Free Music Downloads: Live Sets by Local Natives, Low Anthem, & More; Coverville Tackles Smokey Robinson, Peter Gabriel, The Doors, & Others

L.A.'s Local Natives performed a live set at KCRW recently, and you can download or stream the set.

If you're looking for some tasty music podcasts to download to your digital music player, there are some good choices this week.

* KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic has a live set from the L.A. indie rock band Local Natives, whose 2010 album "Gorilla Manor" was a favorite of many critics and fans. You can download the set from iTunes or stream it here. (Other recent MBE shows available for streaming only include Gang of Four and Adele)

* NPR Music has an hour-and-a-half concert from indie folk outfit The Low Anthem. You can hear songs from their new album "Smart Flesh," released just last month.

* CBC Radio 2's Canada Live series recorded a live set with singer-songwriter Julie Fader. Besides having her own solo career, Fader has also recorded and toured with fellow Canadian artist Sarah Harmer.

* Coverville, the fun, prolific cover-song podcast, has quite a few new shows spotlighting veteran artists. Among them: Smokey Robinson, Peter Gabriel, The Doors, INXS, and The Temptations

Free Music Downloads: Exene Cervenka Live Set; New Tracks from Blur, Sam Phillips, Tallest Man on Earth

If you're looking for free, legal music downloads, here are some great choices today:

* Exene Cervenka live studio set: free podcast download of the lead singer of the L.A. punk band X performing live for KCRW's Morning Becomes Ecletic
* Also at KCRW, singer-songwriter Sam Phillips has the Today's Top Tune free song download with her offering "Lever Pulled Down"
* Blur is offering "Fool's Day," its first new single since 2003, free at its Web site
* "The Wild Hunt," the title track from Swedish artist The Tallest Man on Earth, is today's Current Song of the Day free download from Minnesota Public Radio

For the KCRW downloads, you can usually stream the songs/live sets online even after the download is no longer available. The Current Song of the Day downloads tend to be available for a few days after they're posted.

Free Music: Streaming Albums & Downloads from Vampire Weekend, Laura Veirs, Spoon, Elvis Cover Tunes, & More

There's plenty of free music to start the new year off with a bang in the form of podcast downloads and streaming CDs; here's a look at some of the notable offerings.

There are some great free streaming albums from NPR Music available now and other the next month or so in their "First Listen" series; here is the schedule:
* Laura Veirs, July Flame - until Jan. 12
* Vampire Weekend, Contra (also streaming free at KCRW) - Jan. 5 to 12

* Spoon, Transference - Jan. 11 to 19
* Patty Griffin, Downtown Church - Jan. 15 to 26

* Charlotte Gainsbourg, IRM - Jan. 18 to 26

If you want to take the music with you, check out the recent free music podcast downloads that are available. Here are some new ones:
* Coverville offers Coverville Countdown, a four-episode survey of the most popular covers of all time, chosen by listeners. Also new on Coverville is part two of its Elvis Presley cover songs podcast.
* CBC Radio 3 is out with part one of its Best Songs of the 2000s podcast, featuring the station's choices of the best Canadian indie tunes of the last decade.
* L.A. band Sea Wolf appears live in KCRW's studios for the first Morning Becomes Eclectic live podcast in the new year. You may still be able to download the previous in-studio performance, by London quartet One Eskimo.
* New releases by Yeasayer, the Shout Out Louds, Danger Mouse, and Freelance Whale are among those played in the first free podcast download of 2010 from All Songs Considered.
* The Kinks Choral Concert, a live version of Kinks songs performed with accompaniment by, you guessed it, a classical choral group, is available for download from NPR Music's concert series. It may sound like an odd combination, but Kinks leader Ray Davies makes the idea work.

Happy listening!