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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“The Clock”

Thom Yorke

live.video.rainbow-media-online.

com/video.jsp?video_id=6292&

subcategory_id=2027&template;_

id=229&backtochannels;=1

No video has emerged yet for Yorke’s new album, “The Eraser”; we might have expected woodcut, medieval visions of the apocalypse. Instead, we have this clip of a live performance on “The Henry Rollins Show.” He’s focused, vigorously strumming his acoustic guitar as the microphone screen obscures his muskrat face for much of the song. It is easy to understand how he provokes so many emotions in listeners -- he’s part Cassandra, part Samuel Beckett -- possessed as he is of one of the most searingly agonized voices in contemporary rock.

“Friendly Fire”

Sean Lennon

www.capitolrecords.net/seanlennon

Lennon’s first album in eight years is due Sept. 26. Until then, this promotional “film” is intended to give us a visualization of some of the album’s themes. It’s a costume fantasy and doesn’t look cheap, but Capitol needn’t have bothered. The film involves a series of cameos, some exceedingly brief, all unmemorable. Bijou Phillips, Lindsay Lohan, Asia Argento -- they come, they go. Who was that? Oh, her. Another entry in Lennon’s address book. Some of the music sounds like it contains the same melodic surprises of his debut album, but Lennon’s acting is so bewildering that it almost subverts whatever intentions the songs’ lyrics might have.

“King of the Game”

Cody Chesnutt

www.the-mill.com/index.php

Soulful-toned Chesnutt sings what sounds like a rough demo of a song humbly giving thanks to God. As a member of the so-called neo-soul movement -- a genre that is often production heavy -- this puts him in an exclusive position. Perpetual wunderkind Michel Gondry directs this semi-animated video that moves between the cellular breakdown of a Seurat to the gleeful doodlings of a Kandinsky. The source Web page tells exactly how all the effects are created -- a little knowledge is a terrible thing -- and not everyone will want to bite that apple. To access the video, click on “Mill NY Reveal That Gondry Is King of His Game” in the left column. Then click on “View on BEAMTV” in the right-hand column.