Surfing the Web for new music, video...

Surfing the Web for new music, video and MP3 downloads can be a serious time investment. Picks from Times staff and contributors will help take the drag out of click-and-drag music choices. Some downloads may contain explicit lyrics. All are free, except as noted.

-- CASEY DOLAN

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“Steady as She Goes”

The Raconteurs

www.rhapsody.com/theraconteurs /steadyasshegoes

The first single from the Jack White/Brendan Benson/Greenhornes ensemble may leave some wondering what the hoopla is about -- chasing cows in a pasture, quick cuts and color saturation in a seemingly abandoned farmhouse. The band plays the song in a room that hasn’t had a good dusting in a while. The Benson-penned lyrics gently and ironically question stability in newfound matrimony, ironic because White recently married British model Karen Elson. Steady as she goes, eh, Jack?

“Put Your Records On”

Corinne Bailey Rae

music.aol.com/artist/main.adptabbioartistid756365albumid0

A newcomer in the wake of Norah Jones, Rae sings in the same intimate, casual manner until the chorus kicks in with a full-on Stevie Wonder swing complete with brass punctuations. The video mirrors the song’s relaxed and swinging quality with shots of Rae bicyling with others on a road in what looks like the foothills of the Sierra. Why are they there? Who are all those other cyclists? Should it even matter? She seems blissed out in this pastoral paradise, avoiding any glances at the camera, all winding to a close with ribbons in a tree, like beckoning Tibetan prayer flags.

“Girl Fight”

Tigarah

www.velocitymw.com/tigarah/videogirlfight-velfarre.htm

This is a live performance by Japanese female hip-hop artist Tigarah, distinctly shot low-tech with a barely moving camera and featuring the silhouette of one audience member with a head apparatus that brings to mind a character from Mystery Science Theater 3000. Tigarah enthusiastically jumps into the Crouch Position, then does the Prowl while a keyboardist/mixer hammers away on the obsessive hook. The song is bilingual, but don’t let your ignorance of Japanese faze you; nothing Tigarah utters is decipherable.

“Underground”

SPY

www.spytheband.com/underground.mp3

This Atlanta-based band has released its debut album on white vinyl, the favored medium of bootleggers, and online as a download, but it is not available on CD. Nor are the members of SPY putting their happy gobs on lens; they eschew conventional promotion. So why should anyone care? Because veteran producer Steve Albini has crafted a record with enough of a brilliant blister to crack your cranium and lead singer Chad Etchison has enough Bowie in his voice to make you reach for the eye shadow with one hand and a whiskey with the other.

“Over and Over”

Hot Chip

www.hotchip.co.uk/index.phppagenewscount5

An extremely unlikely looking group of musicians play their keyboards and guitar and sing “the joy of repetition really is in you,” while men and women in green spandex suits run around aimlessly in front of green screens. Landscapes appear and disappear -- it’s a visual primer on how to make a video. Reminiscent of Kraftwerk, Eno-era Roxy Music, the Bonzo Dog Band and the Buggles, this video has been floating around the Internet for a couple of months but remains of interest given the band’s recent pass through town on a tour with Stereolab.