There's a reason AT&T has recently been using the long-deceased Nick Drake's well-crafted folk music to hock its wares—his music evokes such an immediate nostalgia and authenticity that it's easy to forget the company's coverage is terrible. Drop the needle on "Which Will" (or really anything from Pink Moon), and get lost in it.

The masters of longevity, Yo La Tengo, have stuck around for over two decades because they've got heart. "Our Way To Fall" shows the band at its softest and most sentimental, with honest, conversational lyrics that somehow escape sounding overly maudlin. If nothing else, the fact that songwriters Ira and Georgia have made it as both a band and a couple for this long ought to be inspiration enough to believe in new love.

The ever-adorable Vandaveer, which most often tours as a brother-sister duo, is deeply charming with its fragile harmonies. "Dig Down Deep" utilizes a rousing—but not too rousing—three-quarter time to get the blood flowing. If all goes well, maybe you can bring your new sweetheart to see Vandaveer play at Jammin' Java in Vienna, Va., this Thursday.

D.C.-based politically and socially conscious hip-hop band The Cornel West Theory dropped its latest mixtape this morning. The group released its debut album, Second Rome, last year, and and its namesake, the public intellectual and Princeton African American Studies professor Cornel West, to appear on a few tracks.

In Her Hands: Embryo Capital Vol. 1 has a very old-school sound. "K.N.O.W." is built around a mournful soul sample, while "Hustler's Boogie"—which you can read more about in this week's One Track Mind column—has an '80s sound and themes drawn from the height of D.C.'s crack epidemic. Elsewhere, the mixtape contains a live performance of "Captives" at the Black Cat, as well as another appearance by West on "Prophetic Suicide Pt. 1."

The Cornel West Theory performs at the Black Cat Saturday with Diamond District. Grab the mixtape for free from All Our Noise.

A semantic question: At some point, I'm fairly sure all these Raheem DeVaughn mixtapes were free. Now they cost $5. So aren't they just compilations now? Can a mixtape stop being a mixtape? Is it OK to charge for something conceived as a promotional tool? Is it smart? Is it pointless?

Casper Bangs, the latest project of the Hard Tomorrows' Rob Pierangeli, dropped a new Spirit Animal remix of "Always On," from his excellent 2009 EP (pay what you want for it here). The remix is robotic and discursive; it allows the chorus to achieve pop catharsis before tearing it down in the verse. At the 2-minute mark a horn fanfare enters the fray—whether Spirit Animal sourced it from, like, a DJ Drama cut or a Sousa march (or both), God only knows.

I had a quick chat with D.C. Don Juan in January, and he asked me to mention his Twitter account; I did, and here it is again. Twit-Tape 2: ConGraduation is his second mixtape inspired by the microblogging service, and you can download it for free here. On first listen, the mixtape doesn't match the ADD connotations of its title: Even at 21 tracks, it's actually a fairly focused collection of party raps. Undoubtedly, Postal Service apologists will be wrestling for years with their feelings about Don Juan's freestyle over Owl City's "Fireflies."

(Juanian request: Follow me on Twitter!)

D.C. neo-soul crooner Raheem DeVaughn dropped a new mixtape, Mr. February aka March Madness, last night in advance of his upcoming album, The Love and War Masterpeace—which, to clarify, is out in early March, and not February. The mixtape sports a number of mixes and guest spots you've probably heard, like a remix of Wale's "Pretty Girls" featuring DeVaughn and rapper Phil Adé, and other songs you probably haven't. I'm giving it a first spin right now, so I'll withhold my thoughts—save that this remix of Sade's "Soldier of Love" is pretty hot.

Download the mixtape from 368 Music Group, or stream it after the jump:

Looks like Dave Nuttycombe wasn't the only DJ inspired by the cover of last week's City Paper.

DJ Torkaveli claims to produce "the most controversial mixtape series in the Washington D.C. area," so it makes sense that he'd take inspiration from the now infamous issue.

The work features the Marion Barry voicemail clips interspersed with "some new underground tracks from some of the DMV's hottest rappers!"

Whitefolkz, Cal Cutta, Landova Dappa, and many other DMV all-stars appear.

Check it out here.

Sockets, the local record label that has released works by Hume, Little Women, and Extra Life (and, in the interest of full disclosure, myself, albeit a while back), recently posted a Spring mixtape on its freshly redesigned website.

All sorts of good stuff here, most of surprisingly melodious, from Nick Rivetti (aka Ricky Rabbit of Food For Animals) ambient gurgling, to Chris Grier's (Kohoutek, To Live and Shave in LA, Ultimate VAG) SYR-worthy guitar playing. Most of all, I'm enjoying Excepter's minimalist remix of Brooklyn's Zs, which whittles the normally raucous band down to a muted throb.

Here's the tracklist:

1. Chris Lynn
2. Phat Daughter String Quartet
3. Fly Girlz
4. Nick Rivetti
5. Chris Grier
6. FFFFs
7. ZS (Excepter Remix)
8. Extra Life
9. Layne Garrett

While the recording industry is busy lamenting the death of their business model at the hands of the Internet, a number of local hip-hop artists have found a way turn this market threat into an opportunity. Free download mixtapes (which are neither mixed nor on tape, discuss...) have been catapulting artists such as Wale, Ra the MC, Marky, XO and others into the upper reaches of internets stardom. No more standing on U Street peddling burnt CDs, the free download is the new strategy to burst onto the scene and connect with a new generation of listeners. Its like the indy punk zine for D.C. hip-hop.

Judah, one of the producers behind Wale, Ra the MC, XO and others, summed it like this: "Who cares about the radio, we know that radio doesn't make or break artists. With the internet, the fans gonna find you." Here's some free downloads worth finding:

Ra the MC – A Mixtape About Something. One of DCs finest female MCs shows the boys in the industry she doesn't play!

Marky – The Drive Thru. Theres something about a 19 year old DC MC rocking over a Citizen Cope track that's worth checking.

The DMV Mixtape – August 08. Get ready for September's edition with this fresh installment of the monthly mixtape from the DMV Music Blog Cartel.

XO – The Takeover. We wrote this up a few months back – get a late pass!

Wale – 100 Miles and Running. This is like the OG of the DMV free mixtape ish!