The Living Earth is a mystical flight, fusion, experiment, the combination of Russian, Slavic folklore, presented in an extraordinary way, full of improvisation and the vocals of Tatyana Kalmykova, as well as a variety of folk instruments from Russia and other countries of the world. The main characteristic of the group is total timelessness, magic and natural sound. The band teeter on the amazing facets of professionalism and shamanic trance, ritual music and the new Symphony in the World style.

The musicians gathered in 2010, creating a group of "Live Earth". Recording came after 3 years of cohesion. In the album there are only natural overtone instruments such as whistle-old Russian violin with wire or hair strings, zhaleika-Russian wind instruments made of wood and bark, flute, beat - plate bronze bells, santur - Iranian string instruments, as well as a Russian dulcimer built with natural harmony, harp, bass with Moroccan core strings, didgeridoo, percussion from around the World - Bender, Rick, darbuka and bass drums.

Celtic harp lullabies for children of all ages. Classic familiar melodies done simple and sweet.

Life is but a dream came about in a most unusual way. A family member, who is an architect at a hospital in Denver, installed a sound system throughout the building. One of the goals was to play 10 seconds of Brahm's lullaby throughout the hospital every time a baby was born. The architect asked me if I had a version of it. I searched and couldn't find one that felt magical and gentle enough, so I just decided to record it myself. With just a simple Celtic harp and a glockenspiel (bells), I recorded a version and sent it over. The hospital played the lullaby whenever a baby was born and people were so charmed by it. They wanted to know what the music was, could it be played longer, and how to buy it.

Fast forward one year; two family members had their first babies. Again, I looked all around for a recording of baby lullabies as a gift and couldn't find one that I found totally gentle, so I decided to record a dozen more lullabies and give it to them as a gift. They all had the same response as folks in the hospital. The songs are fairly short so it only added up to 30 minutes of music, which is not enough for an album. Friends and family were adding this music to their baby photo slide shows, I was amazed on how cute that was. Inspired by, "The wee ones"

Fast forward another year: I now play my harp every week between concerts at the pediatric units of two Kaiser hospitals in Los Angeles; and Huntington Memorial. When I interacted with the children, they sing along on the songs they know.

That moved me to find all the lullabies and children's melodies I could think of; and some tunes I loved as a little girl when I first started playing guitar. I wanted to record them all to give to patients and families that I met.

I dove into recording all the rest of the tunes. It was actually a challenge because these are the simplest arrangements I've ever recorded. It's not as easy as it sounds. I had a mocking bird keep showing up at my studio window every night. So if you listen closely on some of the tracks, you will hear him singing. The songs are all so short, and since there is no singing on them, I added some of my own sections to compliment the magic melodies inherent in the tunes.

As I looked for cover art, I wanted something special and put the word out to my circle of friends. One dear friend, who owns a beautiful gift store called Gypsy Palace in Gainesville, Florida, brought me her favorite baby card. I loved it right away and wrote to the artist and photographer Valerie Tabor Smith, asking what it would cost me to license the cover for this album. The artist was warm-hearted, gracious, and moved by my work in hospitals. She gave full permission and wanted to contribute the work. She herself is actively involved in helping kids. You can see her other work at www.valerietaborsmith.com/.

This project has had its own life force. I hope it will be useful in soothing little people, and big people too!

Krassy Halatchev, a familiar face in the Canadian music scene, lays new ground as Icicle with Resurgence. The album bounces between rock and pop. It is both accessible and innovative yet open and defiant. Bright and multi-layered sounds fill the 51-minute album, created during an exceptionally intense period for the artist.

Halatchev has charmed Canadian and international audiences for over two decades following his defection from communist Bulgaria with the band The Clouds.

From 1996 to 2012, he was a core member of the Montreal-based band Chiwawa - a group that had some success touring as well as collaborating on various film and video projects.

While Resurgence marks his first solo album, his collaborative spirit brought him together with Florida based poet Joel Jenkins who wrote lyrics for many of the songs. The merging of the cultural and expressive styles has brought forward a work that is both unique yet familiar. "Morning Bells", the album's second single and closing track, draws on a text by Halatchev's partner Antonia Gueorguieva.

Fernwood, the award-winning all-acoustic instrumental duo, announces the release of their much anticipated third album, Arcadia. This 11-track offering expands upon their previous work which Guitar Player describes as "wonderfully melodic and emotionally direct".

Utilizing an exotic array of world instruments, Gayle Ellett (Djam Karet) and Todd Montgomery have created a soundscape that is both familiar and exotic, classical and contemporary, warm and inspirational.

Purposefully conceived to evoke the visual language of film, Arcadia takes the listener on an epic, emotional journey through a pan-cultural landscape. Contemporary Americana and Old-World styles are merged and blended together to produce a beautiful antidote to the stresses of everyday life.

Produced with what can only be described as a golden tone, Arcadia is a marvelously cohesive offering. The arrangements and orchestration are sophisticated and dynamic. Montgomery and Ellett achieve Arcadia's rich and inviting sound by showcasing the natural timbres of instruments such as the Irish and Greek bouzouki, sitar, dilruba, ruan, charango, tanpura, surmandal, tenor banjo, mandolin, harmonium, acoustic guitar, tenor ukulele, violin, piano, upright bass, and more.

"One of the things we try to focus on, is our attempt to apply the artistic concept of theme and variation, to the many different elements of our music such as the rhythm, harmony and melody, but also to the dynamics, arrangements, orchestration and instrumentation. And in a way, its almost like we are a national orchestra ... for a missing country!" says Fernwood's Ellett.

Created and recorded in their Malibu studio, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Ellett and Montgomery's music is a reflection of their lives in Southern California, their knowledge of progressive rock, folk, world and jazz, and their professional experience in film, television, animation and games. Authentic and honest, they play music the old-fashioned way: by hand. Formed in 2006, they have released three albums so far: Almeria, Sangita and Arcadia.

In order to maintain a more natural and dynamic sound, Arcadia was recorded without compression or computer manipulation.

All music played by hand, on instruments made out of wood!

Listen with headphones, you'll be glad you did!

Sephyra is a bit of rounding up the troops, clearing the cobwebs and emptying the closets. An ending and a beginning. The album was a few years in the making, but the songs span a greater distance. Some are new, others were conceived in the last millenium, when I first began my journey as a songwriter. Some I wrote on my own, some are the fruits of collaborations with various genius composers and musicians. Most were brewed on a slow simmer, gathering spices and colors from several thoughtful pairs of hands and ears on the way to their final form. It takes a village.

All the songs on Sephyra are facets of a journey. One of rising up, falling down, getting up again. Over and over. As humans do. Taking apart and putting back together. A few parts left over in the process, a few new squeaks and rattles, but hell, the thing still flies. And maybe, just maybe, through examination we begin to grok the machine.

Final production on Sephyra took place over the past year in the homey bat-cave studio of David Earl (SFLogicninja). A few songs, like Begin Again, took an utter left turn at his hand to transcend themselves and become something completely new. A couple needed just a bit of fine tuning and spit polish. Most enjoyed some sort of major overhaul, including new vocals, since many of the originals were recorded whilst standing next to a burbling aquarium. I have *no* idea who would make an engineering faux pas like that. Ahem.

I like pretty fish. And shrimp. Especially the blue ones.

All the songs got a whole lot of love rubbed into them. And there are some extraordinary players sitting in throughout the album, including Daniel Berkman, Steve Lawson, Michel Jordan, Bobby Cochran, Abram Katz and Tom Lattanand. Keith Crusher, as always, had a big hand in the development of several tracks, and provided key bits of feedback and guidance in the final production. We have Keith to thank for that lovely side stick on So Long. Brilliant choice.

We also have Keith to thank for the beautiful graphic design and photography on the cover image, and Juliana Medina for her stunning makeup artistry. Sarika Dagar, LP Ponor and Anastasia Lattanand also provided invaluable artistic feedback.

Ian Shepherd mastered the album, and did an exquisite job on that last, somewhat mysterious and alchemical step of an album's journey into the world. He stayed faithful to the music and the production, brought out the very best of what was already there, kept it warm and made it sparkle. Ian was a true pleasure to work with, as was every single person on this project.

To everyone who participated in the Kickstarter and helped bring this album and the forthcoming music video for Down By the River to life, you have my deepest and most heartfelt gratitude, love and respect. Same goes to those of you who cheered us on, and those of you who've just now turned up here. Our conversation takes this music to a whole new place. Let's keep talking.