To spare you the potentially wasted minutes and near-certain embarrassment of acquiring crappy music, let’s put on our driving goggles, take a ride down the information superhighway and listen to some free music. Here’s what you should know about this week’s free songs from iTunes:

“Did It for the Girl”
Greg Bates
Speaking as a non-fan of country music, this song is pretty unremarkable. It’s a country song. It’s like that one song, by Garth Brooks — oh right, it’s like every song by Garth Brooks. Or Tim McGraw, or Kenny Chesney, or Luke Bryan. This song is such a twangy, baritone, stereotypical piece of mainstream country music that there’s literally nothing else to say about it. Well, that’s not entirely true — there are seagull noises at the end, so that’s sort of unusual for a country song.
Bottom line: This song is for fans of country music in the vein of Luke Bryan or maybe Zac Brown Band.

“Fineshrine”
Purity Ring
Not quite a dance song, but not quite an art-pop piece either, “Fineshrine” is bursting with synthetic textures and rhythms that roil endlessly beneath the reverberating and almost fragile female vocals. Looping sound samples and a frenetic drum machine serve as both rhythmic anchors and obfuscating shrouds, making the listener search for something in the center of all the noise that may or may not be there. The controlled instrumental cacophony makes the singing stand out despite the simplistic melody and unadorned vocal delivery. Overall, this is an effective synth-pop tune. The intriguing and well-made music video is also worth checking out.
Bottom line: Fans of Florence and the Machine, Massive Attack or synth-pop in general will appreciate this.