Xera - Lliendes
Xera’s free online album Lliendes is one of the most unique blends of Celtic and electronics I have heard. Traditional instruments such as bagpipes and violin soar over a dense electronic layer of beat and sounds. Xera manages to respect the Celtic tradition while adding a 21st century slant. I especially like “Elexia” which pits a violin against a increasingly tense percussive background. This also may be the first album on Free Albums Galore that features bagpipes but in a way that should win over ever the most fervent bagpipe hater. Also check out the epic sounding “Valdescabre” and the closing track “Trasmerna” which provides one of the few vocals on the album. This is a exhilarating effort.
The album in available from Jamendo in 192kbps MP3.
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.
This is one of those projects that just doesn’t fit tightly in any genre. Bordering new age, jazz and classical, there is a fresh sound from this trio of violin, bass and percussion. Morning Zephyr offers all three of their albums free and online. The first, Advocates, sounds a bit floundering and, to be frank, is not that well recorded. However, Empire Builder and Proof and Content rises to the challenge and are my Free Albums Galore picks of the day.
There is no doubt that Ken Verheecke’s solo acoustic guitar album A Place Called Home is as soothing and relaxing as a new age acoustic work should be. However a closer listen reveals that Verheecke has a talent for making his rather prodigious technique seem simple when it isn’t. Your calmed attitude might also neglect to notice that these original songs are imaginative and immaculately structured compositions. The guitarist/composer makes it all look easy. The tracks on this album are not only calming but stay with you after the first listen. Highly recommended.
Fanfare please.
The French duo 
French pianist and composer 
The Serenata Chamber Musicians are 17 artists from the Greater Boston area who play classical chamber music. A few of their concerts are available as online albums from 
One of the best places to find music by independent artists is at 
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.
Mark.Nine’s four online albums are freely available on the 
Arrial creates soft pastoral sounds with quiet beats. For The Love features primarily acoustic guitar with gently accented electronic support. This is a nice marriage of acoustic with electric that is especially pleasant on tracks like “No Good (Start The Chat)” and “Tomorrow I Start My Homework”. There may be nicer ways to begin your day than with Arrial on your Ipod but right now I can’t think of any.
Gentle piano driven melodies are the order of the day on Nest. The duo of Otto Totland and Huw Robert creates soothing electro-acoustic music that often sounds cinematic. My favorite track “Trans Siberian” evokes aural visions of trains and barren landscape. Very impressionist and sometimes minimalist, this album is a work of contemplative beauty.
Crepusculum is Latin for sundown which gives you a hint of the peaceful end-of-day atmosphere this 20 minutes plus EP evokes. Londoner Fred Baty focuses mainly on acoustic guitar and pastoral soundscapes with electronic background barely embellishing the overall mood. The opening track “A Sheltered Life” is one of the more elaborate tracks with a quiet guitar driven melody playing over nature sounds and light keyboards. The quality remains high on all tracks except for a misguided Sheltered Life remix. This is a quiet session of tranquil, mainly acoustic, music.
Why a person with a perfectly normal name like Peter Haedderley decides to record under the moniker of Tofustaggerbush is beyond me. Not to mention that the odd collection of syllables evokes thoughts of techno, metal, or strange horrific creatures, none of which are found on this album. Instead Tofustaggerbush gives us a beautifully honed jewel of new age and easy listening sounds. Brain Tonic may be the first album to provide us with a prescription dosage. “Take 1 daily or as needed” is good advice. 
As I listen to the online album Aditi by Ka, the most prevalent word that comes to mind is “mysterious”. There is barely any information on Ka except that it appears to be a solo project by Franklin Zambrano. The album is presented with little hype but a eerie album cover and the music’s own merits. The music is trance-like and exotic, much of it evoking visions of midnight caravans, jungle temples, and mystical moments. I wouldn’t call it meditative but the pulsing beat and hynoptic melodies could lull you into a sense of unreality. “Manvantera” certainly has a feeling of mystery and forboding, while “Mahaset” could be a nice soundtrack for a full moon boat ride down the Ganges. “Innana en los Infiernos” really breaks out the global groove and almost becomes a bona-fide rock track.”Ganges” returns to the land of moonlight and mystics while “Costas” ends the album with what could only be described as a new age lullaby. This is a beautiful, perhaps even spirtitual, session of soothing sounds.
Cantaloupe is the musical project of Thomas Peters from Marburg, Germany. He blends electronic and acoustic instruments into delicately floating tapestries of sound. Tonight It Shows provides nine tracks of gentle music bordering on new age and ambient with an emphasis on strong melodies. The ethereal voice of Eva Paul brings an added dimension to some of the songs. This is a good album for those looking for calming vibes of the electro-acoustic variety. 
Galdson is a composer of original piano compositions of exceptional beauty and grace. Roots is his debut album and has 16 tracks of easy listening yet exquisite piano solos. This is music for times of quiet reflection but also for romantic moments and dinner by candlelight. Galdson has a soft touch on the keyboard that reminds me of the neo-classicism of Liz Story but also reveals possible influences from the more introspective jazz pianists like Keith Jarret or the new age pastoral sounds of George Winston. This is a beautiful recording that calms and delight the senses.
K. D. Expression’s album titled For The Heart From Collapsed Dreams is a wander through lush string-like harmonies and quietly driven pulses. There’s a cinematic feel through most of this album starting with the new age sounding “She’s Not” and “The Wanderer”. Other tracks like “The Wall” and “Listen Look and Cry” have more of a techno dance floor beat. My taste leans toward quieter pieces in which the beat builds but never overpowers. Good examples include “Fragile Cell”, “Le Dernier Adeui” and “Feeble”. This is a pleasant session of new age influenced electronica.
Hyro is an experimental music trio comprised of László Hortobágyi (”Music & Mixology”), Mihály Rácz (”tapestry of the kaleidoscopic-astral triggering sound”), and Ferenc Broder (”geometric hallucionegic loops”). I would like to give you more specifics on the instrumentation but the above quotes from the album gives us the only hint on what creates these vibrant and hypnotic soundscape. Even the descriptions of the songs are mysterious. “Metatech” is described as “the hacker-Yoga enter to the Gate of the gothic-sceleton monster’s throat”. The sound borders between ambient techno and experimental industrial. With five tracks, each being over ten minutes, there is plenty of time for this creative trio to explore the beat and tones they so effortlessly put into play. The previously mentioned “Metatech” is mostly industrial while the other four tracks exhibits the world music influence that Hortobágyi is best known for. “Mahazid” fills a beautiful chorale piece with scintillating disco beats while the opening track, “Hinhub”, is a tapestry of techno and world rhythm as is the closing track “Ghanim”. Sizen Siniedo is a fascinating journey into a mesmerizing landscape of sampling, electronics, and musicianship.
Verian Thomas has an online album of brief and gentle instrumentals simply titled Miniatures. These quiet jewels are Thomas’ attempt, as he puts it in his own words…
