ZEBRAHEAD "Playmate of the Year" Columbia

With their heavy guitar riffs, thrash drums and mix of rock and rap vocals, Zebrahead sometimes sound like Rage Against the Machine, but they think more along the lines of another Orange County band, the Offspring. They're far less cranky or political than Rage, less silly than the Offspring, but also more melodic than your average hard edged hip-hop/funk/altrockers. This followup to the band's 1998 major label debut, "Waste of Mind," finds Zebrahead in a slightly more radio-friendly mode, with rapper Ali Tabatabaee a little less prominent and singer-guitarist Justin Mauriello more so on tracks like "I Am," "Now or Never" and "The Hell That Is My Life," which is not the generational anthem of angst its title suggests but a rumination on romantic travails.

The band does touch on more serious themes with "Wasted" and "What's Going On" (not the Marvin Gaye song but still a catalogue of contemporary social ills), while also talking about degeneration in "E Generation" (actually, they seem to approve). But there's plenty of fun, as well, with the modified ska-brag of "I'm Money," "Livin' Libido Loco," which wickedly sends up the Latin pop crossover hype, and "In My Room" (not the Brian Wilson classic about solitude, but a punky paen to the pleasures of being isolated with unlimited guy fantasies). The title track, an energetic celebration of that special yearly issue of Playboy, shifts from yearning verses to stomping choruses as daydream meets wet dream (this allows for CD booklet pictures of four semi-clothed Bunnies). Next: a salute to Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue.

Long Island's Wheatus also essays a punk/rap/pop hybrid--albeit a quieter version of that currently overplayed formula--but their main model seems to be the harmless party-punk of Blink-182. Witness Wheatus's debut single, "Teenage Dirtbag," which explores the classic miseries of being a nerdy high school outsider--and a lovesick one, at that--only to resolve the pain with a happy ending out of "Guided by Angels." Actually, Iron Maiden looms larger in this empathetic anthem, featured quite appropriately in the film "Loser." Elsewhere, "Truffles" is bratty melodic rock with attitude, the cover of Erasure's "A Little Respect" old-fashioned power pop with roughened edges, and "Love Is a Mutt From Hell" an irony drenched snapshot of love gone awry. Though it sounds like a Limp Bizkit notion, "Hump'em N' Dump'em" is neither as harsh nor sexist as its title suggests, but instead surrealistically unfocused.

Both appearing Sunday at the 9:30 Club.

* To hear a free Sound Bite from Zebrahead, call Post-Haste at 202/334-9000 and press 8109. For a Sound Bite from Wheatus, press 8110. (Prince William residents, call 690-4110.)

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