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Surfing the Web for new music, video and MP3 downloads can be a serious time investment. Picks from Times staff and contributors 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

“When You Wasn’t Famous”

The Streets (remix by Professor Green)

the-streets.co.uk/

Mike Skinner, a.k.a. the Streets, has a wry view of life. Occasionally his thick Brummie accent might get in the way of understanding everything rapped, but there is nothing misunderstood in this satirical video about a hapless, gormless youth with dreams of fame and “getting girls.” Skinner plays a plastic surgeon who will help him achieve his dubious goals. Wickedly, smartly executed, “Famous” falls squarely in the rich tradition of British self-deprecating humor. Downloader be advised: Heavy traffic on the site has made the video difficult to access.

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“To All of You”

Syd Matters

www.sydmatters.com/Syd-Matters-videos.html

Enigmatic and disturbing, haunting and elegiac, the video depicts an older man and a much younger girl awaking in a convertible on a stretch of coastline. Their relationship is not made clear, but it is obviously personal. He gazes forlornly at the sea, she struggles to connect and the dialogue is presented in subtitles. And then, the mickey -- one line of dialogue that may or may not explain who they are to each other. Matters’ song, a gentle folk melody, gives no clues either, but the tragic beauty of the coda to both the video and the song is worth the entire experience.

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“Tricycle”

Psapp

www.dominorecordco.com/site/index.phppagemultimedia

Psapp are Carim Clasmann and Galia Durant, a duo who employ musique concrete, toy pianos and primitive electronica in their child-like music. There’s always a melodic underpinning amid the clanking of spoons and the mewing of cats. This stop-action animation video, directed by Thorsten Levin, shows a mouse falling in love with an uninterested bear. The implicit homage is to Nick Park’s Wallace and Gromit; the track is from Psapp’s upcoming second album, “Only Thing I Ever Wanted.”

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