Based on William S. Burrough’s book of the same name, Tiago Souza’s The Western Lands is a sparse but beautiful collection of seven tracks that evokes arid lands and ancient philosophies. Meditative but intellectually engrossing, these tone poems are intriguing pieces of beauty. . Tiago Souza’s main instrument in this work is guitar but it is nicely enhanced with electronics. “Waghas” is a wonderful piece where electronic sounds offer a droning Middle East influenced background as the guitar is played as almost an afterthought. The title track has a similar feel while “The Valley” is a melodic acoustic wonder. But perhaps the most stunning track is the 14 minutes “Centipede’s City” with a gorgeous piano solo in the middle.This is a very engaging work that I recommend highly.

The album is available in 224kbps MP3 from the Resting Bell netlabel.

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Fiktion’s mixture of guitars and electronics can get addicting. Fiktion is the brainchild of Gustaf Erik Lundh. His music can be ambient yet intellectually stimulating, slightly poppish yet experimental and certainly relaxing to listen to. He has quite a bit of music to listen to; 3 full albums and three EPs. I decided to concentrate on the full albums and found them to be very enjoyable. Morfint is the latest release (2007) and is full of odd and beautiful sounds of a down-tempo and ambient nature. Gryning & Skymning is also from 2007 and quite similar in its music. I especially like the opening “Det Kanns” which has a reverberating guitars dreamingly floating over a series of electric pops and glitches. Finally, Leftovers features orphan tracks from 2005 to 2007. The quality is little less than the first two but there are still some splendid moments. These albums will please those people into a sparse ambient sound and calming but intelligent music.

All three albums are available in album zips as VBR MP3s (around 192kbps). If you enjoy the music, support the artist by buying his CDs.

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Breathe 01 is the first of a series of compilation albums spotlighting independent artists in the ambient, IDM and electronic genres. There are 24 artists and over 2 hours of soundscapes. The atmosphere is generally on the dark side, introvert and meditative although you can almost detect a danceable pulse in some of these tracks. I didn’t find any one tune that really knocked me over but, having listened to the entire album non-stop, I could detect a resulting altered state somewheres between a hot bath and a night in a haunted mansion. This is musical acupuncture for your head.

The album is available as separate tracks or a full album zip in VBR MP3 format.

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When I reviewed the seven volumes of the internet music series Niescencje, I somehow missed Volume 8. This wasn’t a good thing since Volume 8 may be the best of the series. It focuses on music with female vocals which got my attention right there. I’ve always been a push-over for the female voice. The collection gets off to a good start with Kang Kai’s “Pictures” a pretty mixture of electronic glitches and a vocal bordering on Euro-folk and Celtic. However it didn’t prepare me for the strange and child-like “Bizarre” by Beatmaster. There is good variety and a number of pleasant surprises on this album. The trip-hop genre is well represented with tracks by Tomas Fusion and L’Eaves. Indie pop is given a healthy dose of feminine mystique in tracks by Bleep and Ruby Jean & The Thoughtful Bees. My favorite track was the nu-jazz “Loser” by Ant on Wax feat. Loar while my wife leaned toward Cubehog’s “Men are Inferior” (I see a disturbing theme here). This is an good collection of pop, electronica, and indie rock from this exceptional series.

The album is available in MP3 or Ogg Vorbis format.

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One of the best ways to get a grasp on the variety of music that is available through netlabels is to browse the several compilation series that has been put together by music fans and bloggers. I have already reviewed a few of them including Netbloc and The Silent Ballet. A new kid on the block is the Netmuzyka.com, a humble blog presenting Niesencje, a creative series of online albums bringing what they consider the cream of the netlabel crop. Their focus is somewhat mainstream, meaning no avant-garde, but there is a wide assortment of electronic music, IDM, nu-jazz, dance, introverted folk/pop, and ambient . There are currently seven collections, all having a consistently high quality with all tracks well chosen and each separate album having a listening duration of 40 to 60 minutes. Quite a few of the artists have already been discovered and written about by yours truly including Umma Project, ST, Post Human Era, and Stockfinster. However I am also unearthing a number of other promising artists which I have made a note to check out more thoroughly. These include the new age Virculum, an urban-percussive Skarv, and a exotically Latin Trafficjam. There’s just too many interesting tracks on these albums. Suffice to say, I’m currently listening to Vim’s fairytale of a tune titled “That Smell of Spring Rain” while it is 114 degrees Fahrenheit outside and digging it. All in all, this is a very fine series, nothing too challenging yet all enjoyable and worth checking out.

The seven albums are available in zips of 192kbps MP3.

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Niesencje Vol. 1
Niesencje Vol. 2
Niesencje Vol. 3
Niesencje Vol. 4
Niesencje Vol. 5
Niesencje Vol. 6
Niesencje Vol. 7

Don Hill’s music project Porteur de L’Image is both strange and inspiring, sort of a “Dark New Age” to coin a phrase. It appears that most consider this to be post-industrial, a description I will grudgingly concede. Through a Glass Darkly, which has the subtitle of “Electronic Sounds of Faith”, was originally released in 2003 from Epiphany records as a limited release but is now available as a free and legal MP3 album. Often surreal and chant-like, Hall’s electronic soundscapes are hypnotic but disquieting. The first three tracks are interesting but it really didn’t grab me until the mesmerizing “Take This Cup from Me” and the following “In Mercy Broken”. Each track has its own unique sound environment and bears attentive listening.

The album is available in 192kbps MP3.

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The Rhaaa Lovely Festival in collaboration with The Silent Ballet brings us two exceptional compilation albums featuring artists playing at the the yearly event in Cortil-Wodon, Belgium. This is an idea that I hope other festivals adopt: a free and legal souvenir of what must have been an interesting gathering of indie rock bands.

The 2007 compilation offers 14 tracks by 14 bands. Many of the artists have a cerebral sound that lends to a pleasant and relaxing day. Matt Elliot’s “Our Weight in Oil’ sways along in what sounds like a gypsy melody. The opening track by Whisper in The Noise is between introvert indie and new age. Rothko is the only one of the artists I have heard before and has alway been one of my favorite Tortoise influenced groups. But all is not calming. Hard metallic sounds comes from bands like Pentak and Pelican while We Cut the Tape and Scatter has a disquieting but attention getting style that makes them a group I would like to hear more from. This Lovely Festival isn’t afraid to take chances.

The 2008 compilation has 12 tracks from 12 other artists. Magyar Posse has an symphonic sound while Youthmovies’ “Shhh! You’ll Wake It” has full-bodied indie rock credentials. “Floodwaters” by The . J. Boyd Sexxxtet provides a odd but beautiful setting of chorus and strings. M0re traditional rock sounds can be found on tracks by Dead Meadow and Mutiny on The Bounty but my favorite track is a complex fusion number by Sleeping People. These two albums are fine samplers of music by independent musicians out of the mainstream. Those who went to the festival will have a nice reminder and those of us who didn’t will probably be clearing our calender for next March.

Both albums are available in 192kbps MP3.

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2007 Rhaaa Lovely Festival Compilation
2008 Rhaaa Lovely Festival Compilation

Phantom Channel is a new net label specializing in non-commercial, uncompromising ambient music. Phantom Channel Presents: Part 1 is what appears to be the first of a series meant to spotlight their artists. The music is minimalist, meditative and, for the most part, on the slightly disquieting side. While the seven tracks feature different artists, each work segues into the next soundscape offering a continual listening experience and making it a good album for deep relaxation. This is a nice debut of a promising netlabel.

The album is available as an album zip in 256kbps MP3.

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Downliners Sekt has resurfaced with their second full album, The Saltire Wave. Those who enjoyed the first album’s dark trip-hop may find the newer album substantially on the rougher side but will still find plenty of the complex instrumental interactions and nuances that makes Downliners Sekt so worth listening to. There’s more of a rock music vibe on some tracks, especially on “Point Omega”, “School Daze” and “Panic! Sonic Monk” but cuts such as “Kaidan” and “Blackstock News” reveal nice down-tempo interplay within the artists’ array of guitars and electronics. I especially like “Soltices” ending mixture of sci-fi electronics and fuzz tones that left me musically buzzed and waiting for more. While there is no one astounding track, like Statement of Purpose’s “Weather Underground”, the overall quality of Downliner Sekt’s new album remains high.

The album is available in 320kbps MP3.

Download (click on “releases”, then the album cover)

Fanfare please.

I am proud to present the one thousandth featured album on Free Albums Galore. Paragon Black is a mysterious musical project manned by the equally mysterious Wings of an Angel and Agent Smith. Their music is a tantalizing mixture of hip-hop, acid jazz, ambient and new age. There is a distinctly spiritual aspect to this music, stimulating yet soothing, thoughtful yet meditative.

Their self-titled album has a cinematic feel. It could be called a soundtrack to a state of mind. Poetic rapping reveals a very philosophical theme that makes you pause and think. Throughout it all are exotic beats and dreamlike instrumental backing. The opening track “Kourakan Prayer” is a good example of how all this comes together. Other tracks like “Rhythm of The Universe” and “Traveler’s Opus” explore world music. However I prefer the deft mixture of hip-hop and new age in “Chasing Angels” and “Borne of The Ether”. Paragon Black is a fascinating journey into the old and the new.

The album is available from the Dusted Wax Kingdom net label in 192kbps MP3.

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The French duo Planete Sauvage creates lush and surreal soundscapes that are securely in the realm of new age music. Their two albums are freely available on their web site.

The first album is self-titled and is a 31 minute EP of four tracks. The opening track “Cecilia” starts like a tentative dream and blossoms into a beautiful guitar-based melody. “La Saison des Puies” and “Resonances” have a similar dreamlike quality but with a middle Eastern influence. “Extension 9″ breaks from the pack with a rock tempo but has a lot of interesting twists and turns before the ten minute track concludes.

Planete Savauge II is a full length online album, clocking in at almost 42 minutes. I find it the better album if only because there is more of it. With only one of the seven tracks being under six minutes, Planete Savauge takes their time setting the mood and exploring the possibilities in their well-crafted compositions. The opening track, “Melancholia” is somewhat dark, a femme-fatale of a song. Some of the tracks combine a running dialogue such as on “The Dead Rose’s Monoloque” which I find distracting. But when the song is entirely instrumental, it is easy to get lost in the musical fog. Whether Planete Savauge is new age, ambient, down-tempo, or progressive rock is immaterial. They simply make beautiful music.

Planete Savauge is available in 320kbps MP3 while Planete Savauge II is in VBR MP3 at around 230kbps. You can also download either album in FLAC format.

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Planete Sauvage
Planete Sauvage II

Sicilian guitarist Francesco Guaiana calls his improvisatory epics “sonic walls of sound”. The first track of his online album does starts with what could be called a warm musical blanket of sound. However he develops long melodic lines that meander and explore in the later parts. Either way, Guaiana creates hard to classify improvised music that hovers between meditative new age and experimental. Guitar and electronics merge together in this live performance album titled Clouds in Motions. Francesco is aptly aided by Giacomo Merega on electric bass.

The album is presented in VBR MP3 by ARTSomerville, an organization bringing the arts to the community of Somerville, Massachusetts. They present a number of online albums through Jamendo that are well worth the time to explore.

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Canon Blue plays a haunting combination of ambient mixed with indie rock. The all too brief EP titled Halcyon is essentially a 17 minute, 4 track sampler of their music. The title track teases with a lush drone then breaks into a lilting melody. “Ennui” is my favorite song. It is the best showcase for the band’s soft vocals and harmony. There is an unmistakable Brian Wilson influence on this tune. “Avatar Furr” and the instrumental “Kingfisher Sweet” wraps up this short but beautiful album. Halcyon EP is a strong effort and a promising look at a talented band’s future.

The EP is available from their Myspace site in an album zip of 192kbps MP3. If you like the music support the artists by buying their debut album Colonies

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As described by WM Recordings…

A Simple Process is a collection of 6 compositions, each of which is based around a simple melodic fragment. These fragments are then altered by various processes (i.e. adding notes, transposing, shifting the beat placement). The compositions end when the process has run its course.

Thus goes the third online album by one of my favorite ambient / post-modern ensembles. Unlike their first and second albums, the conceptual frame of A Simple Process forces less variety of sound and mood. But that’s the charm of these particular compositions. The musicians take brief melodies and make an extended exploration of its possibilities, all the time being mindful of giving the listener a beautiful and perhaps mind altering experience. Listen to this album in quiet or with earphones to give the full experience.

The album is available in 128kbps MP3. I didn’t see any possibility of buying the CD which is unfortunate as this is a recording I would definitely want in higher quality sound.

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At first, Lunar’s Hybrid Awaken sounds like the usual ambient/IDM affair of melodic riffs and soft beats but, as you listen to the first track “Floodlights”, you realize the beats are becoming harder to the point of Drum N’ Bass. The melodies are lush and keyboards become more prominent until the music takes on a cinematic feel. Lunar has lots of tricks to immerse the listener in the music and isn’t afraid to use them. He is not afraid to experiment and mix styles while managing to create his own unique sound. Each track has its own joys. I especially like the groove laden “Lazy Dog Funk” and the rhythmic but very orchestral “The Unknown”. This is music you can really get into.

The album is available in a full zip of 192kbps MP3. You can also freely download an advanced zip of his album Wall of Sound for a limited time. Better yet, support the artist by buying the CD when it is released.

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One of the best places to find music by independent artists is at Jamendo. Unfortunately I haven’t reviewed too many albums from that web site due to my insistence that Free Albums Galore feature recordings that have direct on-site downloads which is contrary to Jamendo’s past use of P2P and bittorrent systems. But that is no longer the case. Jamendo gave everybody a Christmas present by adding the ability to download the albums directly from the page.

This is especially nice because I can now feature an artist that I have listened to regularly with pleasure for quite a while. Rob Costlow composes and plays beautiful solo piano music that is perfect for both solitary moments and romantic interludes. This is primarily new age acoustic music similar to the Windham Hill sound of George Winston. Actually I prefer Costlow to Winston. His compositions, while pleasing, often takes little twists and turns that stimulate your intellect are well as soothe your mind and body.

His first album is Woods of Chaos. The ten tracks all show a creative mind at work. The opening track, “Meant To Be” has a slightly jazzy feel akin to a Pat Metheny melody. Other songs are more reflective with highlights being “Semester Days” and “Twilight”. The title track is especially beautiful, a sort of modern nocturne.

The second album is cleverly titled Sophomore Jinx. If you are looking for the same calming vibes then you will not be disappointed. Some of the tracks like “L.A/Passing By” are longer and a bit more complex in its development. “Summer Garden” has a impressionist aura to it. Overall, there appears to be more exploration in the music. I like this album just a little more than the first due what I think is a more Classical sound but both albums are excellent choices for the lover of passionate music.

Both albums are available by separate tracks or album zip in 192kbps MP3.

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Woods of Chaos
Sophomore Jinx

One of the joys of running this blog goes something like this.

1. I discover an exciting online album by a previously unknown artist (at least to me) .
2. I feature the album.
3. The artist not only thanks me but tells me about other online albums he released or is about to release.
4. I discover more great music!!

This is exactly what happened when I recently reviewed Phillip Wilkerson’s The Dream Beneath. Phillip turned me on to four more albums, all bearing the trademark ambient style of the artist but each a bit different in one way or another. The albums are available from Amorfus Music. Here is a rundown of the four recordings with quotes from the Internet Archive descriptions…

Across an Imaginary Sky: “Ambient, atmospheric musical compositions based on a long drone overlayed with voices, strings, and brass.”

Hymn to The Wind: “three minimalist compositions that explore austere, abstract ambience.”

Vigil: “a collection of rather abstract and experimental, but mostly mellow, ambient piano compositions overlaying warm drones, with accompanying glitch sequences in rhythmic patterns”

Seven Piano Improvisations: “7 quiet, contemplative solo piano improvisations, with faint backing strings and chorus.”

All four deliver exquisite drones and tones that are perfect for meditation and peaceful listening. My favorite is the solo piano improvisations but they all are recommended.

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Across an Imaginary Sky
Hymns to The Wind
Seven Piano Improvisations
Vigil

F.D. Project’s Mare Tranquillitatis is two hours of space sounds, soaring guitars, and synthesizer arrangements harking back to the 70s sounds of Vangelis and Tangerine Dream. Beautifully conceived and expertly played, this equivalence of a double CD will impressed those who like epic sounding electronic music. This is good atmospheric music for either active or passive listening.

The albums is available in 320kbps MP3.

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Here come more ambient goodness and cerberal candy from Thomas Nunnally Ensemble. Like their first album, it is full of drones, samples, natural sounds and soft electronic beats that places the listener is a new environment. The Light at The End of The Tunnel promises neither dark or light but a eerie place in between to surround the listener in their soundscapes.

The album is available by full album zip in 128kbps MP3.

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The first thing noticable with the musical entity My First Trumpet is that there are no trumpets. What you get instead are lullabies of electro-acoustic sound ever so slightly accented by soft beats. The opening tracks “Pawlow” and “Digital Contact” exhibit the delicate arrangements on this very listenable album. Kevin Hamann is the brain behind My First Trumpet. Throughout Frerk there is a perfect mingling of a mature musical mind and a childhood innocence.

The album is available in 256kbps MP3 from the excellent Aerotone netlabel.

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Mark.Nine’s four online albums are freely available on the Io netlabel. His musical musings fit somewheres between the IDM soundscapes of Boards of Canada, the ambient drones of Robert Rich, and the more melodic electronic compositions of Mike Oldfield.

His newest release is Artificial Horizons and it is my favorite of the four. Easy listening melodies exists alongside soft beats making for a restful listening experience. Tracks like “Nova Scotia” are well produced lyrical journeys that border on new age while others like “You Could Hear The Bird Sing” are a little more minimalist and use a stronger beat. Overall, this is a good listen for those who are looking for relaxing music between ambient and new age.

The other four albums are earlier endeavors and not quite as realized. But they still have their moments. Infrastructure sounds a little like space rock on several tracks. You can really hear the Oldfield influence on “Drift Away”. Glitch is more ambient candy but a little experimental and beat heavy on some songs, especially on the title track. Finally, I’ll Meet You on The Other Side is my second favorite. It has the soft lulling nature of Artificial Horizons but “Coming From the Radio Tower” actually turns the artist loose on an atypical up-tempo track. These are four good albums of primarily down-tempo beats and new age lyricism.

All four albums are available in 128kbps MP3.

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Artificial Horizons
I’ll Meet You on The Other Side
Glitch
Infrastructure

Recently I featured six albums by Columbian sound artist David Velez a.k.a. Lezrod. David contacted me to let me know that volume 2 of Data Transfer has been released. Like Vol. 1, it is a collection of collaborations with several other musicians specializing in electronic music. It has a distinct international flavor, featuring artists from Spain, Argentina, Australia, Japan and many other countries. Again, this is high quality experimental and avant-garde electronic music of a minimalist nature.

The album is from the Eko netlabel and is available in VBR MP3 (about 260kbps).

Update: As mentioned by Joe of Earlabs in the comments, the EKO netlabel is no longer around. However, Earlabs still has an album zip of this fine album available that you can access from the download link below.

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Anyone who listens regularly to electronic music is aware of the many promising young sound artists coming out of Central and South America. Free Albums Galore has already featured artists from Mexico and Chile. Columbian David Velez, who records under Lezrod, is just the newest of these experimental musicians who focus on releasing through the internet. Here are six albums by Lezrod from the Zymogen and Test Tube netlabels.

Retorno a la Nada was Lezrod’s and Zymogen’s first release. It is a quiet and brooding work of whispering lines and short electronic punctuations. Data Transfer, also from Zymogen, is a conceptual work of collaborations with other artist including Darren McClure and Gurdonark. Retorno de la Nada is available in 192kbps MP3 while Data Transfer is in 224kbps MP3.

Two albums from Test Tube solidifies Lezrod’s style of soft minimal melodies accented and developed through electronic means. Seleccion Natural is the most satisfying of the albums. The tracks are abstract and experimental but remains grounded in tones and melodies even if those melodies are fragile and barely visible. There is more of a beat in this album, especially on “Epoc” and the Latin influenced “Adios”. If you download one Lezrod album, this would probably be your best bet. The two tracked Exploraciones Sonoras de Paisajes Surreales y Espacios Infinitos also makes for some heady listening. This conceptual piece is based on the writings of Jules Verne. Seleccion Natural is in 256kbps MP3 while Exploraciones is in 224kbps MP3.

Lastly Zymogen and Test Tube teams up for Lezrod’s two part composition titled Genki. The two volume work is the composer’s latest and most ambitious. There are a lot of layers in these mainly ambient tracks and all point toward an young artist still finding his voice in the world. I expect we will be hearing much more from David Velez. Volume 1 is from Zymogen (192kbps MP3) and Volume 2 is available from Test Tube (224kbps MP3. All six albums can be downloaded as separate tracks or full album zip.

Download
Data Transfer
Seleccion Natural
Genki Vol. I
Genki Vol. II
Retorno a la Nada
Exploraciones Sonoras de Paisajes Surreales y Espacios Infinitos

The Negative Sound Institute netlabel is always good for quality ambient sounds and their new addition to the NSI stable does nothing to dissuade this notion. Pseudophone’s music yearns to be background noise, a quiet droneful dream of sound suitable for meditation or simply calming the urban chaos as you go on with your day. Much of Reach sounds like a soundtrack for a movie, a very atmospheric movie at that. If you are looking for music that is calming, other worldly and with a generous dose of mystery, Pseudophone is waiting for you.

The album is available in 256kbps MP3.

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D’incise is another one of those sound artists that seem to be all over the internet. The Swiss artist has a number of internet albums available through several netlabels. His tools are familiar; field recordings, digital manipulations, and a variety of electronic effects. However he always seem to be experimenting. He has a signature sound but no one album is like the other one.

Insectes, Attente et Pixels is somewheres between IDM and experimental. There’s always the hint of a beat and sometimes a disclosure of manic energy. It is dark, odd, and very listenable. The album is available from the Zymogen netlabel in 256kbps MP3.

Erratiques Eraflures is very much avant-garde and almost void of beat. There is a strong use of field recordings of an urban nature and hence an industrial feeling. While it is not as listenable as Insectes it is still a fascinating, if challenging listen. The album is available from Mirakelmusik in MP3 or Ogg Vorbis format.

His newest album is Capharnaum from the eDogm netlabel and is the most interesting of the three I’ve featured. There a lot of variety from industrial musique concrete (”Plaisir Capharanaum”) to ambient (”anonyme”) to post-classical noise (”Sitcom ou le Passage au Noir Impromptu”). This is a surprising album that kept my attention. It is available in VBR MP3 (about 258kbps).

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Capharnaüm
Insectes, Attente et Pixels
Erratiques Eraflures