A decade after its release, Radiohead's technophobic opus still computes. While you're waiting for the next cryptic message about LP7 to be posted on the band's Dead Air Space site, hit up Stereogum and stream OKX: A Tribute to OK Computer, a digital-only album that includes newly recorded covers from indie heavyweights such as Pedro the Lion's David Bazan, John Vanderslice, Cold War Kids and the Twilight Sad. To keep things on an even keel, comedian David Cross's alter ego, Samson Dalanoga, graces the emo-heavy compilation with a rendition of "Fitter, Happier" that's funny enough to crack a smile on even Thom Yorke's solemn mug.
Remix albums can be an omen of bad things to come. Just ask now-defunct Toronto band Death From Above 1979, which promptly split after trashing its first (and last) full-length with the Romance Bloody Romance remixes. The band's fellow Canadians in Stars hope to avoid this trap. After putting out the subpar Do You Trust Your Friends? collection of reworks earlier this year, the indie-pop five-piece is readying its fourth LP, In Our Bedroom After the War. Head over to Stars' MySpace page (www.myspace.com/stars) to download the first single, "The Night Starts Here," before the album's release next month. Let's hope they leave their friends out of it this time.
