Downloads

Surfing the Web for new music, video and MP3 downloads can be a serious time investment. Tips from Times staff and contributors will help take the drag out of your click-and-drag. Some downloads may contain explicit lyrics. Except as noted, all of the selections are free and available online at latimes.com/downloads.

“I Told You So”

Keith Urban

music.yahoo.com/ar-295295---Keith-Urbanev30672468

It’s tempting to look at any love songs that Keith Urban sings as personal notes to wife Nicole Kidman, except that the forgiveness in this song is on his part, not hers (as real life might have suggested). Perhaps it’s a case of gender displacement or perhaps there is nothing to be revealed at all. The video holds no explanations or surprises, with predictable soft-focus shots of romantic couples intercut with the band, nor does the song, but the playing is another matter entirely. Everyone in the band shines, from Urban’s fiery guitar breaks and ingenious banjo moment (that’s him on the track, unlike the video representation) to Nashville stalwart Chris McHugh’s in-the-pocket drumming.

“Almost Rosey”

Tori Amos

www.amazon.com/American-Doll-Posse-Tori-Amos/dp/B000OCZ9XM The live solo piano version of “Almost Rosey” in this video is an entirely different approach than the rockified version on Amos’ new album, “American Doll Posse”; no pounding rhythm section, no slide guitar, just her voice and a piano. It works extraordinarily well in an artfully slapdash way, the camera slowly hovering around the piano. Verite elements add to the live experience -- the mike picks up her breathing and the piano is ever so slightly distorted. Amos’ camera muggings are irritating, but you can’t beat the song with its powerful refrain, “We both know they wouldn’t mind / If I just curled up and died / Oh, let’s not give that one a try.” Why add the band?

“Umbrella”

Rihanna

www.defjam.com/site/promo/contest/rihanna_covergirl/ Rihanna’s new video, presented by CoverGirl, for whom she is now a spokeswoman, probably cost so much that the budget for the stylists alone would rival the cost of most major label artists’ videos. Jay-Z, who introduces this tony fashion commercial with a forgettable rap, knows something about big budgets himself. Marshall stacks disintegrate, liquid CGI effects distract and 19-year-old Rihanna, the “good girl gone bad,” does a silver update on Bond girl Shirley Eaton’s golden birthday suit in “Goldfinger” (yes, Rihanna is discreetly nude), only Eaton’s character died as a result of oxygen starvation from the paint, while Rihanna sings and dances as if every square inch of floor is a Parisian runway.

“Dr. L’Ling”

Minus the Bear

www.punknews.org/article/23398

Take a musical journey with this new song from Minus the Bear’s upcoming album, “Planet of Ice.” The track begins with a hint of ambient electronica, then jumps into choppy Gang of Four territory. When lead singer Jake Snider enters, you may imagine you are listening to ... Roger Waters! ... and there’s more than a touch of the Floyd lurking in the Bear’s honey pot. Listen to the repeated guitar figures while synthesizers squeal in the background. True to the Bear tradition, the song’s strange title is left unexplained.

“Life in the Backseat”

The Electric Soft Parade

www.myspace.com/electricsoftparade

The group’s MySpace page includes a massive list of influences ranging from Stephen Sondheim to GG Allin. Amusing, but you’ll hear more of the former than he latter in the ambitious music of Electric Soft Parade, part of the Brighton mob finally hitting these shores. “Backseat” brings to mind all those misty-eyed Scottish Bacharach wannabes in the ‘80s, or Prefab Sprout at its most winsome and wistful. Flanging introduces the track, and a jump in key at the chorus, with the melody doubled on a keyboard, provides an eyebrow-lifting moment.

casey.dolan@latimes.com