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.

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Tangata Manu
Tropical Dream Forest
Khastra Vairya
Pneuma
Al - Isra (The Night Flying Of Mohamed)

Jane From Occupied Europe was a British band out of Salisbury. They took their name from the Swell Map’s second album and played a drone-base mix of 70s psychedelica and 90s alternative. I only recently heard of them and it is a shame they did not appear on my radar while they were still in existence for the band had an exceptional sound and deserved a wider audience.

An associate of the musicians has placed all of their releases, with permission of the artists, on this same-titled tribute blog. There is a good amount of music here and I recommend to check it all out but the main event is JFOE’s full length album Coloursound. It is a fully realized effort with a consistent sound. Mid East drones, haunting vocals and psychedelic guitars all create a musical feast. You can hear influences from Echo and The Bunnymen, Nick Cave, The Pixies, The Smiths, and others from the 80s and 90s scene. There are no weak songs but I especially like “Drift 13″ and “Mourning Glass” and recommend them as typical tracks by this band. You can find other EPs, Demos, and 12″ singles offered on this site but this full album should be your first and best introduction to this unjustly ignored band.

Coloursound is available in 320kbps MP3.

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Japanese Gum is an Italian duo of rock and electronics that really got my head spinning. Their brief EP titled Without You, I’m Napping is just under the 15 minutes duration limit I arbitrarily use for this blog but there are enough musical ideas crowded into these three tracks for a couple of albums. The Japanese Gum sound is a traffic jam of psychedelica, progressive rock, space electronics, and vocals that sounds like The Mary and Jesus Chain in a time warp. “Chlorine Blue” starts pastoral and then builds up to the vocals until it is a throbbing wall of sound. I can not make out the lyrics on “Cannibalism Next Door” but it barely matters as organ and percussion set the stage for what can only be described as an industrial ritual chant. The final track is “Part-Time Assholes” and, despite the weird title, is a memorable post-rock symphonic poem. While this album is too brief to be more than a first course, I have to admit I went away with very satisfied ears.

The album is available as a free download from their web site in 192kbps MP3. If you enjoy the music, support the artists by buying their CDs.

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Squadra Omega is an Italian psychedelic free-form jam band that knows how to bend your ears. From the first onslaught of sax, guitars and drums on Tenebroso I was spellbound. The 20 minute single track album was recorded in one live take with an intensity that few artists can keep going for that duration. This is a free improvisation spree complete with all the mistakes and risks that make this form of live art so…well…alive. The tracks starts in full throttle and continues with an almost shamanic dedication, a full volume free jazz chant. It is The Grateful Dead, Sun Ra and Coltrane all rolled together in one night of all joy and dread abandoned. If you haven’t guessed, I love this album. This is some of the best free improvisation you will find in avant jazz and rock. This gem of a live session is brought to you by The Clinical Archives net label and is available in 320kbps MP3 format.

Rennes Le Chateau from the Vuoto net label didn’t send me waxing poetically like the former album did but it did verify my first perception that Squadra Omega is an unique and exceptional ensemble of musicians. Like Tenebroso It is a 20 minute long free-form jam that keeps your interest throughout. There’s a lot of 70s jam rock influence in this album but I find the way these artists interact and mix their influences together totally 21st century. There are traces of The Dead, electronic sampling, mid-east tonalities, free jazz, and even the ghost of Link Wray’s guitar in this jam and all of it makes sense in some musically chaotic definition of normality. I’m hooked on this band. Rennes Le Chateau is available in 320kbps MP3.

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Rennes Le Chateau
Tenebroso

There’s no question that Canadian singer / songwriter Allister Thompson is greatly influenced by the 70s English folk scene. Traces of Nick Drake, Richard Thompson, and Steeleye Span abound in his free online album titled Infinities. However there is also a strong ambient feel through this relaxing but mesmerizing effort. Exceptional lyrics accompany beautiful, hypnotic, and somewhat minimal melodies that can weave a spell on you.

The album is available in MP3 or Ogg Vorbis format.

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The first track on Nothing But Gonzo makes it clear that this is not your normal nue-jazz or jazz fusion outing. Gonzo Gonzales, a trio of trumpet, bass, and percussion, starts out growling and menacing. The second track is live and offered 12 minutes of creative improvisations that presses the limits of tonality but always remains loyal to the funky beats. From there on, it only gets better. The music hovers somewheres between funk, avant-garde and psychedelica. There are a few guests who add some surprises to the proceedings with instruments like the didgeridoo, flute and guitar but I prefer it when the trio is lay bare with nothing but rhythm and a bass line allowing the very talented trumpeter to spread out. This is an exciting album of creative jazz.

Nothing but Gonzo is available from Jamendo in VBR MP3.

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This bit of psychodelic punk psychodrama is brought to you from sunny Spain. Psicodelic FunKilljazz combines 60s psychedelica and 80s funk with a decidedly post-punk mentality. Sort of Country Joe and The Fish versus Funkadelic in a mosh pit. Their self titled album is a bit undisciplined but each track has a certain wild charm. The group sails through jazz riffs, flamenco, cabaret tunes, and screamed vocals with ease as if it makes perfect sense to them. Probably does. Fortunately they have the talent and imagination to get away with it. The four track suite “La Odisea de la Langosta” is the best showcase starting with a quiet mood and ending in hardcore chaos. My advice is to just play the damn thing and go with the flow.

The album is available in separate tracks or full album zip of 128kbps MP3.

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Umma Project is the work of Esteban Mejía Mesa who plays all of the instruments and does all the sampling and programming. His albums are freely available through a creative commons license and will send the listener on a psychedelic sound journey complete with old fi-sci movie dialogue and spacey synth riffs.

Ethereal is a fitting title for this full album of almost an hour duration. The mood rarely go beyond calm and serene with just a hint of disquiet. Much of the music has a progressive rock feel similar to early Pink Floyd. There are no flashy solos or “wow” moments but if you are looking for a calming. meditative session in the line of space music or mystic moods, then this will fit the bill.

The album is available through a full album zip in 192kbps MP3.

Update: The download page now asks for registration to download the album but it is not required.

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Bombay Laughing Club is a curious mixture of blues, ragtime, psychedelica, and rock that is stirred, shaken, and served with a generous heap of humor. The best comparisons I can think of are the Holy Modal Rounders from the psychedic 60s and the music hall sound of The Bonzo Dog Band but the harder edged Captain Beefheart and the blues of Howlin’ Wolf are also influences. Bombay Laughing Club keeps us guessing with 14 highly varied tracks on their album The Golden Years. “Working Boy Blues” and “Kill You Dead” is coarse throated juke joint blues. “Suba Deba” is an Beefheart inspired romp that borrows from both punk and hip-hop as does the dance crazy “Space Machine. “Blue Berry” is ol’ timey madness while other tracks like “Jumping Bridge” and “Yak”confound easy classification. I really like this album but even if you don’t, you will certainly not be bored.

The album is available in 256kbps MP3.

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Rob Sanderson offers two albums of retro sci-fi psychedelica on his blog titled Heavy Horn Action. His blog is a good example of an artist taking music distribution into his own hands and using the internet to allow people to hear his creations and make their own judgements far away from the commercial hype of the music industry. The albums represent two distinct projects of Sanderson’s; Heavy Horn Action and Midnite Classix.

Heavy Horn Action checks in with Hyperbolikaleidoscopsychedelic Freakout!. As the title suggests, these are somewhat psychedelic ponderings witha little campy 60s sci-fi vibes thrown in for good measure. The songs are essentially collages pasted together with sampled dialoques and effects over spacy melodies that are driven by a techno beat. Not all of it is successful but tracks like “Hour of the Invisible Now”, “Subliminal Song”, and the rockin’ title song all make for some some interesting fun.

Midnite Classix’s Feeding The Thin Air is less psychedelic and more Drum’n'Bass. It’s appears to be focused on the dance floor crowd and packs some nice grooves. There’s a little of everything for the electronica fan. “Classical Gas” (Not the old Mason Williams hit) is very acid jazz while “Don’t Trust The Human” and “Time to Evolve” lays downs a heavy beat rather nicely. I find the album by Heavy Horn Action more my style but fans of electronic mood music will enjoy both.

You can download the two albums from Rob’s blog via Rapidshare or through the Internet Archive from the link below. The files are in either MP3 (64kbps, 192kbps, or VBR) or Ogg Vorbis format.

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Heavy Horn Action - Hyperbolikaleidoscopsychedelic Freakout!
Midnite Classix - Feeding The Thin Air

Finnish psych folk ensemble Paavoharju gives us an online album that defies description. Its strange and beautiful sounds borrow profusely from Finnish traditional music, ambient and trip-hop electronics, and even medieval hymns and chorales. There is a spiritual quality to this music that draws you in. The first track, “Nuo Maisemat” pits a phantom-like vocal against a wall of haunting sounds. “Kuljin Kauas” is recorded live and is the most rock-oriented track off the session while the acoustic “Pepe” is a gorgeous ballad which I suspect may be a traditional song. But more intriguing to me are the tracks that push the folk label envelope such as “Tartu Tahan Hetkeen”. It is a mysterious collage of street noises, hypnotically repetitive organ lines, and voice samples. The range of sounds varies from track to track but it remains a suprisingly coherent and complete work.

The album is available in 192kbps MP3. If you enjoy the music, I urge you to support this unusual and unique group by buying their CDs.

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“Set the Wayback Machine for 1968, Sherman!”

Psychedelic Rock always brings back memories of the 1960s for me. The music was unique in rock with its extended instrumentals, trippy effects and dreamlike lyrics. Certainly, artists such as Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, and Donovan led the way. Lesser bands like Vanilla Fudge and Iron Butterfly were just as influencial.

Then there were hundreds of unknown or forgotten bands firmly in the shadows of the Psychedelic movement. I have never heard of J. P. Sunshine but this 1968 self-titled album is a delightful relic of this era. It has its problems, It not closein qulaity to even the b-list of sixties psychedelic bands. The production values are inferior even for the sixties. The vocals and presentation is somewhat amateurish. But there still that sense of innocence and wonder that made this genre so attractive. The title track is a good example with its folkish guitar, obtuse but optimistic lyrics, and an appealing fuzz guitar solo. “Hey Girl” has some nice moments despite its silly lyrics (”Hey Girl whats that look in your eye. / Looking high so am I”). Most songs continue in the same folk-pop vein except for the last track, “Dirt Blues”. It’s a bluesy departure reminiscent of Canned Heat or Al Kooper. It’s my favorite track but I’ve always been more of a blues man than a hippie anyways.

The album is available in 160kbps MP3.

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When is a bootleg album not a bootleg? When it is freely and legally offered on the band’s official web site.

Which is exactly what the Butthole Surfers have done on their web site. Three entire albums of varying sound quality are available and all three attest to the unique sound of this seminal shock rock / neo-psychedelia band.

Technically only one of these is a bootleg, Tejass was recorded during their 1996 tour but there is no information on time or place of recording. The sound, considering it is a bootleg, is really good. Gibby Haynes’ vocals comes out loud and clear while Paul Leary contributes his hardcore guitar sound that makes this band so distinctive. This is a good album for those who are not familar with this group. There is a nice live version of “Pepper” which is one of the few songs that made commercial air play. The tracks are available in 160kbps MP3.

Double Live has an interesting background. There were so many bootlegs around that, as the web site states, “By ‘88 the band felt they could bootleg the band as well as everybody else, so they joined the crowd and released their own crappy bootleg too.” The album had a very limited release and now available on the web site “since it’s doubtful this will ever be reissued again.” The sound isn’t all that great but it is an excellent example of the energy Butthole Surfers brings to a stage. The album is available in 128kbps mp3.

Live in Fort Worth is an online only release of a 2002 performance. The band continues to present controversial music just as they did in the 80s. This is another good live session and is available in 160kbps MP3.

All three albums are worthwhile, but if you enjoy them you should purchase their excellent albums. You can download a few sample tracks from each of their LPs and/or some tracks from another bootleg titled Caso Raro!.

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Double Live
Live In Fort Worth
Tejass

Tantrum inhabit that shadow area of the rock world where disembodied vocals mix with psychedelic quitar evoking memories of David Lynch films. The result is trance inducing and similar to the sonic dream music of artists like Cocteau Twins and Blonde Redhead.

Tantrum has two albums available online. Maisie’s Friend (1999) is their first and has a slightly more melodic feel to it. “Pill and Dreams” pulses and flows over the ethereal vocals of Nikki Grant. “Scaremonger” is my favorite track with its light lyrics over densely layered guitar and electronics. I also recommend “Skunk”, a delightful exercise in manic energy.

Advice To Users was released in 2006. Tantrum continues the pattern of floating voices over deep layers of sound. “Princess” is especially engaging as its Grant’s voice lulls you into a dream then jolts you awake with high-voltage guitars. “Emergency Poncho” has a Sonic Youth echo to it. Both albums are recommended to those who like their rock music to be spacy and intelligent.

Both albums are available in 128kbps MP3. If you enjoy the music, support the artists by buying their CDs in higher quality sound.

No longer available

Brian Jonestown Massacre (named after the Rolling Stones guitarist) are a psychedelic band featuring Anton Newcombe and a rotation of more than 40 artists through the 90s.

Methodrone, Spacegirl, and Their Satanic Majesties Second Request are sloppily recorded but reminisce over a broad range of shoegaze and psychedelia . Take It From the Man! is a more accessible retreading of the Stones, BB King, Bo Diddley, The Animals, Them, Jimi Hendrix, and others. The appropriately titled Give It Back further relives 60s rock, while Strung Out in Heaven is perhaps their most mature work, sounding more like The Byrds than the Stones.

Bravery Repetition & Noise is a darker, dreamier, more atmospheric album as much dependent on post-punk as the 60s, and And This Is Our Music is even prettier and more ghostly. Bringing It All Back Home Again is only 30 minutes long and country-tinged.

Brian Jonestown Massacre is definitely the “biggest” name I know of to post so much of their work on the Internet; here’s hopin’ others follow suit!

The albums (and other tracks) are available for download in zipped packages of 96kbps OGG files from the download page.

Update:: The BJM web site is down but the links below should still work. Eiron Page (see comments) has also provided me with the link for the album download page for all of the albums named below plus some new additions.

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Methodrone
Spacegirl
Their Satanic Majesties Second Request
Take It From The Man!
Give It Back
Strung Out In Heaven
Bravery Repetition & Noise
And This Is Our Music
Bringing It All Back Home Again