Week of Washington State

---

I’ve decided to make this week a week of local music. Local to me, here in Washington state, that is. Please forget about the fact that I missed Monday, and count last week’s plug for Pedro the Lion as Monday. By the way, that concert review is up now. I’ll post Tuesday and Wednesday now. Just to be clear – I’m only covering my favorites here. Heck, I haven’t even heard a full Modest Mouse album yet, and they got started just a town away from me. This is by no means an authoritative list.

---

Washington Week, Tuesday – Threefold. Threefold is a duo from Everett, Washington that claimed the #6 spot on my 2004 favorites list. It’s kind of hard to pin down their sound, but it’s easy to tell that they’ve been influenced by Jars of Clay and Maroon5. Did I mention that Kenny Meeks appears on their latest album, as well as members of Sixpence None the Richer and Jars of Clay? Anyway, they don’t have anything from their latest album available to download yet, but they do have a few older songs on their website that you can check out here. If you’re interested in hearing more about them, we’ve reviewed both their latest album and a Christmas concert from last year.

---

Another great band I’ve discovered from Washington is a group from Spokane called Sittser. They’re a modern rock group that sounds just as good as anyone you’ve heard on the radio. Sadly, sometimes they sound a bit too poppy and radio-friendly, but for the most part, they sound pretty solid. You can hear several songs (old and new!) from them on their website. Click on the album covers, then on the yellow or red boxes to download the songs. Oh, and while you’re checking these guys out, you might want to read the concert review we posted of their show at Creation West.

---

Don't Dream It's Over

---

Whew, I was planning on doing a real entry tonight (I might still do that in a few minutes) about Washington state music, but I just saw some really depressing news. Remember the band Crowded House? I figure some people reading are probably too young to know who they are, but they were a band that was really popular a while back. You've probably heard their hit "Don't Dream It's Over" or at least the remake of it that Sixpence None the Richer did a few years back. Apparently, the drummer, Paul Hester hanged (hung?) himself last night. Full details at: http://aversion.com/news/news_article.cfm?news_id=4037 .

Didn't anyone tell him not to wish the time had passed? Or to....um, not dream it was over? Sorry, I shouldn't be cracking lame jokes this soon afterwards....but you have to admit, it is fun to speculate on what the motive could have been. I'll probably post later tonight (or early tomorrow morning) with some stuff on local (to me) music.

---

Concerts and CDs for me, more free music for you

---

I was able to go to the Low / Pedro the Lion / Trampled by Turtles show last night. I missed the beginning of TBT’s set, but the two co-headliners were both really good live. Low has a kind of muted energy live, it’s kind of hard to explain. They might just be the most talented musicians I’ve ever seen live. I’ll write a full review later, but for now, I will leave you with some stuff to listen to from each band, and a list of some random songs that were played. If you visit the Low website, you can hear a number of their songs there. They played a few older songs, including "(that’s how you sing) Amazing Grace", but they focused on the newer stuff from The Great Destroyer, playing "Monkey", "Silver Rider", "California", and a few others. You can download "Monkey" and "California" on this page, which is ran by their record label. Pedro the Lion played "Never Leave A Job Half Done", "Penetration", "Big Trucks", "Foregone Conclusions", "Rapture", and a number of other songs. It was a great show, and much more energetic than I was expecting. It made Low’s show feel more like an anticlimax, because their music is just so much more relaxing than Pedro’s. You can hear (and download!) some stuff from Pedro at their purevolume page. Oh, and before you ask, no, the legendary Frank Lenz is not drumming for them anymore. I was a bit disappointed about that, and I even had to ask vocalist/guitarist David Bazan about it before I internalized that Frank wasn’t really there (that’s the Fold Zandura fanboy in me whining – Tim Walsh did a great job drumming, really). Then there’s that other group, Trampled by Turtles. I had no idea you could make a banjo, acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, and mandolin(?) sound that aggressive. I guess I’d call them alt-bluegrass, but that might not be the right label for them. You can download some of their songs on their website.

---

I’ve also gotten a few new CDs since I last blogged – at the show I picked up Pedro’s It’s Hard to Find a Friend and Low’s The Great Destroyer. I picked up Lifehouse’s self-titled at Best Buy (Sorry for those of you who thought I had some kind of indie-cred – I do enjoy some popular music). While I was there I finally got that album from The Arcade Fire that everyone’s raving about lately. They’d given me a raincheck for it a few weeks ago when I went to get it on sale, but today was the first time they’d had it in for me to get. I like it so far, and it just might be the best thing to come out last year. I was at a thrift shop this afternoon when I spotted Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips for sale for $3, so I picked that up too. This’ll actual be my first time hearing them, but I’ve heard that that’s a pretty good album, so I figured I’d splurge the three bucks.

---

Play games with me because W0rmSiGn is Big In Japan

---

I'm going to be appearing as one of the "critics" in a new game at ThePhorum.net called "Second Guess the Critic". Honestly, I don't think anyone actually thinks of me as a "critic", and I've been known to overreact on occasion on that message board, so it will probably be as goofy as all heck - nonetheless, it will be fun, it involves me, and it involves music. Sign up and play, it'll be fun, and besides, you might actually see a music recommendation from somebody credible. I'll be holding my opinion on the new Jars of Clay release until round 1 is over.

---

OK, so this time around, the title isn't a download. I'm experimenting with a new, simpler format that doesn't run the risk of people accidentally downloading a song when they just want to see comments. Let me know if you like it better this way, or the other way, or if you have any other suggestions.

---

I want to plug the new W0rmSiGn album. I've listened to it twice and not actually decided if I like it or not. The DanceChapel says "Greg Young of Virus fame is continuing to make music under the name Wormsign, and his latest release is an album called "Big In Japan" which is very experimental and definitely falls into the IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) catagory. It's deep thinking music, it's very moving, and best of all the entire album is available as free downloads"! I'm not completely sold on that, but it sticks out as an interesting album like nothing I've ever heard before. I'll probably use this on round 2 of the game above. Did I mention the entire album is free? That's the best reason to check it out - it's free music. If you hate it, you've only lost your time. You can download the entire thing in mp3 format at http://www.virusworldindustries.com/biginjapan.html or by clicking here.

---

There is a chance that I will be seeing Low, Pedro the Lion, and Trampled by Turtles tomorrow night. Nothing's set in stone, and I don't even know if I can go or not, but I'll let you know how that goes.

---

Born (and some links to Beatles covers)

---

Over the Rhine is one of my favorite bands, but to be honest I'm not quite sure how to describe them. They jump around genrewise a bit. The only thing that makes them easy to identify is Karin Bergquist's amazing vocals. Anyway - they have a new album coming out next Tuesday, called Drunkard's Prayer. I've already preordered the album from Paste Music, and I'm just waiting for it to arrive now. This page has free, legal mp3 downloads of "Born" and "Drunkard's Prayer" from the album for your listening pleasure. I recommend "Born", because it's such an enchanting song. Like I said, I have a hard time describing these guys, but I love them. Give 'em a listen and let me know what you think.

---

Is anyone else really excited that the Drop7 Christian Mp3 Blog is doing a second week of Beatles covers? I'd love to recap why I love some of the songs Jeff's picking over there, but I really don't have enough time to. Anyway, if you haven't had your fill on great music today, check out the original "Week Of Beatles" on the Drop7 July 2004 archives, you won't regret it. I get great Beatles covers there "Eight Days a Week"! Sorry, I couldn't resist the joke. I'll stop now.

---

Hello World! / Something Evil

---

Welcome to the new Unfound Bloom Music Blog. Here we'll post music-related thoughts and rambles, as well as legal downloads of music new and old.

Since this is our first entry, we ought to recommend an mp3 that's cool, hip, and underground, so we can establish some indie-cred. You can forget about that, we're not that pretentious and we'll blow our indie-cred within a week. I will plug the song "Something Evil", off of the upcoming Starflyer59 album, TALKING VOICE vs. SINGING VOICE, which will be released on April 12th. You can hear the song by clicking here. Check out the rest of the Starflyer59 website if you have the chance too.

---

I suppose I should get some legal details out of the way while I'm posting this first real entry too - we have no where to post mp3s, and our hands are tied with 'Bloom management and with contractual obligations to our site's host not to post copyrighted material. We will post nothing ourselves, so we can't post anything illegal. Most of the stuff I'll be linking to will be from label sites and band sites, so don't worry about us linking to some site that will send you viruses and illegal copyrighted material. Most of the time, anyway - I'll link to other mp3 blogs on occasion.

It's understood amongst mp3 bloggers that you don't post free music from big-namers, but rather, plug the underground artists you love and beg people to buy their albums. You get to talk about music you love, the artists get paid - everyone wins. Assuming people don't download and then forget to buy stuff, that is. I'd like to recommend my favorite mp3 blog - the Drop7.com Christian Mp3 Blog! The guy there has good tastes in some of the fairly obscure and more interesting bands in Christian music. I'm not just saying that because he's plugged some of my favorites before either - he's much more credible than I am, really. Go listen to some stuff he likes, you won't regret it.

---

Test post

So, I see people are visiting this blog already. Groovy. This is just a little place for me to spout off music-related nonsense. It's an extension of a site called Unfound Bloom. Or this will be, anyway - the layout here is jumpy right now because I keep messing with it to try to get it right.