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

*

“Kurt Kobain”

Proof

s15.yousendit.com/d.aspxid0SNOFBWH3YGK004768PPJUX3G9

This download is being removed from sites as quick as can be imagined. Proof (real name: Deshaun Holton), a Detroit rapper who joined Eminem in the group D12 and was Eminem’s best man at his recent marriage, was shot to death early Tuesday in a nightclub on the Eight Mile, the road made famous in the 2002 film of the same name. This track is a harrowing submersion of the rapper into the imagined situation of the last hours of Kurt Cobain. It becomes a frightening premonition of his own death.

“You Have Killed Me”

Morrissey

www.morrisseymusic.com

Morrissey easily could have aged like so many fellow Brit music-makers -- the paunch, the muttonchops and a pint in hand. Instead, he has transformed himself into a standard for British elegance -- another Bryan Ferry, Savile Row suit and all. In this video of the single from his current album, “Ringleader of the Tormentors,” he plays a guest performer on a late ‘60s/early ‘70s Italian TV variety show. The song makes mention of Pasolini and Visconti, but Morrissey has never been coy about referring to iconic pop culture imagery. Think of so many Smiths album covers.

“Smells Like Beach Boys”

DJ JayR doing a mash-up of Nirvana w/Beach Boys

www.mashr.de/index.phptagnirvana

There are several mash-ups using Nirvana on this German website, some more successful than others, but this one seems to work because “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is in the relative minor key of “Sloop John B,” and the menace of Nirvana seems to jive with the joy of the Beach Boys track.

“Lemon-Red Mix Series: April 2006”

The Riddim Method

www.lemon-red.org/mix/2006/04-06-riddimmethod.html

Almost 52 minutes (78 MB) of booty-shaking, Tower of Babel rapping, arrhythmia-challenging breakbeats offered as a free download for April only. Imaginative collages of music use everything from gospel to jungle, from ragga to ambient white noise as the musical sources. The Riddim Method is a collective of DJs, each offering a unique input.

“Spin”

Double Edge Films, director Jamin Winans

www.atomfilms.com/af/content/spin

This eight-minute award-winning film demonstrates that one DJ can control time and space, altering human destiny for good rather than evil. The response to this on the Net has been so overwhelming that the site for the film company very recently started charging for the download, but you can still see it free at the site above.