Easy Star All Stars: Radiodread: A while back I heard about a reggae version of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon and decided to check it out. I’ve never been a huge reggae fan, so I was mostly just curious. They’d played some samples on the radio and it sounded pretty cool. I’m still not a huge reggae fan, but as far as I can tell, there’s a certain style called “dub,” which happens to be the style of the Easy Star All Stars, and I like it.

Anyway, when I was in Borders the other night, I noticed they had a new CD out. This time they’ve made a dub version of Radiohead’s OK Computer. I like it, but it’s taking some time to grow on me. Unlike my first listen to Dub Side of the Moon, I didn’t get that instant sense of “cool.” One of the things I don’t like as much about Radiodread are the singers who sound a little too much like they are aiming for an R&B sound.

All in all, Radiodread has some highlights that might be worth a listen for Radiohead fans with eclectic tastes, including interpretations of Karma Police and Fitter Happier.

The Lemonheads: The Lemonheads: My freshman year of high school, I heard The Lemonheads’ cover of Mrs. Robinson and I was hooked. I bought up all their albums and as many singles imported from Europe as I could find. I had three or four T-shirts that I wore on a weekly rotation, including one from their Come On Feel tour, at which I got kicked in the head by a girl wearing pink Converse All-Stars while she crowdsurfed.

Frontman Evan Dando disbanded the group in the late ’90s and put out a solo album a few years ago, which I enjoyed quite a bit. A few days ago, much to my surprise, I discovered that The Lemonheads have put out another album after almost ten years. Even more exciting, they’ll be playing a show nearby with “the original line-up,” though I’m not really sure which “original line-up” they’re talking about or whether this includes Ben Deily. We’ll see. Deily’s songs were always my least favorite, so it’s no big deal if he’s not there.

I’ve listened to four of the new songs on The Lemonheads’ Web site and they’re not bad. Nothing really grabbed hold of me, but most reviews of the album have been pretty favorable. I’m definitely going to the show, though. By myself if I have to. I’ll be the one up front singing along.

The Twilight Singers: Powder Burns: About the same time I was going crazy about The Lemonheads, I was mildly interested in a band called The Afghan Whigs. They’ve since broken up, and I recently learned about the singer’s new band, The Twilight Singers. I find it hard to describe their sound so I’ll leave you with the Amazon.com reviewer’s take:

There are dozens of elements here - super multi-tracked choruses, Beatles-referring hooks, ridonculously classic rock guitar solos, vaguely dance-y drum programming, rousing piano lines, etc. - that would sound poseur-y or played out most anywhere else. But on Powder Burns, they just sound like damn good music.

I will, however, say that Underneath the Waves is presently my “favorite” song.