Grizzly Bear at the 930 Club

The now beast of an indie rock band that is Grizzly Bear will be playing the 930 Club this Monday night. The band released Veckatimest this week, their massively anticipated third full length.

Songs from Veckatimest have been rearing their heads here and there for almost a year, and all signs lead to the band's first pop masterpiece. Don't get me wrong, songs like "Two Weeks" and "While You Wait for the Others" are stellar in their own right.

But after spending some time with Veckatimest, I can't help but being a bit let down.

Grizzly Bear's Yellow House was and remains to be one of my favorite albums of recent times, but the Brooklyn based band took another route with the new one. The album focuses more on each song's structure than the album as a whole, while Yellow House was a dark but enlighteningly cohesive journey.

Veckatimest isn't a bad album. The production is impeccable, there are numerous outstanding tracks, and it's filled to the brim with the peak moments of Yellow House. But the balance just isn't there, and the multi-instrumentalist band may have taken it up one notch too many.

Still, I look forward to hearing these songs live. I saw the band play the 2640 space with Beach House a few years back, and the way the harmonizing vocals echoed off the old church's walls is something tough to forget. The show in DC on June 1st is sold out, but ask your good friend Craig if he's got an extra.

Tonight: Titus Andronicus / Here We Go Magic

Garage anthem drunkards, Titus Andronicus, will be soulfully blasting ears at the Ottobar tonight. Fairly recent signees to XL Recordings, the New Jersey band now shares a label with Radiohead & The White Stripes. Decent company to keep, I'd say.

Their debut album with XL screeches along like a Saturday night out when you were 18 and sneaking into your favorite college bar, with seven too many shots of whiskey in your tank. While there are glowing moments, its mostly just a night of fuzzy awesomeness paired with noisey ambitions.

Seemingly an odd match, Here We Go Magic will share the bill. Luke Temple's new band sounds like some dreamy and interesting psychadelic folkish music. Not sure if it will do much to prepare you for the headliners, but should be solid and pleasant nonetheless.