The RPM Jukebox is home to more than 16,000 songs from independent musicians all around the world. The music spans every genre and style imaginable, and anyone can log on, browse, and listen at www.rpmchallenge.com/jukebox. To give you a head start in your exploration of this new world of music, here’s a sample album that caught our ear!

‘Ashen Sea’
by The Governess, 2008, Portsmouth

If Portisheady was a real adjective, we’d throw it down as one of the descriptive words for this album. It’s full of low, drawn vocals and melodies, as well as the comforting scratches and hisses we know so well from early Portishead albums.

The music of The Governess, performed by Nathaniel Raymond and sung by Nicole Speidel, has a hypnotic, other-worldly feel. Speidel’s voice is breathy and haunting, like she’s underwater or possibly orbiting just above the Earth.

The opening track, “Left Hand and…” is a beautiful trance beat with slightly muted lyrics. “Level One” slowly morphs from lone vocals into an alluring beat, strengthened by a great guitar line. “Feeding Time at the Aquarium” mixes ocean (or possibly filter) sounds with an almost carnival keyboard beat as Speidel assures us, “We can breathe under water now.” And it’s hard not to mistake “Improv Jam 2 Take 2” for an outtake from P.J. Harvey’s “4-Track Demos.”

In all, “Ashen Sea” is a tremendous 28-day effort. If this is what The Governess can accomplish in just a month, we can’t wait for a full studio album. Screw Amy Winehouse. We want The Governess to perform the new “James Bond” theme.