Want some free music? We’ve rounded up the best free downloads from across the blogosphere so you can download all in one place, guilt free. Hear new jams from Miike Snow, Beach House, Blakroc and more.

1. Miike Snow – “Black and Blue” (Savage Skulls remix)
Singer/songwriter Andrew Wyatt teamed up with Bloodshy & Avant, the Grammy-winning production duo behind Britney Spears’ “Toxic.” (That song is still badass and you know it!). Here Savage Skulls give the group’s “Black and Blue” the remix treatment.
Download track via RCRD LBL

2. Alex Bleeker and the Freaks – “Animal Tracks”
The guitar riffs alone are enough to warrant repeat listens, but we also dig the lilting vocals about simple summer times.
Download track via The FADER

3. The High Wire – “Leave Me in Love”
For all the times when you feel like tossing pride out the window, throwing caution to the wind and calling up that old flame to confess your continued love. If only it were that simple.
Download track via IM//UR

4. Pink Skull – “When Falling Straight Through a Goat”
Not only does this weirdness feel like a movie score (always a good thing in music), but it also wins the award for craziest song title of the month.
Download track via Feel My Bicep

5. Blakroc featuring Raekwon – “Stay Off the Fucking Flowers”
This one comes in a close second for crazy song title, but once the beat drops and the bass kicks in you’ve long forgotten it has anything to do with flowers, euphemism or not. Blakroc is, of course, The Black Keys’ collaboration with hip-hop artists. And it’s no fluke; the Ohio boys are true heads.
Download track via Pop Tarts Suck Toasted

6. Beach House – “Norway”
Yes, it’s the song everyone’s been talking about, but don’t let the blogosphere hype scare you away from their dreamy sound. The band was also kind enough to offer a .wav file for all the audiophiles out there (yes, you).
Download track via Stereogum

7. CFCF – “Big Love”
What’s with resurgence in Fleetwood Mac fascination? Must be something in the air; we’ve been blasting “Rhiannon” non-stop lately. Here Montreal DJ CFCF takes a stab at their ’80s joint “Big Love.”
Download track via My Old Kentucky Home

8. Lykke Li – “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”
The Swedish singer appears on the New Moon soundtrack alongside fellow UI artist Hurricane Bells. Here she provides a sweet take on The Shirelles’ “Will You Love Me Tomorrow.”
Download track via Gorilla vs Bear

9. Johnny Holiday – “Nobody Loves Me but My Mama”
Think you’ve heard dirty garage rock? You ain’t heard dirty garage rock.
Download track via Soul Sides

10. Drop the Lime – “Devil’s Eyes” (Diplo’s B-Live Mix)
Both Drop the Lime and Diplo are seemingly omnipresent, but with trunk-rattling, ass-shaking joints like this, who can tell them to stop?
Download track via XLR8R

William DeVaughn is quite possibly the coolest cat to remind us to be thankful for what we’ve got–way better than hearing mom chastise us for being a spoiled brat who refuses to eat meatloaf for dinner.

Lo and behold, that wasn’t just torture for our mother’s delight. There really are starving kids in Africa, and right here at home too (wherever home may be). And while we should be grateful for all we have, the best thing to do is spread the wealth–even if it’s not financial. If you’re looking to give back during the holidays, find something in your ‘hood via Volunteer Match or All for Good. You can even do online community service. Ah, the interwebz.

If you need some inspiration, there are plenty of rock stars who donate their time to those in need. From homelessness to water-borne illness, you name it, they’re fighting it. So don’t be scared–get out there and give some good to the world.

Little Boots volunteers with kids because they need the most attention and inspiration.

The Knux are bringing awareness to the issues that continue to affect New Orleans post-Katrina.

Water is something we don’t think twice about, but means life to others.

Jen Chapin is not only concerned about fighting hunger, but actually going out of her way to solve the problem.

Much to Peter, Bjorn and John’s chagrin, even Stockholm has homeless people. Stockholm!

Vampires continue to make women across the world swoon, and their appeal is only heightened by the soundtrack that accompanies such skill. Sometimes that music is a mix of talent, preparation and pure luck; Brooklyn-based Hurricane Bells didn’t even know he’d hit the big time until after it happened.

Hurricane Bells, the solo side project of Steve Schiltz, was something of a secret for the musician. Most of the songs Schiltz wrote were for his band, Longwave, and the ones that didn’t quite fit stylistically were cast off to the side. Schiltz eventually began recording the discarded tunes, telling EW.com “I made a record myself without telling anyone.”

But someone out there was listening, and it happened to be the folks behind the ever-popular Twilight. “Monster” was selected for placement in the second movie of the series, New Moon, out November 20. It’s a scratchy, groove-driven track that cautions looking before you leap; there’s evil in the shadows, after all. But it’s a pop song at heart, and an uplifting one, too.

Earlier this month Schiltz digitally released the full-length Hurricane Bells album, Tonight is the Ghost, via Vagrant, with hard copies coming early next year. In the meantime you can catch him at the Living Room on December 2–and maybe, if the movie does as well as it’s predicted to–everywhere else, too.

Flashioning Backward through UI’s archives is like paging through your old middle school yearbook. You can’t help but hold your breath and hope your BFF Tracie wasn’t busted in perpetuity sporting those damn pink leg-warmers she insisted on wearing everywhere. Today, we’ve stumbled upon fragments of Crooked Fingers’ past.

CF lucked out–no fashion faux pas to be found. The Denver, CO, indie rockers are clearly more interested in keeping it real and sticking to what they get paid for (i.e., making music) than making waves on the catwalk.

Aggressively outré without being flashy about it, Crooked Fingers are the Prada of the music world. While a lot of outsiders don’t really get what it is they’re selling–more than just a pretty package; it’s like a philosophy on life wrapped in a pretty, tuneful package–music insiders totally get Eric Bachmann’s schtick. And whether they like the schtick or not, they can’t help but respect it.

It seems Bachmann’s yin and yang approach to album-crafting bleeds into his strange blend of hippie/professor, Hemingway/Lethem, dapper/slob style. Oh, and his love life too.

Below, check out why he aims to take a lover who’s the enemy of his music.

Members of the seminal Velvet Underground are scheduled to appear on December 8 as part of the New York Public Library’s live series. Lou Reed, Maureen Tucker and Doug Yule will chat about the band in a discussion led by David Fricke of Rolling Stone. Founding member John Cale won’t be in attendance.

The panel also celebrates the recently released book of art chronicling the band’s formative years. Dazed and Confused calls the book filled “with more full-color images than a strong acid trip.”

Tickets are sold out, but the New York Public Library website states that tickets may be available at the door. Hint hint. Maybe The Postelles have a hook up.

Hey there, kids. It’s time to strut our sartorial stuff and dive into fashion’s future with UI! Pull up a chair,  gaze into my custom-made Flashion Forward crystal ball and prepare to coquettishly zig and zag about the closets of UI’s fanciest, freshest new interviewees. Let’s examine the stylish physical and psychological baggage they pack their shizzle in.

The “indefinable” WHY? poses the question right up front so we don’t have to. Don’t you love folks who are clear about their inability to be clear right up front? I find it as bracingly refreshing as their recently released Eskimo Snow; a change of pace for the art-rappers, who, while never delivering bubble-gum poptastic status quo, could generally be counted on for a neatly packaged sweet n’ sour combo of banter and desolation.

It seems the boys of WHY? have become men: their fascinating but relentlessly inward-gazing musings on life and love (and how it affects them them them! Marcia Marcia Marcia!) have blossomed into full-blown explorations of the human psyche. And if you’re into that sort of thing, you’d be hard pressed to find an album that does it more succinctly and intelligently than Eskimo Snow.

Now, if we could only do something about that hair. I don’t know where I’d start, with their heads or their faces. Look! They’re as scared as we are. It’s possibly a reaction to how their dietary requirements were received while on tour in former Eastern Bloc states.  Don’t worry WHY? We still think you’re manly studs–even if you do eat salad.

Really!

Hundreds of collector sneakers belonging to the late DJ AM will be auctioned off online to benefit substance addiction charities. Starting this weekend, the shoes–both new and used–will be up for grabs via eBay until December 14. The money will go to the DJ AM Memorial Fund, then dispersed to charities.

The DJ collected over 800 pairs of sneakers during the past 10 years, including rare releases from Nike, BAPE, Adidas, Converse and Reebok. LA sneaker shop UNDFTD will also display 18 pairs, which will not be included in the auction.

DJ AM was filming a reality show for MTV, “Gone Too Far”, when he died of an accidental drug overdose in August in New York City. Banana Split, a long-running LA party DJ AM spun at regularly, ended this August after the DJ’s death.