone on track 2=great.

max (maxreax), Monday, 24 July 2006 00:31 (seventeen years ago) link

jaxon don't harsh my mellow

hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 24 July 2006 03:17 (seventeen years ago) link

i know, you gotta pay the bills and all that, but sir, i posted this: i love hippy chant shit. that mp3 is actually pretty rad.

Mike Hawk (jaxon), Monday, 24 July 2006 03:28 (seventeen years ago) link

go check 'em out. i don't think it's weird at all that they're opening for os mutantes. like a week later they're opening for vashti, too. get your ass to those shows, dude!

also stuff we're working on for fall/winter here and in the uk will be SICK, bros.

hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 24 July 2006 03:42 (seventeen years ago) link

apparently people think this is really good


:\

kevin barking (arghargh), Monday, 24 July 2006 03:53 (seventeen years ago) link

i don't understand the SHOCK at people enjoying this band. good formula, good schtick, good sound.

cutty (mcutt), Monday, 24 July 2006 04:00 (seventeen years ago) link

i am enjoying this album ... WTF?

cousin larry bundgee (bundgee), Monday, 24 July 2006 04:03 (seventeen years ago) link

Who knows? Maybe I need to fall off the marijuana wagon for further inspection.

probably

cutty (mcutt), Monday, 24 July 2006 04:10 (seventeen years ago) link

all this 'they don't write real songs' shit has to cease and desist

gear (gear), Monday, 24 July 2006 04:15 (seventeen years ago) link

not trying to rain on parade. it's nice and all. it's just the songs all sound the same. the song writing is rather i'm a hippie, wait no i'm actually not, and the whole "schtick" to put it is a bit tired. just surprised it's a "schtick" people are still into

i don't even think it's bad. I just think it's incredibly pedestrian

kevin barking (arghargh), Monday, 24 July 2006 04:19 (seventeen years ago) link

xpost:

i don't even know what poor songwriting means.
-- The JaXoN 5 (jaso...), March 10th, 2005

Mike Hawk (jaxon), Monday, 24 July 2006 04:22 (seventeen years ago) link

i've never heard the "spiritualized-americanized-on-the-campground" schtick, can you please tell me what other bands make this sound "tired"?

thanks.

cutty (mcutt), Monday, 24 July 2006 04:24 (seventeen years ago) link

As far as I'm concerned, this band is already on the positive side just for not being the Polyphonic Spree.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 24 July 2006 04:43 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah kevin barking, please tell cuz i want more of this stuff, where have you been finding it????

daveSegal totally OTM re: Shine a Brightblack Morning Light.

JayBabcock (jabbercocky), Monday, 24 July 2006 04:46 (seventeen years ago) link

remember when people liked the polyphonic spree?

gear (gear), Monday, 24 July 2006 04:50 (seventeen years ago) link

the whole "schtick" to put it is a bit tired. just surprised it's a "schtick" people are still into
[sic]

See, I don't think it's a "schtick." I think Brightblack really are these authentic,
back-to-nature types who happen to make trippy, soulful, gently psychedelic, campfire blues rock.
YMMV, of course.

Dave Segal (Da ve Segal), Monday, 24 July 2006 05:12 (seventeen years ago) link

Part of me is actually aggressively down on that approach at present if only because I spent the evening listening to Pet Shop Boys B-sides and hate younger groups that are 'real' music dullards. Which Brightblack might not be. I hope. I might have to kill them if they are.

remember when people liked the polyphonic spree?

It was a sad, cruel time...

Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 24 July 2006 05:21 (seventeen years ago) link

they're easily found on slsk

Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 9 December 2017 20:18 (six years ago) link

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 :(

Neal Cassady, Sunday, 17 December 2017 17:31 (six years ago) link

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.

Neal Cassady, Tuesday, 19 December 2017 16:43 (six years ago) link

nice, thanks. I have a live recording I made of them on tour with a trombone player, I should get that out there.

sleeve, Tuesday, 19 December 2017 16:45 (six years ago) link

Yeah man, absolutely.

The Fortnightly Intruder (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Wednesday, 20 December 2017 09:41 (six years ago) link

Man this Rainywood stuff is good. I prefer BBL but it's great.

The Fortnightly Intruder (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Wednesday, 20 December 2017 10:16 (six years ago) link

BBML?

The Fortnightly Intruder (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Wednesday, 20 December 2017 10:18 (six years ago) link

seven months pass...

I still want a dub album

Paul Reverse and the rediaRs (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Thursday, 16 August 2018 22:18 (five years ago) link

cosign

she carries a torch. two torches, actually (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Friday, 17 August 2018 02:47 (five years ago) link

one month passes...

khruangbin

marcos, Tuesday, 18 September 2018 23:57 (five years ago) link

kindred spirits

marcos, Tuesday, 18 September 2018 23:57 (five years ago) link

seven months pass...

Currently blasting at the S/T cd at home and peering out at the sparkling lake with the 3D glasses on. It's BML season, friends!

Yelploaf, Thursday, 9 May 2019 17:59 (four years ago) link

seven months pass...

Hey Sleeve, I never saw your reply about your live recording. Wow, yes please—I'd love to hear that! I am on a hunt for hearing everything BBML-related. Here I will start. Last year I finally got a copy of that Nathan Shineywater/Hope Sandoval/Colm O’Ciosoig cassette and have just uploaded it to youtube.

Side A:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hze4SQ1Gp14

Side B:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1uepPqRM5U

Neal Cassady, Thursday, 19 December 2019 06:01 (four years ago) link

he he I have that cassette

at the time I was dissapointed it didn't sound like the album I enjoyed, but listening now sounds p cool

corrs unplugged, Thursday, 19 December 2019 08:07 (four years ago) link

My favorite BML experience was years ago I was playing the CD for a friend at the end of a long summer evening of drinking. We were sitting on the back deck, my friend was wearing the glasses that came with the CD, and he was lighting cigarettes off of a citronella candle in a metal bucket that had been going all night. In the morning light I found that he had accidentally dumped a huge mess of citronella wax all over the table, which ran through the wooden table slats and hardened all over the deck. Good times.

Mazzy Tsar (PBKR), Thursday, 19 December 2019 15:37 (four years ago) link

Neal lemme work on that, I'm pretty busy atm but will try to update here when I get my shit together

sleeve, Friday, 20 December 2019 01:51 (four years ago) link

two months pass...

ok so the song "Just One Time" by Juicy Lucy (better known as "Mary Anne" covered by Spacemen 3) really oddly reminds me of BML in some ways, especially the... what is that sound? harmonica? underblown sax? synth? and the kind of faded drumming.

Corduroy Stridulations (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Monday, 24 February 2020 10:28 (four years ago) link

underblown sax, yeah

i really miss this band. no one remotely close this warmy souplesse i get from them. also, great ppl

gaudio, Monday, 24 February 2020 14:05 (four years ago) link

also, great ppl

lol what

Paul Ponzi, Monday, 24 February 2020 14:28 (four years ago) link

are they bad ppl?

akm, Monday, 24 February 2020 14:34 (four years ago) link

great fucking guys, or couple, if they're still one, more like it

gaudio, Monday, 24 February 2020 14:35 (four years ago) link

from what I've heard they have broken up and things are not going so well for Nathan

sleeve, Monday, 24 February 2020 15:14 (four years ago) link

nine months pass...

Listening to the new Deradoorian album (which is great btw -- pleasantly dark/murky production, with the rhythm section pounding out motorik beats a la Stereolab) and the deep bass groove peppered with jazzy flute on the track "Devil's Market" has me reminiscing about this band :'(

handsome boy modelling software (bernard snowy), Wednesday, 25 November 2020 18:56 (three years ago) link

It's only a little reminiscent of BML to my ears... but it is great, thanks for posting about it.

Splack Packath (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Saturday, 28 November 2020 14:46 (three years ago) link

seven months pass...

Alright here is something that should be fairly unheard. BBML's Maida Vale session for Radio 1 back in 2006, a couple months after the first LP. This also includes two interview segments spliced between their recording session. I was determined to find this after coming across a random cell phone video of them doing a soundtrack at Maida Vale, uploaded to Youtube in 2006. Was not so easy given that BBC's archive doesn't go back that far. But luckily there's folks out there archiving random DJ sets from years and years ago, had to grab the whole set and pull out just the Brightblack segments. Anyway, it's great sounding and a fun listen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa9Jo5k-Rdc

Neal Cassady, Thursday, 22 July 2021 04:08 (two years ago) link

one of the very few bands I keep pulling to appear higher or at all in best of 00s lists. peak vibe albums.

Western® with Bacon Flavor, Thursday, 22 July 2021 06:30 (two years ago) link

This sounds great - thanks for the heads-up! I did have to skip the interviews though. Needs a warning: 'contains hippies, two of them'.

Vanishing Point (Chinaski), Thursday, 22 July 2021 07:43 (two years ago) link

four months pass...

On the one hand I feel like I need a hundred more albums of this music, on the other hand I don't think I ever really *listened to* "Miwok Shapes" (the final song on the s/t) until right this instant

Jimmy Iovine Eat World (bernard snowy), Saturday, 27 November 2021 22:00 (two years ago) link

Not saying that track is up there with their best work (it's not) just that there is plenty of listening left to do within their small discography.

Jimmy Iovine Eat World (bernard snowy), Saturday, 27 November 2021 22:04 (two years ago) link

So this revive inspired me to finally get off my ass and upload this live tape I made.

They played in Eugene at Sam Bond's garage in October 2006, they had a trombone player. The tape isn't great, maybe a B- as far as audience recordings go, I was a bit too far back so there's crowd noise and chatter. But hey, this is the first time I've made it available. These are FLAC files, feel free to upload on DIME or whatever since I am too lazy.

https://www.mediafire.com/file/p0wnbr26i9rerlg/Brightblack_Morning_Light_-_Sam_Bond%2527s%252C_October_2006.zip/file
https://www.mediafire.com/file/2h5up0udyr66v4i/Brightblack_Morning_Light_-_Sam_Bond%2527s%252C_October_2006_part_2.zip/file

chaos goblin line cook (sleeve), Sunday, 28 November 2021 00:00 (two years ago) link

Thanks Sleeve! I’m gonna delve into this tomorrow and follow up again after listening. Appreciate the heads up too in the guitar thread, take care.

Neal Cassady, Thursday, 2 December 2021 03:00 (two years ago) link


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