Wild Goose Festival

I can't promise much in terms of timely event coverage, but we're hoping to get something together soon after the Wild Goose Festival. I'll be there trying to take in as much of it as possible. Take a look at the musical lineup and I'm sure you can understand how well this fits in with what we had been doing here at Unfound Bloom. Tickets are still available.

Exploring the Lyrics - Over the Rhine's song "The Trumpet Child"

Ever get the feeling that you need a bible scholar to decipher a well-written song? Well, someone with the proper background has gone in-depth on the lyrics to "The Trumpet Child" by Over the Rhine. It's worth reading if you like the song - quite a few of the thoughts in that series of blog posts are really interesting and non-obvious to us laypeople.

Free Music For American College Students

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I'm not sure how many people can use this, but I thought I'd pass it along: Ruckus is a website that offers free DRMed WMA downloads to anyone with an e-mail address from a college in the United States. They have a surprisingly wide selection, and they get new releases each week from most of the indie labels and major labels. Give it a shot if you can, it makes following music much more affordable (or at least more legal for you pirates out there).

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More Free Christmas music

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I know it's late, but here are a few more legal freebies for streaming or downloading:

• A free compilation from Sounds Familyre with the following tracklist:
  1: ‘Christmas Eve Nite’ - Danielson
  2: ‘For There Is Born A Child’ - Lenny Smith
  3: ‘Plant A Little Fir Tree’ - Half-handed Cloud
  4: ‘Dayspring From On High’ - Soul-Junk
  5: ‘Pat-A-Pan’ - Leopulde
  6: ‘In The Bleak Midwinter’ - Dan Zimmerman
  7: ‘Lo, How A Rose E’er Blooming’ - The Singing Mechanic
  8: ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas’ - Sufjan Stevens (new 11/2007 recording with other Sounds Familyre artists)
  9: ‘What Child Is This’ - Rachel
  10: ‘I Wonder As I Wander’ - Woven Hand
  11. ‘Christmas Is A Holiday’ - Ben + Vesper
  12. ‘Immanuel’ - Joshua Stamper
  13. ‘O Holy Night’ - Elin
• Over the Rhine's special St. Elizabeth's show has surfaced on the Internet Archive. The setlist features a few classic tunes ("Poughkeepsie", "Jack's Valentine"), one Christmas song ("White Horse"), their famous Gillian Welch cover ("Orphan Girl"), a highlight from The Trumpet Child ("Don't Wait For Tom"), Drunkard's Prayer's "I Want You To Be My Love", and one new song ("Angel Band") - they made a point to focus on material that they did not play at the Taft show. There's also a generous amount of dialogue between the band and the crowd.

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Free Christmas Album from Nettwerk!

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I just found out about a free Christmas album that Netwerk has available ONLY THROUGH THE END OF TODAY. Many of these songs are highlights from the artists' respective Christmas albums. You can download it at http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/features/seriously_westcoast/index.html . Here's the tracklisting:

• 01 - Barenaked Ladies - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
• 02 - The Weepies - All That I Want
• 03 - Sarah McLachlan - Silent Night
• 04 - Matt Wertz What Child Is This
• 05 - Liily Frost - Skating On The River
• 06 - Oh Susanna - Go Tell It On The Mountain
• 07 - Medieval Baebes - The Holly & The Ivy
• 08 - The Be Good Tanyas - Rudy
• 09 - Barenaked Ladies - Elf's Lament
• 10 - Melissa McClelland O - Holy Night-MST
• 11 - Jars Of Clay - Hibernation Day
• 12 - Jenny Owens Young - Things We Don't Need Anymore
• 13 - Martha Wainwright - Merry Christmas And Happy New Year
• 14 - Kyle Andrews - Under The Misteltoe
• 15 - Leigh Nash - The First Noel
• 16 - Sarah McLachlan - The First Noel_Mary Mary (DJ Shah Remix)

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REM's Document is 20

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Hey kids, ready to feel old? I was listening to R.E.M.'s Document earlier and I realized it's been 20 years since that came out. No word though, yet, on when it will be the end of the world as we know it, or if we will feel fine.

I highly recommend scoping out Over the Rhine's recent tribute to that record's hit "The One I Love" - here's a link to it a soundboard cut of it on the Internet Archive.

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News: Rilo Kiley New Album Stream

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I just got a hot tip about another new album that's up for streaming - the new Rilo Kiley record. You may recall that their last album proper was 2004's "More Adventurous", a clever set that was half-brilliant and half love-it-or-hate-it. Personally, I think I prefer Jenny's solo record, which we linked to downloads of earlier this year over any of her regular band's stuff. The new album - Under the Blacklight - has been a bit controversial because it sheds most of the band's folk and country leanings in favor of more danceable influences. I'm giving it a first full listen now - so far it doesn't sound quite as jarring as the lead single made me think it might be. You can give this one a listen (legally and free, of course) at myspace.com/rilokiley .

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News: New Album Streams

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A few fairly exciting new albums can be streamed in full online (legally and fore free, of course) right now. They all have Flash players, but most of the hip kids seem to not mind too much. Here's a few that have graced my speakers lately, and some brief thoughts on them:

• The New Pornographers - Challengers
  I'll be honest - I haven't given this one too much time yet. It seems like an enjoyable little disc, though. The New Pornographers tend to be a band I have to listen to a few times to really "get" though - so I won't so much else about this one for a while. You can hear their new album in its entirety at myspace.com/thenewpornographers
  


• Eisley - Combinations
  I'm not too much of a fan of Eisley - which is strange considering how often people compare them to bands that I love (Sixpence None the Richer seems to be an all-too-common reference point). Their new album is an interesting ride though - there are a few interesting musical turns, some decent rockers, and even some moments when those harmonies sound less creepy and more heavenly. It's a bit short at 30 someodd minutes, but it's an enjoyable listen. You can check it out at myspace.com/eisley


• Over the Rhine - The Trumpet Child
  This is a very solid album - my #1 pick for the year so far, actually (although, to be fair, in the time that the 'Bloom has been dormant, I have substantially cut back my new music intake). You can listen to it entirely at http://www.overtherhine.com/recordplayer/recordplayer.html or find out more about it at OverTheRhine.com . This is quite unlike any of their other discs - it's a very jazzy affair. Lots of very organic and retro-feeling horns on this one. The songwriting is up to Karin and Linford's usual excellent standard as well. It's actually very hard to pick highlights here - it's uniformly good and spread out across a variety of styles. One standout is "Don't Wait For Tom" - a clever tribute to Tom Waits. The album is worth hearing at least a few times the whole way through, though, if you get the chance.
  

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Test Post

This is a quick test post - trying out some new formatting. Sorry - it's mostly behind-the-scenes work here so far. We did change up the sidebar a bit - check out the new links.

Be Patient

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Just a brief heads-up - Unfound Bloom is currently dormant but should be back soon (perhaps even before 2007 is out). We will be relaunching with a new format that is focused around a blog that will be intermittently (but regularly!) updated.

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New Tess Wiley download

There's a new Tess Wiley mp3 up on Tapete's download page. You know the deal - it's free, legal, and Tess Wiley!

Belated Jenny Lewis Downloads

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Because we are terrible, terrible people here, we didn't post about Rabbit Fur Coat by Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins last year. Most of the album can be legally and freely downloaded from her record label at http://www.team-love.com/headphones/releases/tl08/ . Be warned though, they use an annoying Flash thing to serve up the mp3s. It's a fairly good album - nothing truly amazing or innovative, but a catchy set of songs sung with Jenny's intoxicating voice and some subtle harmonies from the Watson Twins. The music is a soft mix of folk and country, with acoustic guitars in various tunings, slide guitars, some keys, bass, and drums. The most unusual thing about it is that the album's lyrics are almost entirely about Jenny's musings on religion. Not that we're complaining. Jenny, of course, is the lead singer of critically-acclaimed indie rock darlings Rilo Kiley.

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