Downloads

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.

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-- CASEY DOLAN

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“It’s Okay (One Blood)”

The Game with Junior Reid

mp.aol.com/video.index.adpmode2pmmsid1696972

Abandon comfort. The video begins in street-boast mode with the Game dissing new rappers, his old nemesis 50 Cent and claiming his domination of the scene. The video revels in provocation, and the editing accentuates the underlying aggro. Not fun. Not pretty. But it is the shamanistic presence of Rastafarian Junior Reid who elevates the proceedings from a stale ghetto blast into a muezzin’s call to the faithful, for unity perhaps. Or, paradoxically, is this the repeated mention of the Game’s notorious affiliation? Who can tell? There are enough gang references in “One Blood” to make one question the Game’s intent, but the last 15 seconds with Reid portray a kind of musical ecstasy and transcendence of the very world the Game embodies.

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“Let Down”

Easy Star All-Stars with Toots and the Maytals

crackersunited.com/blog/index.php/2006/08/07/easy-star-all-stars-r adiodread/

This is the first single from the inspired hybrid experiment of “Radiodread,” a reggae recasting of Radiohead’s epochal “OK Computer” album. It is both a testament to the strength of the writing on the original album and the perfect malleability of reggae as a vehicle for Radiohead’s lofty concerns on technology and the human spirit. Several prominent guests appear on the album. “Let Down” has a rock steady flavor and features Toots Hibbert, one of the authentically commanding voices of reggae, who sings with a passion that resurrects Otis Redding. Buford O’Sullivan’s trombone solo is worthy of the great Don Drummond of the Skatalites.

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“The Queen and I”

Gym Class Heroes

www.youtube.com/watchvdWYPtCCYDas

The video is a campy sendup of storybook fables with a nasty queen inexplicably pursued by ardent suitors, the wittiest and most charming of whom is lead singer-rapper Travis of the Gym Class Heroes. The track is compelling for its bouzouki-like lines and some deft rapping by Travis, although the change-of-pace bridge sounds like an afterthought. But the video works in keeping the silliness interesting within the claustrophobic confines of what appears to be a medieval chapel. Special mention should be made that Gym Class Heroes is one of the few bands that play actual instruments and do hip-hop.

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“Dear Flies, Love Spider”

The Low Lows

www.thelowlows.net/Dear_Flies_Love_Spider.m4a

Welcome the sadness, the pathos, the noise. The Low Lows are born out of the New York duo of Parker Noone and Lily Wolfe, and behind the screeching (not howling!) feedback, the aleatoric piano, the Farfisa organ, the tremolo on nearly everything, is a genuine opening of the human heart. Noone tends toward the monotone on “Dear Flies,” which will raise comparisons to the Velvet Underground, but the musical influences on the Low Lows’ mesmerizing debut album stretch in many directions, and his vocals actually carry a resonance more likened to early Michael Stipe. This track takes enough time so that listeners can experience every sonic paper cut.

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On the Web

Creative process: One of indie-rock’s best regarded singer-songwriters, John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats, writes about the creative struggle he underwent while working on the group’s latest album, “Get Lonely.” The Mountain Goats play tonight at UCLA’s Royce Hall as part of the Revenge of the Book Eaters benefit for the student literacy series 826LA, appearing alongside artists from the literary, indie-rock and comedy worlds. Read Darnielle’s story at latimes.com/goats