While El-P wraps up his followup to last year's I'll Sleep When You're Dead, the New York rapper, producer and label CEO is giving away the second installment in his mixtape series. Hit up www.definitivejux.net to download We Are All Going to Burn in Hell Meggamixxx 2, which, until now, was available only on merch tables. The sixteen-track collection includes enough new material to hold you over until El-P's next one, which he describes on his MySpace blog as "a little more than an EP, a bit less than an album, and a whole lot of fuckery."
Ever wonder what life would be like if Kevin Bacon hadn't saved America's small-town kids from anti-dancing legislation? It might sound a bit like Thomas Bartlett's song-for-song cover of the Footloose soundtrack. Along with fronting the New York outfit Doveman, Bartlett has tickled the ivories for Antony & the Johnsons, the National and David Byrne. Stream his minimalist re-creation gratis from www.dovemanmusic.com/footloose. It won't inspire you to dance away your frustrations in an abandoned mill, but it will probably trump next year's 25th-anniversary big-screen remake starring that High School Musical dude.
Coldplay kicked off its Viva La Vida tour two weeks ago, and to celebrate, the London outfit has issued an unreleased track to its fans. Submit your e-mail address to www.coldplay.com for a free download of "Death Will Never Conquer." The song (which clocks in at just over a minute) features the band's drummer, Will Champion, on vocals, and according to the band's website, "You'll hear it at the concerts with a twist." Find out exactly what that means at the Pepsi Center on November 21 — or, if you hate cliffhangers, spoil the surprise via YouTube.
Instead of going the pay-what-you-like route, Paul Westerberg has set a definite price tag for his latest digital-only LP: 49 cents. Released last week, 49:00...of Your Time/Life marks his seventh solo outing (eighth if you count that animated bear movie soundtrack) since the Replacements dissolved in 1991. Amazon.com was the only retailer willing to go along with the low price, but there's a catch: The entire thing downloads as a single 44-minute track. Those of you who still long for Westerberg's glory days can relish in the fact that the final four Replacements albums will be getting the deluxe treatment in September. Just don't expect them to be this cheap.
