It remains to be seen if anyone will challenge Animal Collective's head start on album of the year consideration for Merriweather Post Pavilion. At the very least, Animal Collective hasn't been jamming their magnum opus down our throats like Vampire Weekend did last year. Nonetheless, the current Kings of Williamsburg will be performing at the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC tonight, and NPR will be straming the concert live on their home page (more details can be found here).

Though it will lack the visuals that are often crucial to the Animal Collective live experience, the webcast is nonetheless a fitting introduction to a national audience about what the kids are listening to these days. The show begins at 9:30, but probably won't really kick off until 10 p.m. or so. In case you can't tune it, the show will appear on a podcast, naturally.

(H/y: Snob's Music)