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Once upon a time, we critics got all the goods early. Some of it was even good. Now, just because a band — say, punk-poppers Yellowcard — won’t have their new album ready until next year doesn’t mean you can’t take a quick listen . . .

YELLOWCARD

"LIGHTS AND SOUNDS"

CAPITOL

Yep, the guys whose big breakthrough came via DVD have jumped headfirst into the realm of video games. "Lights and Sounds," a churning emo-pop power-rock hit-to-be, has already been licensed to EA’s "Burnout Revenge," so why not let fans check it out sans joystick.

KIRSTY HACKSHAW

"JUST BE ME"

NETTWERK

She’s been the silken-voiced diva of choice for British electronicists since the early ’90s, when Orbital started featuring her. So in an effort to lay the groundwork for a US release, Nettwerk’s created an on-line-only comp of some of her best productions. This free one’s a pretty, if pretty innocuous, example of her dance-floor dreampop.

WE ARE SCIENTISTS

"NOBODY MOVE NOBODY GET HURT"

VIRGIN

Their influences are "chemicals," their Virgin debut isn’t due till January, they’re playing T.T.’s this week, and they’ve currently got 2816 friends on MySpace, which is where you can also sample the kinda annoying debut single from that forthcoming album. It’s glam rock without the glam, or, maybe, hooky pop with a really annoying hook. Sorry, guys . . .