Indo - five albums
Indo’s Creative Commons Licensed albums are a series of global ambient experiments utilizing multiple musical cultures. Each album appears to be focused on a certain world music. However the Hungarian artist uses his own electronic and sampling tricks to give them an unique and individual sound. I prefer these albums as essentially background music for reading or working but they would also work well for meditative listening.
Tangata Manu has an album cover of the Easter Island statues. I do not know if the sound sare of Easter Island music specifically but there is definitely a Pacific Island beat going on. Actually it reminds me of the Kodo album I have on my shelf. I love the way Indo builds the tension on track two. Other tracks tend to be less tense yet it remain an intriguing listen from the first to last track.
Based on the title of Tropical Dream Forest, I dreaded the album would be something like the mass produced New Age “relaxation” tapes. However this is another good mixture of Indo’s experiments with electronics and nature. I especially like “Rain and Sunshine”. There doesn’t seem to be a coherent theme here. Rain Forest themed pieces are mixed with a 9/11 tribute called “The Two Towers”. Yet there are plenty of nice experiments.
Al-Isra (The Night Flying fo Mohammed is derived from the 17th Sutra of the Holy Quran focusing on Mohamed’s night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem. Between it chant-like recitations and the long drones, it is quite a mystical journey. I find this the most involving of Indo’s efforts.
Khastra Vairya is Indo’s own Persian fantasy. In many ways it is the most abrasive of the sound journeys. Not my favorite but still interesting. Indo appears to be echoing Muslimgauze on this album. Frankly I think Indo’s ambient soundscapes are more accessible than those of Muslimgauze.
Finally, the single tracked Pneuma is essentially a thirty minute drone exercise incorporate nature sounds including bird calls and water sounds. It is the most meditative of the albums.
All five albums are available in mp3 format.
Download
Tangata Manu
Tropical Dream Forest
Khastra Vairya
Pneuma
Al - Isra (The Night Flying Of Mohamed)
I’m not a big turntablism fan but I must admit the artistry of Manuele Atzeni is quite appealing. Sporting a urban soulfulness and a lounge style hipness, The Miyazaki Tour EP is a nentertaining five track collection of hip hop and electronica laced with a lot of jazz and funk. Atzeni, aka Miyazaki, comes from Florence, Italy and is apparently a major influence in the hip/hop & dance scene of that area. This is a nice mellow mixture of the hip and the cool.
Blind Moany Wat is a music project from David J. Applegate and friends off the new Immigrant Breast Nest netlabel. He describes the music as “Porch Techno” which I believe is literally techno he creates on his porch. However, this is not techno dance but electronica that is meant to be listened to earnestly. In other words, you’re not going to be tapping your foot to it. This is not so much ambient as dys-ient similar to some of DJ Spooky’s more “out-there” works. Not everyone will dig it but those who like their electronic music scratching the boundaries will find this interesting.
I do not often use the words “funny” and “light-hearted” to describe electronic albums but they certainly fit Daniel Corral’s free and legal album titled Die Laughing. When he is not writing scores and dance pieces, he passes the time with putting together these …yes…funny and light-hearted pieces. Fortunately for us he has decided to share them with us on this free online EP titled Die Laughing. They are amusing and imaginative compositions that should give you a smile. However my two favorites are actually re-mixes. ” “Dirt Star” is a remix of 
The 17 minute Oh, NaokoEP by 
Inspired by images from the Cassini-Huygens and Voyager space exploration missions, Sub Luna is a rapturous collection of soundscapes guaranteed to send your mind off in the vast frontiers of space. I am tempted to say “where no ears have gone before”, but I’ll pass. Each of the seven tracks are named after stars and TheForgotton gives us his aural description by way of luscious tones and spacey backgrounds. Very meditative and calming, this is a good album for evening relaxation.
Iranian-American composer and instrumentalist Dariush Dolat-shahi is adept at both contemporary electronic music and traditional Persian music. He is also a master at the 
Here is a unusual and interesting “electronic” album. Perhaps the moniker “field recording” would be a bit more accurate. Blood and Water was created at the haemodialysis unit in King’s College Hospital serving the South London area. The sounds are all from dialysis machines. The sounds of the “unit environment, the dialysis machines and the all important water treatment facilities” are shaped by Tom Wallace into this soundscape. Aside from the introduction of the process and unit by Sister Rachel Mwansa, all sounds are from the machines that are allowed to create their own narrative. It is a very unique composition that manages to hold its own and provide a fascinating 18 minutes.
Joxfield ProjeX’s sound constructions may be avant-garde yet they have an accessible appeal for those who are not necessarily familiar with the more “out-there” performances of experimental music. Sound artists Oax and Xan have an involving style of music-making. These are complex compositions that ropes in the listeners. Clinical Archives currently have three very good albums by these interesting musicians.
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I asked my wife what she thought of Le Chatmou’s two free and legal online albums. She hesitated and then said “Very French”. It’s hard to elaborate on that response but I’ll try. Jerome Hoffman aka Le Chatmou makes music of a cinematic quality that would sound perfect in some French films, perhaps a 
Jopy’s meditative music is a cut above a lot of the ambient / electronic music that is freely available over the internet. The three albums on his web site are lush soundscapes that flirts with the lyrical but never quite surfaces into melodies. Long drones, found sound, and barely decipherable voices all play a part in these hard to resist ambient sound waves. There are occasionally some noticeable beats as on Bojihanga’s “Piti” but even then they tend to become lost in the layers of sounds. Bojihanga is a good place to start due to the quiet and spacey vibes it sends out. I’m not sure if it is intentional but there is an eerie similarity to the Indian devotional music called 
Tracing Arcs has an unusual but pleasing sound. While trip-hop in design and jazz in concept, there is a sense of free association in their album titled Fin. Luscious female vocals almost ramble in their lyrics and often the song ends abruptly rather than resolve. The result is a dream-like soundscape that lulls you into a trance, and a pleasant one at that. One of the more interesting aspect of the band is the use of an acoustic bass that gives a jazz-like grounding to some tracks. It works especially well on “A Pig & a Cow” and “Desperate Measures”. Another favorite track is the rather heady “Crytalk”. This is an exceptional album of sensuous sounds.
Philadelphia’s 
The Kyoto Connection plays chilled out electro-pop mixed with a generous amount of Japanese sounds. Their 2008 release titled The Kyoto Connection II is now free and online. While the Japanese influence was not quite as dominant as I expected it to be, their music is still full of unexpected surprises in the engaging electronic arrangements. I find “Painting With Lights” especially intriguing for its trip-hop vocals and Oriental background drones. “Voyage I - Let The Light In” is the kind of pretty new age track that is both delightful and soothing while “The Prisoner” has a dance-pop quality that is infectious. All three of the “Voyage” tracks are quite beautiful. I played this at a gathering of people who had very different tastes in music and almost everyone was asking me who it was and where they could get it. This is very engaging music that should be enjoyable to a large audience. The album is available from Jamendo in VBR MP3 format.
Drone albums are esy to come by on the internet. Good drone albums are difficult to find anywhere. Kalte has released The Lanthanide Series and it is an exceptional display of minimalist drone-based soundscapes. Kalte is a duo consisting of sound artists Deane Hughes and Rik MacLean who seem to like cold and icy tones that hang and echoes in your ears. Since they state that this album was inspired by the barren Canadian winters, it sort of makes sense. The overall mood is bleak and solemn but there is still plenty of beauty in this music. This may not ever crack Billboard’s top 40 but I suspect its haunting sounds will stay with you a lot longer than anything on the hit list.
