Group: Axial

At the intersection of free music and free software stands Axial, a Brazilian band which is also working to create and distribute a free music tool called Bagagem (literally translated: Luggage). They've released one song (Papaloko) on Free Music Archive and have a number of free podcasts on their site (warning: QuickTime browser plugin required).

From the single sample song, I can say that they certainly capture the Brazilian "lounge" sound perfectly, and the lead singer (Sandra Ximenez) has a voice like silk. The wood-percussion and other elements of more traditional music of the southern hemisphere are a welcome break from the routine of heavily electronic and artificial tunes available on every corner of the Web, these days.

The non-free album, Axial, contains the track that FMA has for free, but also contains twelve other tracks that you can explore if you found the free track intriguing.