In these days of major bands like Radiohead releasing entire albums for free, what's an indie band to do to get any attention?

Take a lesson from New York's Overlord and release every track as a single before collecting them all on an album. Jay Reatard and Ryan Adams are just a couple of other artists who have also pre-released entire albums as singles or EPs.

Starving indie rockers take a memo: Gussy up those singles in stylish packages, give them away at your shows and folks will pay attention. (Sure, it's a loss leader, but you aren't in a band to make money, right?)

George Pasles, Overlord's front man, packaged "Oh My Mechanical Heart" in a miniature Soviet Passport to connect it with the theme of his upcoming album "In Soviet Russia, My Heart Breaks You."

"It's a break-up album. Actually, a post-break-up album. I've had to make unpersons in my memories, just as Stalin 'removed' people from the official history," he explains. Hyper-intellectual pop tunes swaddled in precious packaging: Isn't that what classic indie rock is all about?

If you want to listen to Overlord's spry yet maudlin New Wave-influenced track, you can download it from the band's Web site or, if you're in New York, you can go to their show at Galapagos on Saturday, Sept. 13th. (They'll appear as a part of Nerd Nite.)