Not Quite Me

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Whew, sorry we've been so busy. We are still working on moving the site, I promise. Some good site news though - we're sending someone to cover Creation East. We're not sure how thorough our coverage will be this year, but we'll at least make sure that you know how Switchfoot and Relient K were.

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Some music news we've been falling behind on:

• Details have been announced on the new Sam Ashworth album. Ready to drool? Matt Slocum (Sixpence None the Richer) is introducing him, and touring with him now - and we'll be catching them June 10th. The album has an even more splendid cast, as Sam and Matt are working with Fleming and John and members of Superdrag and Ben Folds Five. More at the Tollbooth.
• Phantom Tollbooth reports that Viva Voce's gear was stolen in London.


• Blindside is rereleasing their first two albums. Also more at the Tollbooth.
• Some news from my buddy Kev:
  • The rumored re-releases of early Starflyer59 material have been confirmed. Details on Gold - Deluxe Edition (which features a remastering of the original Gold and the elusive Le Vainqueur EP) are available here. Silver - Deluxe Edition features the remastered Silver and the She's The Queen EP.
  • The cover for the new Bethany Dillon album has been announced.
  • The cover of the new Switchfoot album has also been announced.
  • Last but possibly not least, the cover of the new Paul Wright album has been announced.

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For today's mp3s, a few songs from the latest Tess Wiley album. Yes, that's what you get when a big Sixpence None the Richer fan is deciding what mp3s to talk about. She was the band's rhythm guitarist from 1995-96, and she's on the album This Beautiful Mess and the Tickets For A Prayer Wheel EP. She put out a solo album last year that's really good, although I only got my hands on it recently. It's called Not Quite Me, and you can hear "Delicate Skin", along with the title track, over at the album's page at PasteMusic.

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Random sidethought: Why don't more bands use the bongos? You know, the hand-drums or acoustic drums....with how much they can add to a band's sound, you'd think everyone would use them. I can only think of one band that uses them regularly, and that's Sittser. They're a regular part of Threefold's live shows too, and I know a few other bands (Jars of Clay, Mortal, and The Violet Burning come to mind) use them occasionally too. What I don't get is why they seem to largely only be used for live shows and demos. I think it'd be cool if we saw more of them. Who else does some cool stuff with the bongos?

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EDIT: Audio of two new John Reuben tracks, one featuring Matt Theissen: http://www.purevolume.com/johnreuben/music.

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At the Castledoor

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Well, it's time for me to apologize on behalf of all of us. Moving files over to the new server is becoming quite a chore, and everyone here either has had something come up to preoccupy them from working on it or doesn't have the neccesary PHP and HTML skills. So, expect delays. We're working on it though. I have some brief music news and I'll post about some CDs I've gotten recently too though.

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For the brief news: Pitchfork has details about the new Radiohead album. Heh, it's funny to see Paste Music and Suicide Girls advertise on the same page. In other news, a few former members of the once-boyband-pop group Plus One have attempted to reinvent themselves as an indie pop act, Castledoor. It's not half bad, considering their background, actually. You can listen to (and download!) some of their stuff here. Lastly, Sam Ashworth and Matt Slocum are preparing to tour the U.S. west coast. We're already making plans to cover a show. It appears that the show will be based on Sam's original material, and not on material from Astronaut Pushers (with both Matt and Sam are in) or Sixpence None the Richer (which Matt was in).

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I've gotten a good deal of new CD's lately. Not that that's news or even exciting, but it takes up space and makes it look like I've been doing more work around here:

• Portishead - Dummy
• Tess Wiley - Not Quite Me
• Pedro the Lion's Achilles Heel
• Bill Malonee - Perfumed Letter
• Sam Phillips - The Fan Dance
• Frank Lenz - The Hot Stuff

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Be My Escape

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Well, we're working on putting the new site together and you can watch the process (and check out our sweet new logo) at http://unfoundbloom.cjb.cc/. Yes, that's the new URL, and it is much easier to remember than the old one. I'll change this blog over to the new format when I have all the details worked out. I might add another blog for music news soon. Right now there's 3 people updating this one, but things are a bit choppy. Anyway, here's today's music news (scroll to the end of this entry if you want to see a new Relient K video):

The David Crowder Band is rumored to be covering a song by Sufjan Stevens soon. More exciting though, is a Dr.Pepper-sponsored version of the Truman Show with them in it. Band blogs too. Details at Phantom Tollbooth.

In other news, the classic Christian rock group Petra is finally calling it quits, and P.O.D. has a producer for their new album (more).

Pop-punkers (if that's still the right name for them) Relient K are the winners of Yahoo!'s "Who's Next" for May 2005. They have videos up of a short interview and a live version of "Be My Escape", their latest radio single. Check it out here.

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A New Home

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I think I've finally found a new place for the 'Bloom. I'll post about if/when we get approved there. Skimming over the terms of use, it looks like we won't be able to post about recording webcasts anymore, but otherwise the site will probably be about the same. I might mess with the style a bit since I have to change all the links anyway. I'm hoping to have the transition done by Friday.

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Music news for today....Brian Wilson is working on a Christmas album, there will be no Bruce Springsteen albums at Starbucks, and I wish I had been here last night to hear Jeffrey Overstreet talk about Christ in U2's music.

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Sidenote: Did anyone else see the Pitchfork review of the new Starflyer59? I thought it was cool that they liked it, I haven't heard the album yet but I think Starflyer makes some sweet music. I had to chuckle though when they incorrectly referred to Jars of Clay as broken up and both them and Creed as "bible thumpers". Funny stuff. It'd be fun to go through the Jars' discography and pick out everything they've done that sets them apart from the more bible-thumping Christian rock groups, but alas, that's for another day when I actually have webspace.

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Oh, and speaking of Jars, their hymns album is now streaming in its entirety at their website. It's not as good as most of their older stuff, but it's not bad for hymns album either. The Blind Boys of Alabama really tear it up on "Nothin' But the Blood" and "On Jordan's Stormy Banks", and Sarah Kelly's a nice addition to "I'll Fly Away". Heh, I remember when I discovered the song "I'll Fly Away" - Kanye West put that on his album first. Anyway, back to signing up for some webspace....

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Crap

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In a bizarre twist of fate, after going to one of the most unique and intimate concerts I've ever been to, the 'Bloom has been taken offline due to security concerns our web host had. We're looking for a new host and I'm hoping to have the content back online within a week. We're looking through caches and saved documents, and it looks like we'll only lose recent news and some message board posts. This could also be the much-needed chance to get some better software backing up the rest of the site too.

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I do have a little more music news too. Switchfoot has finally released some details about their new album. From their mailing list:

Well friends, after months of recording, we've finally given birth to our newest album, "NOTHING IS SOUND." This album was recorded all over the world while on tour in places as far as Germany, Africa, and Australia, and also places as close as our backyard. We are in the final stages of mixing what we all feel to be our strongest record yet... which is scheduled to release... (dramatic pause) in early August. We feel like proud parents, and we can't wait to introduce you to our newest creation. I'm not sure if it's a boy or a girl, but it definitely has teeth.



- Tim Foreman

Additionally, their website has been updated.

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Oh, and remember that reunion of the original Further Seems Forever lineup that we mentioned a while back? Turns out it didn't go too well. Such a shame too, looking over the roster for Bamboozle, it looks like it could have been a great event. You just know that the FSF reunion was a one time thing too, so some fans must feel completely screwed now. Well, at least Chris Carabba is working with Daniel Lanois now - I'm sure that'll sound better than his recent Dashboard Confessional projects. Hey, did anyone else here hear about that instrumental Daniel Lanois album? That sounds like it could be exciting.

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So yes....if you haven't figured it out yet, we'll be using this as a temporary site news/music news/random commentary page while we work on getting the site going again. Sorry for the inconvenience, but it's the best we can do on such short notice. Hey, those if you who are happy with your free hosting solutions, tell us about it, please. We really need a new host ASAP.

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I Died Blue

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Steve was great. He played a good deal of Burlap material ("Mansions", "Eileen's Song", etc), and only two songs from Me Died Blue ("Daisies and Sandalwood", "Another Day"). He had a lot of fun playing covers.

Oh, and I got my own personal encore. I asked him as he was unplugging stuff if he'd play something else from MDB, and he just sat down next to me and asked what I wanted to hear. He's a sweet guy. So in addition to all the new stuff, covers, and old Burlap songs, there was also "Jungle Trail" dedicated to me. Great show even though he didn't play long and just had himself and his acoustic guitar. I'll try to write a bit more about this tomorrow and have a full review of Steven and the two opening acts up soon.

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Another concert tomorrow

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OK, so I'm a bit behind and I still haven't written a review for the last concert I went to. This one is too good to pass up though. Apparently it's a rather small show at a nearby college. Steven Delopoulos is going to be there. I'd babble a bit about how great his album, Me Died Blue is, or about how he was on a great label back when he was still with his old bad, but I'm getting a bit tired. I will post a link to where you can download a few live songs from him though. Check out http://www.stevendelopoulos.com/downloads.php for mp3s, then go to the main page of his site and check out the (flash-based?) media player pop-up to hear more of his stuff. MySpace is down right now, but there are a few more songs (including another live track and a new tune) on MySpace from Steven Delopoulos. I'll post my first reactions to the show either late tomorrow night or on Friday.

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