Damek.

Let’s say you’re someone who has just become a fan of LimeWire (or Soulseek — whatever’s your poison), and you’re looking for a few suggestions of interesting music to download and try (before you buy, of course), this is the post for you. I’m going to make this quick and just list a few short releases you should check out:

1) Saint Etienne: Travel Edition 1990-2005 & Tales From Turnpike House — I’ve mentioned them before. I still love them. Travel is an acceptible taster of their long career. Tales is their most recent album, a prim, perfect package (make sure you put the tracks in the order of their original UK release, the US release messes things all up). Specific songs to check: “Nothing Can Stop Us,” “Like A Motorway,” “Heart Failed,” “Action,” “Finisterre,” “Lightning Strikes Twice,” “A Good Thing,” “Stars Above Us,” and “Teenage Winter.” And you might check a couple tracks from other albums, like “We’re In The City” and “Amateur.”

2) Róisín Murphy: Ruby Blue — Irish singer from disbanded group Moloko meets up with electronic artist M. Herbert and the results are incredible. Best songs: “Night Of The Dancing Flame,” “Sow Into You,” “Dear Diary,” and “If We’re In Love.”

3) Broadcast: Tender Buttons — British experimental pop, I especially recommend the tracks “Black Cat,” “America’s Boy,” and “Michael A Grammar.”

Now, obviously my tastes tend towards the British when it comes to pop music, but some are partial to hip-hop and r’n'b. For them, I highly recommend:

4) M.I.A.: Arular — Exotic & dancy electro-hip-hop, M.I.A. has a lot of roots, including, I understand, Missy & Timbaland (not that I would know), so go check her out if you haven’t already. “Fire Fire,” “Hombre,” “Sunshowers” and “Galang” are highlights.

5) Fell: Between Octavia and Laguna — Downtempo electronic dub/jazz/r’n'b, you might have trouble finding this on p2p networks. Just go buy it from Enpeg. It’s only $2.00. And it’s totally worth it. It should be taken as a whole album, but highlights are “Music for Uzotinis,” “Blackholes (feat. Remco Hogendoorn),” “Hemans Dub (zanf–Elisa’s birthday kitchen disco mix)” and “dash-dash (dot.dot astroid mix).”

6) Machine Drum: Urban Biology — Actually, anything by this guy is excellent, but Machine Drum is his hip-hop guise, and this is perhaps his best Machine Drum album. And it’s about the only kind of hip-hop I like. “Count Chocula,” “Def In It” and “Jigga Why?” are favorites.

7) Secret Frequency Crew: Forest Of The Echo Downs — I’m still recommending this release from 2004. Jazzy funky electronic r’n'b stuff. Very organic sounding, like, in the sense of moss & frogs. With horns! Try “Neon Bridge,” “Black Moss Caves Pt.1,” “Baron Of The Bog” and “Faen.”

And one more for fun that has little to do with pop:

o9: Church Of The Ghetto P.C. — Florida electronics. Terminals “Red,” “Pink,” “Grey” and “White” should be tried.