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: Live Streaming Concerts by Best Coast & Wavves, The Decemberists, Sarah Harmer

Sarah Harmer (show here at the last year's Vancouver International Folk Music Festival) has a recent free concert available for download from CBC 2. Photo: Penguinstorm

A few recent live concerts are now available for streaming (and download, in a couple of cases). One is by the acclaimed new surf-rock revival group Best Coast, another is by The Decemberists, and the third is by longtime Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah Harmer, who's long been a favorite of mine. (By the way, if you like Best Coast, the MP3 version their album "Crazy for You" is only $5 at Amazon.com for the rest of Jan. 31st (you've got until 3 a.m. Eastern time on Feb. 1st).

* Best Coast and Wavves live from the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. Available for streaming and download.

* The Decemberists live in their hometown of Portland, Oregon earlier this month. Audio and video streaming.

* Sarah Harmer live from Massey Hall in Toronto. Available for download and streaming (song by song or entire concert)

* as a bonus, here are twin singer-songwriters The Watson Twins doing a three-song live mini-set for Daytrotter.com (including a cover of Sade's "Sweetest Taboo"). Streaming or download.

Concerts in NYC Wed., June 23rd: FREE Shows by Brand Nubian, Solas, & the McCoy Tyner Quartet; Sarah Harmer at City Winery

If you're looking to hear some music on Wednesday night in New York, you're in luck: there are some very talented veteran artists in town, representing totally different genres. And three of the shows are free.

Hip-hop pioneers Brand Nubians bring their socially and politically conscious music to a free SummerStage concert in Crotona Park in the Bronx at 7 p.m. More information: info@SummerStage.org or (212) 360-2777. (Directions to Crotona Park)

Over at the SummerStage home base in Central Park, there's a concert that's long on jazz talent, as reflected in the show's name: "George Wein's CareFusion Jazz Festival with The McCoy Tyner Quartet featuring Ravi Coltrane, Esperanza Spalding and Francisco Mela and The Stanley Clarke Band featuring Hiromi." It's a mouthful, but that's a lot of jazz chops assembled in one show. For more info on the McCoy Tyner Quartet free show (which also starts at 7 p.m.), see the SummerStage info above.

Solas, a group that has long been influential in Celtic music, plays this week's free Madison Square Music series concert at Madison Square Park. Their Celtic roots sometimes branch out to incorporate blues, folk, country, and even jazz. Showtime is 7 p.m.

As much as I'd like to see the free Solas show, I'll be elsewhere Wednesday night. One of my favorite singer-songwriters, Canadian Sarah Harmer, came out with a new album, "Oh Little Fire," today, and will be introducing it to NYC with a record release party at the City Winery. While this isn't a free show, tickets are as little as $20 and are still available.