News
7/21/08--"Hologram Buffalo"
MP3
We're happy to unveil "Hologram Buffalo" - (mp3), the first legally-leaked track from the forthcoming Brightblack Morning Light LP/CD 'Motion To Rejoin' (September 23). The 2nd Matador album (and 3rd overall) from the 'Bama/Arcata, CA spawned / New Mexico-based duo of Rachael Hughes and Nathan Shineywater is one of the more all-encompassing listening experiences you'll have this year or any other. There's no bin in your record store marked "understated intensity", but perhaps there oughta be. Calling Brightblack Morninglight "America's finest psychelic/soul/dub/folk/experimental band" is a rather trite way of dealing with the enormity of an album this beautiful and haunting, but that's what do around here, we deal in slogans. Theirs is a carefully crafted hybrid that sounds as instantly familiar as it is unprecedented, and in 'Motion To Rejoin', they might well have conjured the perfect Saturday night and Sunday morning album all on the same disc.
We encourage our friends in Denver area (and even people we're ambivalent about) to attend Brightblack Morning Light's performance at the Larimer Lounge on August 8, with support provided by William Fowler Collins. Additional North American tour dates will be confirmed shortly.
6/30/08
We're very happy to announce Brightblack Morning Light's new album and second for Matador, Motion To Rejoin. Release is scheduled for September 23 in most of the world, and November 10 in the UK and Europe on LP and CD.
N.D. Shineywater and Rachael Hughes recorded the album entirely via solar power in their adobe house in the mesas of New Mexico.
4/11/08
Brightblack Morning Light recently completed recording and mixing their 2nd Matador LP/CD (release details coming soon), and Nathan Shineywater was kind enough to send us the following postcard (in electronic form). Needless to say, we're looking forward to this like crazy.
The TapeOp facility is digging how it was recorded with only 4 solar panels, which provides a quarter of the electricity needed for the usual household.
I heard the stockmarket almost crashed this weekend, while we were using a pump organ that was made on the day the stockmarket fell in the Depression! whew!
Most of the songs where sung with an arrowhead held in the mouth I found near the adobe, on the site of the last Spanish-Indian war, along the Rio Grande. The only lasting successful war made against europeans was lead by these Pueblos, who still maintain their Pueblos & languages. Interestingly enough, the USA's most potent weapon, the Atom bomb was first tested just below these same Pueblos...Documentation proves the radiation from these Atom bombs then drifted north into the Pueblo land.
So it leads to me think something in the land of New Mexico is designing more than we have a collective handle on.... a power maybe only seen in weapons right now, but may have more dimensions.... hopefully of the healing kind.
7/10/07--Brightblack Morning Light Ringtones Now Available
Matador Records is pleased to announce a new ringtones service. We currently have ringtones available from 11 artists, including Brightblack Morning Light, and more are coming soon. mobile.matadorrecords.com is the new home for all your Matador ringtones needs.
3/29/07--Brightblack Morning Light: It's Easy Being Green
BRIGHTBLACK MORNING LIGHT have just embarked on their two- month Winter Crystal Totem Turr–a trek that will span the continent, from Anacortes, WA to Annandale, NY. That is a lot of ground to cover, and traveling in the style of the times (powered by the internal combustion engine) it will create a lot of carbon emissions. As you can see from the turr's title, we've already eliminated our consumption of the letter "o" by 30%, but we wanted to do more. Matador & BBML are partnering with Terrapass to offset the emissions from the Brightblack Morning Light's tour.
Here's how it works:
For every purchase you make via the Matador Store for the next two months, Matador will purchase 50lbs of CO2 offset from Terrapass. Being the big supporters they are, Terrapass is going to match 10% of our contribution.
We've calculated that the band's van, all concert attendees travel to and from the venue and electricity to power the show will create about 30,000 lbs of CO2 emmissions. Our goal is to offset every single ounce.
Every BBML show has maintained a tradition of providing free, the seasonal Defenders Of Wildlife journal, this tour will feature the 60th Anniversary Edition.
"No blood for oil! End War!"
N.SHINEYWATER
04-17 Denton, TX - Hailey's
04-18 Austin, TX - Emo's
04-19 Houston, TX - Mink
04-20 New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks
04-22 Birmingham, AL - Bottletree
04-23 Atlanta, GA - The Earl
04-25 Asheville, NC - Grey Eagle
04-26 Bloomington, IN - Landlocked Music
04-27 Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle
04-30 Buffalo, NY - Soundlab
05-02 Middletown, CT - Eclectic House
05-04 Annandale-on-Hudson, NY - Bard College
05-05 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
05-06 Brooklyn, NY - Southpaw
05-09 South Burlington, VT - Higher Ground
05-20 Somerset, England - Butlins Minehead (ATP vs. the Fans)
1/30/07 — New US Tour, new pictures in the gallery
Check out the tour page for the full scoop on Brightblack's upcoming nationwide tour. The dates start in February and stretch to May, and there are more to come, so check back if your city isn't on there yet. Plus, there are a pair of new photos up in the gallery courtesy of photographer Thomas Campbell.
11/30/06 — Brightblack at All Tomorrow's Parties
Brightblack Morning Light have been asked to play at the bestest festival in the world, All Tomorrow's Parties in Minehead, UK. They will be playing over the weekend of 18th-20th May. Half of the acts playing are chosen by the good people of ATP, and half are chosen by YOU, the ticket-buying public. You can find out all about it here.
08/29/06 — New Tours
There is little more than a week until Brightblack Morning Light kick off their new West Coast tour supporting Mojave 3. And check out this work ethic! They're not following this coastal barnstormer with rest and relaxation. No siree, BBML are following it with their first ever tour of the UK. Check out the full details here.
08/16/06 — Discography Updated
Brightblack Morning Light's discography page has been updated. We're trying to be completists here, so let us know if anything is missing. Check it out here.
07/26/06 — Arthur cover, Quiet Quiet fest
In addition to making the cover of the most recent edition
of Arthur, Brightblack Morning Light's first round
of US touring in support of their Matador debut CD/LP has
been a roaring success, with new friends (sounds so much better
than "converts", don't you think?) made in every town. While
Autumn dates in the UK are currently being booked, the following
Nabob curated event caught our eye...and hung onto it!
Quiet
Quiet
Friday, August 11
The Henry Miller Library and ((((folkYEAH!)))) present
BRIGHTBLACK MORNING LIGHT
SUNROOF!
GRASS
LAVENDER DIAMOND
HUAYLLIPACHA
DANIEL ARCUS INCUS ULULAT HIGGS,
The Henry Miller Library, Big Sur, CA, 831-667-2574
06/01/06 —New Release, New Tour, New Everything!
PEACE DOSE
Leonard Peltier has been on our minds again lately. When will
they free Leonard Peltier?
In these times when people focus on the foreign Wars or their
own struggles, it's important to keep in touch with issues
occuring on our own land, including the release of Leonard
Peltier. If you don't know about the American Indian Movement
or how the US Government framed Peltier, then educate yourself,
sign some online petitions, and spread the know. www.freepeltier.org
ONLY A BEAUTIFUL TENT PLACE
 |
| Photo
by THOMAS CAMPBELL PHOTOGRAPHY & NABOBCATism. |
We
are set to be traveling around this summer, asking folks to
tote crystals to our shows.
We'd also like input on any STELLAR LUMINATIONAL camping spots
within or nearby the outer areas of your city.
If you have a spot in mind,
send us a full description/directions to:
family@thebrightblackmorninglight.com
CRYSTAL TOTEM TURR
All dates with Mariee Souix opening, who will also be singing
with the band. Other openers appear as marked or are TBA
Jun 3 - Missoula, MT Higgens Alley Upstairs
Jun 4 - Whitefish, MT - Grouse Mountain Lodge
Jun 7 - Minnepolis, MN - Triple Rock w/ Lights
Jun 9 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle w/ Lights
Jun 10 - Louisville, KY - Headliners Music Hall w/ Lights
Jun 11 - Indianapolis, IN - Birdys w/ Lights
Jun 12 - Morgantown, WV - 123 Pleasant St w/ Lights, Feathers
Jun 15 - South, VT - Higher Ground w/ Lights
Jun 16 - Somerville, MA - Pas Lounge w/ Espers
Jun 17 - Amherst, MA - Amherst Unitarian Meetinghouse w/ Espers,
Feathers, Jesse Sparhawk, and James Blackshaw
Jun 18 - Providence, RI - AS220 w/ Espers
Jun 21 - Brooklyn, NY - South Paw w/ Espers
Jun 23 - New York, NY - Mercury Lounge w/ Espers
Jun 24 - Baltimore, MD - Talking Head w/ Espers
Jun 25 - Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church w/ Espers
Jun 26 - Washington DC - DC9 w/ Espers
Jun 29 - Wilmington NC - Soapbox Laundrolounge
Jun 30 - Asheville, NC - Harvest Records
Jul 1 - Athens, GA - Caledonia Lounge
Jul 2 - Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn
Jul 3 - Birmingham, AL - Bottletree
Jul 6 - Saint, FL - Cafe Eleven
Jul 7 - Gainesville, FL - Common Grounds
Jul 8 - Orlando, FL - Wills Pub
Jul 11 - New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks
Jul 12 - Austin, TX - Emos Jr. w/ Daniel Higgs
Jul 13 - Denton, TX - Dans Silverleaf w/ Daniel Higgs
Jul 15 - Denver, CO - Hi Dive w/ Daniel Higgs
Jul 20 - Albuquerque, NM - Launchpad w/Daniel Higgs
Jul 23 - Phoenix, AZ - CANCELLED
Jul 21 - Tucson, AZ - Plush w/ Daniel Higgs
Jul 22 - Phoenix, AZ - Trunk Space *
Jul 24 - San Francisco, CA - Fillmore Auditorium w/ Os Mutantes
Jul 28 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour w/ Daniel Higgs
Jul 29 - Berkeley, CA - Starry Plough w/ Daniel Higgs
Jul 30 - San Francisco, CA - Cafe Du Nord w/Daniel Higgs
Aug 13 - Saratoga, CA - Bleeding Edge Festival
Though 'Brightblack Morning Light' LP/CD (OLE 671-1/2) has
an official release date of June 20, you can find it right
this very moment at terrific record stores that sell serious
musics (but somehow neglect those customers wishing to purchase
an HD widescreen TV at the same time).
We also are honored to reproduce this review from the Other
Music newsletter:
This astounding and extraordinarily chill, confident debut
album from Northern California duo Brightblack Morning Light
saunters along like some shaman from afar, gathering influence
and followers in legion while reinventing the past. It's the
kind of record that stands up to countless sonic references
and actually succeeds in combining them so completely that
it seems simple and off-handed, like people have been making
music like this for years. And, in ways, they have: early
Royal Trux, Ry Cooder, Can, Opal, the Stones' quieter moments
on Beggars Banquet ...all of these groups have contributed
to the pond of influence in which Brightblack Morning Light
suggestively wades. Long-form blues drones that don't forget
the bell-shaped electric piano chord clusters that make us
all smile, are presented, primed to seduce with the kind of
understated rhythmic constancy that was thought to be lost
in a haze of smoke in Jack Nitzsche's studio setup. This is
the kind of record that has been threatening to drop for years,
if only someone could find the right threads and tie them
together. Fortunately, that moment is now, and the effort
so unbelievably complete, that to call the album any less
than a benchmark for modern underground music would be to
lie to yourself. Brightblack Morning Light will burn hot and
slow all summer long, and well beyond. [DM]
05/30/06 — Amazing new photo
Gallery.
05/23/06 — Biography
posted
Bio.
04/24/06 — Whoops!
Our apologies -- here is the correct version of the MP3
Sorry everyone -- we goofed and posted the not-final version
of Everybody Daylight. The correct version is up on site
and should be downloaded from the music
page.
04/18/06 — First
MP3 posted
The first MP3 from the album has been posted. It's entitled
"Everybody Daylight" and is available from the
music page.
04/17/06 — May/June/July
tour dates announced with Espers and others
 |
A big tour has been announced starting in late May, playing
with Espers and other exciting people... with many more dates
still to come in. Check the tours page.
03/10/06 — MySpace
page and non-Matador SXSW events
Nabob and Rabob's very offical MySpace page can be found at
http://www.myspace.com/brightblackmorninglight
You can check out BBML at the following events during South
By Southwest:
March 15 - Matador's Monsters Of Multi-Sub Genres, Stubbs,
BBQ
March 16 - Victory Grill, 1104 E. 11 St., Vice party, 2:30pm
In addition
4/2/06 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall NOISE
POP
01/24/06 — The latest from Nabob
and Rabob
"Quiet Quiet Ocean Spell is a rural gathering curated
by myself to be held in late January along the Big Sur River
in Northern California. Luminated song sharing ceremonies
will occur for two days and I and I rastafari will chant down
Babylon Sytem and light white candles......
"Wilderness is a place where the hand of humankind has
not tainted....
Wilderness is a place that has native wildlife around....
Ultimately the Quiet Quiet Ocean Spell goal will be to encourage
both the bands and the listeners to acknowledge Wilderness,
in both little ways and the ways that ripple and swell into
something that could breath life into the Heart......."
 |
by
Nabob |
11/12/05 — Another
letter from the band
Additional correspondence from the band's recording retreat:
"We were recalling the other day a story from France. When
clocks first came there, folks destroyed them, not subscribing
to what it represented. The government would build clocks
in village squares and then townsfolk would hurl rocks at
the them and riot.
"The advent of clocks meant that labor would then be measured
in a way that the townsfolk knew would eventually disempower
the laborer. Clocks however, are only a tool for measurement.
Underlying this commotion of disempowerment and rebellion
we see that the evil began in those looking for power to overcome.
And then it comes down to a subject as simple as What Is Chosen
To Be Overcome.
"To be free, it is our duty to choose what to overcome. Grow
your spinach in the shade and your tomatoes in full sunlight."
09/06/05 — Dialog
at the recording studio
Chris Lombardi left his laptop open and aside from our sending
myspace invitations to everyone we could find who said "Conan
The Destroyer" was their favorite film, we also uncovered
the following confidential correspondence between Chris and
Na-Bob of Brightblack Morninglight, who are currently recording
their Matador debut.
NABOB: Well things are going very wonderful & rural Idyllwild
recording was full & bright.
NABOB: We spent each day with the nearby waterfalls @ the
creek & then worked into the evening....
 |
| CHATEAUX:
Photo by Brother Elias Reitz |
NABOB:
This unity with the creek made everyone get on the same page
& really focus on what they could offer the work without any
hangups....everyone there was really proud of what happened....and
the creek times shaped it. Pictured is Paz, me, then Rabob,
then Magic Andy on the trapkit.
 |
| NA-RABOB:
Photo by Magic Andy Macleod |
CHRIS: Very cool, what the hell is that yr holding in the
picture?
NABOB: That's a channeling crystal from a rural woman I met
in Idyllwild.
NABOB: From her I got enuff crystals to give as gifts to all
the artists involved. I wrapped them in rabbit pelts underneath
an oak tree and drank Tecate beer....Rabob helped prepare
them too. We tied the pelts together with black hemp string.
Inside each pelt was a crystal for channeling and tied to
the pelt on the outside was a leaf with each person's name
on it....I wrote the names on the leaves....they didn't just
appear....but it looked like they did, if you can imagine
your friend's name growing on a tree's leaf.
06/08/05 — Recording
plans
Nabob writes:
"Andy Macleod (ex-WHITE MAGIC) rejoined with BRIGHTBLACK
this month and made a short film of NABOB & RABOB within a
coastal Miwok teepee playing a hand game. The Miwok were a
gentle group of Northern California indians. The llittle brown
furry people called Ewoks (who were also gentle) are named
after the Miwoks. Andy also wove beats with us on a drum kit
in a gas station while here...
"The gas station is owned by Phillip K. Dick who wrote
science fiction.
"Last weekend we played a show in BIG SUR and folks came
out to listen and make campfires by the BIG SUR river. Our
friend Dana Kline joined us for an 8 minute flute song. Dana
hitchhiked from San Francisco to come to the show and her
flute really made the walls turn orange."
04/28/05 — Signing
announced
Matador Records is pleased to herald the signing of one of
America's most unique new bands, Northern California (via
Alabama)'s Brightblack,
the duo of Nabob (aka Nathan Shineywater) and Rachael Hughes
(Rabob).
First emerging in 2002 with a Palace Records split 7" with
Bonnie Prince Billy under the name Rainywood, Brightblack's
2004 LP 'Ala.Cali.Tucky' was recorded with Paul Oldham in
Kentucky.
the following biographical spiel is culled from the Brightblack
website:
"Nathan D. "Nabob" Shineywater was raised rurally in Alabama
by two older men who became known in the community for enhancement
of the spiritual side of life. The eldest chose to be a rural
preacher, who sang gospels. The other man chose to distribute
a refined white powdered South American plant to anyone interested,
in hopes to enhance the "party spirit" side of life.
"Between these two men, Nabob spent his weekdays singing along
to Steely Dan. The weekends however were spent with the aging
community of peanut farmers in church, singing highly spiritual
gospel. "Their voices were very diverse. All of them old,
except mine. Some were missing teeth, adding percussion to
the 'SSS' in S words. All the men and women sang with both
sadness and joy, depending on their day, and they sang as
prayer. Singing in that way is the only way to sing! It wasn't
Sacred Harp singing, it was straight ahead gospel that lent
itself to the most common of people."
"His best friend and music partner Rachael "Rabob" Hughes
was also raised rurally, in Montevallo, Alabama. The downtown
area has a wonderful wooded park of cedar trees, some of them
carved as huge faces. Within the town's park Rachael's father
built an ornate waterfall. The piano in their home was frequented
by Southern Gospel as well. This is the crux of her playing
style, which is solely released on vintage Rhodes pianos.
"Rural Northern California is where the two pitch tents in
the warm months, and live communally in a small old cabin
in the colder months.
"Brightblack Morninglight in recent live settings have included
newest member Elias Reitz' complementory woven thunder of
bells, tabla and other chiff-chaff-clap-boom percussions.
Other members include Noah Wilson who has long been patterning
his own drumkit beats with the shadows of invisible dew drops
he found while photographing fields in Humboldt County, California.
"After 18 months of writing songs and playing & touring with
bands like Bonnie Prince Billy, White Magic, Women & Children,
Papa M, Joanna Newsome, Vetiver, Entrance, Gojogo, Daniel
Higgs' Magic Alphabet, Lungfish, and recently making their
UK debut at the Slint-curated All Tomorrow's Parties, Brightblack
will commence recording their Matador debut later this Spring."
If you're curious (and who wouldn't be) you can check out
a recent cover story on Brightblack from the SF
Weekly.
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