Free Music Podcasts: Tokyo Police Club and Avi Buffalo Live; Beatles, Decemberists, & Sinead O'Connor Cover Tunes

This week's slate of music podcast downloads includes a variety of musical styles, including live sets from two bands at different stages of their careers.

* Veteran Canadian rockers Tokyo Police Club perform a live set at the Halifax Pop Explosion in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and...

* the just-out-of-high-school members of Avi Buffalo plays in the KCRW studios for Morning Becomes Eclectic. The set is available for streaming or podcast download.

Also:
* Buke and Gass, a duo that play a baritone ukelele and a bass-guitar hybrid, perform a brief live set in NPR's offices.

* The Coverville podcast has several enjoyable episodes in the last couple of weeks, featuring covers of tunes by The Beatles, Sinead O'Connor, and The Decemberists, as well as the annual Coverville Countdown Hall of Fame podcast.

In the next post, I'll take a look at some of the end-of-year podcasts that review some of the best (and overlooked) music of 2010. And I'll review the winners of the Bucky Awards, CBC Radio 3's honors for the best in Canadian indie music.

Follow the Adventures of iCarly in Free Podcasts

For fans of the highly popular TV show "iCarly" on Nickelodeon, the show features a series of free podcasts featuring Carly, Sam, Freddie, and the rest of the iCarly gang.

If you've got a teen or tween in your family, you may already be familiar with iCarly: it's a TV show that features two girls, Carly and Sam, who create a Web show to express themselves. The free iCarly podcasts feature the show's characters in extended adventures, and also let viewers step into the iCarly set with a look at how the program is put together, insight into the actors who play Carly and other characters, and more. There are even a few full-length episodes of iCarly that you can download for free. [UPDATE, Jan. 2012: if the above link doesn't have the podcasts you're looking for, try this link for downloading iCarly podcasts in iTunes.]

To download the free iCarly podcasts or view them online, go to the link above and click on the iCarly logo near the top of the screen.

In the free iCarly podcasts Miranda Cosgrove (Carly) shows how to make a "spit take" ... Jennette McCurdy (Sam) tries to meet a tongue-twisting challenge ... and much more.

If you or a family member enjoy watching iCarly on Nickelodeon, you'll want to see the cast behind the scenes in the free iCarly podcasts.