There are a lot of prolific musicians hanging around the internet. Yet any artist who puts out over a hundred and forty full length albums of solo piano improvisations has to be stretching the boundaries of the meaning of “obsessional”. Fortunately, Serge Robinson has a soothing touch on the keyboard and enough virtuosity and imagination to pull it off. To be honest, I did not listen to all 147 albums, a task that is certainly beyond the call of duty. However, I listened enough to know that any of the albums will give you a hour of deep and thoughtful music, reminiscent of Keith Jarrett’s own improvisatory excursions yet mindful of classical and impressionistic influence such as Satie and Faure.

So how do I decide which of the 147 albums to feature? Randomly, of course. Here are ten albums, chosen by random yet actually listened to, that will be a nice starting point. Each album has two thirty minute improvisations. As stated, they are jazz in style yet more suited to a lazy classical mood. Just pick one and enjoy!

All albums are in VBR MP3 and available thorugh the Jamendo website. You can find a full listing of the albums on this page.

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Ma Musique Intérieure 4
Ma Musique Intérieure 14
Ma Musique Intérieure 21
Ma Musique Intérieure 42
Ma Musique Intérieure 76
Ma Musique Intérieure 80
Ma Musique Intérieure 98
Ma Musique Intérieure 114
Ma Musique Intérieure 138
Ma Musique Intérieure 147

From the first strains of the first track “Accident” on Peterloo Massacre’s self-titled debut album, I thought that this was a typical mix of ambient and electro-pop albeit a very good one. It wasn’t until the second track that the cracked but sensuous voice of KiN and the orchestral electronics of Paul Green really got to me. Add on bass, drums and KiN’s own sparse guitar work and you have a delicious mix of rock, electronica, and slightly dark trip-hop. Equal bits of Radiohead, Lamb, and Portishead mix with the unusual voice and electronic backing. I especially like KiN’s soulful meanderings on “Giving Feelings” and “Warmed Body” is a cinematic sauna of sounds. Highly recommended.

The album is available in MP320kbps MP3 from the Headphonica netlabel.

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Mezzo-Soprano Marilyn Schmiege gives us four marvelous classical song cycles for instant download and enjoyment. All four of these works are excellent examples of classical song in the 20th century. Alban Berg is represented with two collections of songs: Sieben Fruhe Lieber (7 Early Songs 1905-1908) and 4 Lieber op. 2 (1908-09). Arnold Schoenberg is represented by his eerie but lovely Das Buch der Hängenden Gärten (op.15, 1908-09). The second version of Das Marienleben op.27 (1936-48) by Paul Hindemith has already been featured on Free Albums Galore but this rendition by Schmiege deserves a listen too. The pianist on all works is Donald Sulzen.

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Feldmaus creates ambient electronic music that threathen to float you physically into the clouds. Not being able to actually accomplish that feat, it is content to send your mind into alter states and a liberating calm. Feldmaus is actually a collaborative effort between sound artists Evgeny Shchukin and Alexander Tochilkin. The superb ambient album titled Spaces is a collection of their soundscapes using vintage analog machines to “cut, shape and mix everything up with some digital elements to create beautiful pieces of enchanting sounds”. This is above average music that is quite soothing. The duo is joined by Japanese guitarist Imachi Akira for some tracks. Highly recommended for both electronic and ambient fans.

Spaces is available in 320kbps MP3 from the Passage Music netlabel.

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I don’t know when I had so much fun listening ot a hip-hop album. Bi-Polar Bear’s album titled Today I Found Happy is a celebratory collection of funky samples and hot hooks. The lyrics range from gratuitously bawdy (”Fuck Her”) to romantic (”Her For Him”) to philosophically reflective (”NPFJ”) yet the arrangements and beats remains outright irresistible. I also like the title track and the explosive “Party Girl”. This is a party album with substance.

The album is available from SettingWorld records in 192kbps MP3. If you enjoy the music, support the artists by buying the CD…or buy one of those cool T-shirts.

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Frederic Chopin’s four ballades for piano are very emotional and technically difficult pieces. The exemplary rendition featured here were recorded in 1933 on 78rpm discs. The pianist is Alfred Cortot. He was a notable performer of classical pieces from the Romantic Era, especially those of Schumann and Chopin. For the record, the full titles of these piano works are…

Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23.
Ballade No. 2 in F Major, Op. 38.
Ballade No. 3 in A-Flat Major, Op. 47.
Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 52.

The 1933 recordings are quite good considering the age. They have been transferred to monaural MP33 files by F. Reeder.

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Hungry Lucy’s third release titled To Kill a King is their latest album to go into a Creative Commons License and may be their most commercial offering yet. Throughout this decidedly electro-pop effort there are strong hints of Madonna and Depeche Mode. Yet Hungry Lucy remains an unique group with a irresistible sound. Christa Belle is still the intimate yet powerful vocalist that anchors this band. Whether the track is upbeat as on the title track and its remix or cerebral as on “My Beloved” and “High Price of Mistakes”, the album retains a high musical quality.

To Kill A King is available in Ogg Vorbis and FLAC formats only. Be aware that if you download the huge zip file you will receive both file formats.

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Conelrad is a British musician in the IDM camp of electronic music. His music tends to be calm, melodic and immensely listenable. It is amenable to either background or attentive listening. All of his music is freely available from his web site. The latest offering is Sure is The Risk Made and it offers a wide range of cinematic sounds and calming atmospheres.

Two other albums are available. They are more ambient in nature but still calming music. Function Creep is slightly darker in mood than Sure. Community Shelter Planning is drone inducing and my least favorite of the three. Yet it would make a good meditative listen.

All three albums are available from the artist’s website in MP3 format.

Sure Is The Risk Made
Function Creep
Community Shelter Planning

Independent Records is a label out of Dublin, Ireland that has been releasing country and alt.country albums in Ireland for the past 20 years. Their impressive stable of artists include Josh Ritter, Johnny Dowd, and The Handsome Family. Yet hidden in their on-line catalog are these two alt,country albums gems by a Dublin-based group calls Stars of Heaven. They are offer as free and legal download and show a side to Irish rock that you may have not noticed before. The band broke up 20 years ago but still sounds fresh. They play a nice mixture of alt. country and 60’s british style rock. For the most part, I would place them more in the folk rock sound a la The Byrds. Sacred Heart Hotel has a clear country influence while Speak Slowly is a bit more varied. Both albums are very pleasant blasts from the past.

Both albums are available in 160kbps MP3.

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American composer Kyle Gann is no stranger to the use of the internet and Creative commons licensing. His MP3 page has a large variety of original compositions that well showcases this eclectic and eccentric composer of contemporary music. I am featuring five of his more extended works, all of them worth a listen and more.

Custer and Sitting Bull is the most interesting work to me. It is a solo work and makes ample use of both Native American music and microtones. The narrative is by the composer.

Sunken City is a concerto for piano and winds and was written in memory of the Katrina disaster in New Orleans. There is some nice use of New Orleans jazz coupled with an atmospheric dissonance in the later parts. It is performed by the Orkest de Volharding at De Doelen with Jussi Jaatinen conducting. Geoffrey Douglas Madge is the pianist.

Transcendental Sonnets is written for chorus, two soloists and orchestra. The 35 minute piece is based on the poetry of Jones Very (1813-1880), a protege of Ralph Waldo Emerson. This recording is of the October 19, 2002, premiere by the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir and Orchestra conducted by Eric Stark. The soloists are Kathleen Hacker and Christopher Paul Aspaas. It is a monumental work of beauty.

Last Chance Sonatan is a sonata for clarinet and piano. It is Gann’s farewell to the 20th century. It feels very much like Hindemith to me , perhaps even Barber?.

I’itoi Variations is a work for two pianos and , if the author’s description is to believed, has influences from Beethoven, Brahms, Busoni and The Papago Indians. Did I mention that the author is eclectic?

There are a lot of other works on his page but this will give you more than a good start. The files are in 160kbps MP3.

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Sleep.Shy’s Galapagos Inn is one of the more unusual online albums to come out of 2009. It is calm. witty and somewhat perplexing in its mix of sweetness and cynicism. The opening “I nowhere I am” is typical with its switch of upbeat rhythm to classical choir and piano then back. The track “On Why No. 2 Pencils Have Erasers” shows that this band has their hard rock side but when you least expect it…Mood change!. Sleep. Shy may leave you guessing where it is going but there is no question that you will enjoy the relaxing ride.

The album is available in 320kbps MP3 from the Delhotel netlabel. If you enjoy the music, you can buy the CD through CDbaby.

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Paul Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler (Mathis The Painter) is his most famous symphonic composition. Composed in 1934, it was written before his equally famous opera of the same name and used themes that would later show up in the opera’s completion. It is a beautifully moving piece of music . This premiere 1934 performance is another fine F. Reeder transfer from 78rpm acetate to MP3 format. The orchestra is the Berlin Philharmonic with Paul Hindemith conducting.

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Pianist Paolo Pavan has been previously reviewed here for his excellent jazz album titled Inside. The title refers to his fondness for mainstream tonal jazz which he continues to explore on Looking For a Way Out. Yet, as the title implies, Pavan becomes a bit more exploratory. Aside from his rather prodigious talent on keyboards, the musician also displays a gift at arranging. There is also some impressive soloing by Daniele Arena on trumpet, Davide Marinacci on tenor sax and Michele Villari on alto and soprano saxophones. If you are at all interested in modern jazz, you should like this.

The album is available in VBR MP3 format from Jamendo.

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Potlatch is a free jazz octet directed by bassist Pedro Roxo. It is in the tradition of AACM and other 70s style experimenters. Live at Fabrica is a nice representation of this group and exhibits in three tracks their impressive talent at making meaning out of chaos. The first track is a relatively short effort of noise that doesn’t really say much to me. However “Narngis”, being just as frantic, shows a lot of thought and imagination in this manic piece. However my favorite one is the middle track also titled “Potlatch” which takes a different route altogether.. It is a pastoral effort of sparse tones that are beautifully intuitive. This is one of the better avant-garde jazz albums that you can find free and legal on the internet.

The album is available from Insubordinations netlabel in 320kbps MP3.

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Fresh Body Shop continues to put out excellent alternative rock EPs and the new album titled The Ugly Army is no exception. In fact, this new effort by the one-man band out of Nantes, Frances may be the most accessible. The Trent Reznor sound-alike vocals are still there but there is continuity in beat and feel that is all Pedro, the one name wonder behind Fresh Body Shop. “My Artificial Sun” gets the album off to a rollicking start. Other great tunes include the title track and “One More Reason”. Good quality rock is alive and well through Creative Commons Licensing.

You can download the album at the Free Music Archive or through Jamendo from the link below.

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Frozen Silence is an ambient/new age project of Finnish artist Matti Paalanen. He is also the musician behind the previously reviewed Roomful of Emptiness. Frozen Silence is a venture into solo instrumentals mostly on piano but occasionally guitar and virtual harp. These compositions are somewhat minimalist but melodically melancholic, reminiscent of classical and new age. So far there are seven full length albums that are freely available and listed at the artist’s Jamendo page. I’ve have already featured his recording titled Christmas Carols. Here are the other six, all beautiful and well worth listening to. Most are over 20 minutes in duration.

The first album is self titled and features all three instruments. The tracks are mostly short vignettes of melodies with only three of them being over three minutes.

Heart of Winter has tracks with piano and guitar. As expected, they envision a sparse wintry environment. I especially like the traditional sounding “Winter”.

Sky is all solo piano and that is the way I prefer my Frozen Silence albums. Quiet but emotional.

Impressions is the shortest of the albums at slightly over 15 minutes. Again it is all solo piano and quite similar to Sky. I prefer the two longer tracks “Corridor” and “Journal”, each being over 4 minutes.

Notes is an especially satisfying solo piano album with each of the seven tracks based on a particular “note” or harmonic pattern. It is quite classical sounding and incredibly relaxing.

However the latest album titled Streams is my current favorite. Again it is solo piano and the theme of water and streams is especially appropriate as the melodies tend to flow into each other as they take you deeper into a relaxed state. Streams and the other albums are new age ambient at its best.

All albums are in VBR MP3. If you enjoy the music, support the artist by buying his CDs.

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Streams
Notes
Impressions
Sky
Heart of Winter
Frozen Silence

A while back, I said an unkind thing about a cut on another album that featured rap artist Sleaze. Well, not exactly unkind but certainly not favorable. The artist replied with grace and class and invited me to listen to this free and legal album titled Summer Fresh. I finally got around to it and learned never to rate an artist on one song especially one that wasn’t all his. Summer Fresh is a mellow hip-hop affair that flows with the summer feeling of warm urban nights. Some of the tracks like “Frantic” and “God Damn” has their share of tension and dense commentary but other tracks like “Evolve” and “Time of The Essense” have a mellow cool feeling amongst the still socially relevant lyrics. So Sleaze… Forget what I said before..I dig your music!

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The compositions of Arnold Schoenberg has to be some of the more challenging listens in 20th century classical music. Yet there is something instantly likable bout his seminal work titled Pierrot Lunaire. Written for voice and six instruments, the singer/narrator approaches the lyrics in a narrative style that is part talking and part singing. The vocal part is usually sung by a classically trained soprano but has attracted such diverse voices as Bjork and Cleo Laine. The music is typical of the atonal style of Schoenberg yet resonates a surreal cabaret atmosphere. This 1940 78rpm recording is conducted by the composer and features soprano Erika Stiedry-Wagner doing the recitation. Another great digital transfer to MP3 format by F. Reeder.

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Dazie Mae plays a form of ragtime jazz and blues mixed up in a French cabaret environment. Their full length album titled Velvet Dress and Stockings has a sexy and smoky feel spearheaded by the sultry lead vocalist Jeanne Jattiot. She reminds me of a jazzy version of Marianne Faithfull. The instrumental backing is almost perfect with snappy keyboards by Mathias Daval, guitars by Tom Lameche and bass by Serge Dejazz. Lameche’s guitar work is especially good and very different than the jazz fusion albums under his own name. While all the tracks are good, I especially enjoyed “Drink Beer (Till The Day That I Die)” and the Boss Nova influenced “Sofa”. This is a mellow and tasty debut album.

The album is available from Jamendo in 128kbps MP3. There is also a self-titled demo EP available that duplicates many of the songs from the full length album.

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Peppermill Records is a quirky little netlabel with quirky artists. Their records are usually a lot of fun to listen to and the crew can be relied on for some unusual projects. One of these is the 52 weeks project is which 52 artists creates one track a week. Each artist took a headline from that week’s news and used it as the title and inspiration for their contribution which had to be completed in seven days. Each artist took off when the other one left, creating a continuity from track to track. The efforts were then separated into 4 albums with each album representing a season: Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. There is a sense of unity in these albums with each having their own personality. Winter is the most varied of the four yet may be a little more urban and hip-hop than the rest. Spring has a more laid back feeling and is slightly more acoustic. Summer is rhythmic and full of activity. Fall ends the annual countdown with a variety of sounds. Most of the cuts on these albums are worth listening to but the sum is definitely more than the parts. This four album project is a nice way to end this years roll call of free and legal albums.

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Fall
Spring
Summer
Winter

BlocSonic continues to score big points with its NetBloc series. Volume 25: From Darkness Cometh The Light makes it out of the starting gate for the end of 2009 and it is another winner. Every volume of this excellent retrospective of the best from the netlabels is worthwhile but number 25 outdoes itself. There are excellent songs from Free Album Galore favorites Josh Woodard and Just Plain Ant but there are some newly discovered artists that are just as worthy of your time. Hip-hop artist Gates is great on “I Remember When” while Tab & Anitek raps rapturously on a “House of The Rising Son” that is nothing like anything your dad may remember from that song title. Add some unique tracks by Pearl Taylor’s Grandbaby, Fourstones, and Nic Bommarito and you still have only a taste of the nice cuts on this excellent compilation. If you like this album, you should back to check out the other 24 albums in this series.

The album is available in MP3 and FLAC format.

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I reviewed the first two albums from the Silent Ballet series almost three years ago. Since then there has been 11 more albums with all of them representing some of the best post-rock, shoegaze and ambient music available online. It is time to look at the 13th volume and it is still a haunting and lovely display of tones and moods. The series is a collaborative project of the webzine Silent Ballet and the Lost Children netlabel. The 12 tracks encompasses some quite impressive moves by some of the best bands of this genre.Outstanding tracks include ” I Want George Soros” by French Teen Idol, “Eyeme” by Fredricson, “Last Dawn” by Orange Crush, and “1994″ by Ambergaze. I still have my original reservations about this type of music being a little narrow on emotional range yet that should not keep you from experiencing this or any other volume of this excellent compilation series.

The album is available in 192kbps MP3.

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The Black Atlantic is another excellent indie rock band from the Beep! Beep! Back Up The Truck netlabel. Their new album is titled Reverence for Fallen Trees and it is a late entry for one of the best netlabel releases in 2009. Their music is delicate and wistful but has a lasting quality that bears many hearings. The opening track “Fragile Meadows” is a gorgeous mix of acoustic instruments and soft harmonies. Other standout tracks include the title track and “Old Dim Light”. This is the type of online album that reminds you that not all the best artists need to sign to big labels to make quality music.

The album is available in VBR MP3 format. If you like the music, support the artists by buying the CD.

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The orchestral transcription of Modest Moussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition is so well known that most people are surprised to find out that Moussorgsky originally wrote it for solo piano. You can find an excellent performance of the piano work here. Yet the orchestral arrangements are certainly better known to the general public. While the Ravel transcription is the most popular, this transcription by Leopold Stokowski is quite excellent and perhaps a bit more on the “rowdy” side.. Here is the original 78rpm recording of Stokowski’s version conducted by Stokowski and performed by The All-American Orchestra.

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Comparisons to Linkin Park and Nickelback usually convinces me not to listen to an album but I took the plunge on TenPenny Joke’s Ambush on All Sides and discovered it to be a unusually good if commercial alt.rock outing. There is enough excellent musianship and vocals on this effort to give the band more than one strong listen. The first three tracks, “She”, “Sense” and “Sirens” get the album off to a good start and keeps it there. This is a worthwhile addition to any rock fan’s collection.

Ambush on All Sides is available in VBR MP3 format from Jamendo.

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