A still from Jason Zimmerman's "All That Glitters"

For the past decade, Transformer gallery has exhibited emerging artists of all stripes, and a great number of those artists have been Corcoran College of Art & Design graduates. To pay tribute to the symbiotic relationship between the P Street NW gallery and the art school, the Corcoran’s Gallery 31 is hosting “Transformers,” an exhibition of works by 15 select alumni who have shown at Transformer. With that title, the show also suggests that the artists are capable of transforming how we think about art. And they may be: Reuben Breslar creates installations that flatten three-dimensional space, Cynthia Connolly critiques art marketing and presentation, and Mica Scalin—who went on to work for Showtime Networks, among others—makes videos that range from experimental and voyeuristic to pop-consumable. (John Anderson) The exhibition is on view Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursdays 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. to Oct. 2 at the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s Gallery 31, 500 17th St. NW. (Enter from New York Avenue NW.) Free.

INDIE MUSIC

There's an impressively high number of indie-rock and pop shows happening tonight, and it may present some conflicts for local fans. Check out our sked after the jump.

Active Child, Com Truise, and Young Athletes League at Black Cat Backstage. Doors 8 p.m. $12.

J. Mascis at Millennium Stage. 6 p.m., free.

Eternal Summers, Reading Rainbow at Red Palace. 8 p.m. doors, $10.

Twin Shadow and Diamond Rings at Rock & Roll Hotel. 8 p.m., $15.

Weekend and Talk Normal at DC9. 8:30 p.m. doors, $10.

The Sweater Set Sideshow at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue. 8 p.m., $12.

Erasure and Frankmusik at 9:30 Club. 7 p.m. doors, $45.

BOOKS

Washington Post reporter Dana Priest discusses Top Secret America, her book about the country's security agencies, at Politics & Prose. 7 p.m., free.

Author Joe Allen is at Busboys & Poets' 14th Street location to talk about People Wasn't Made to Burn, his history of the campaign to free James Hickman, who shot and killed the landlord he believed murdered his family in 1947 Chicago. 6:30 p.m., free.

Brian Behnken reads from his book Fighting Their Own Battles: Mexican Americans, African Americans, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Texas. 6 p.m. at the National Portrait Gallery bookstore. Free.

Though Citay began as a studio-only project between musicians Ezra Feinberg and Tim Green, the group now employs a bevy of rotating musicians that add a sense of spontaneity to the record.

To read more about Citay's "minimalist indie-rock space-outs using the tools of classic folk-rock," check out the full review here.

Here's what you need to know about The Decemberists playing The Hazards of Love in its entirety on their current tour: on prog-rock bulletin boards, folks are comparing this show to Genesis performing The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway in the 1970s.

Hazards of Love sounds awfully proggy on record, and live it's got all the telltale signs: a theatrical presentation (including costumes of sorts), a ridiculously fantastical concept/storyline, lots of Hammond organ and other keys, a gratuitously long children's choir section... everything to make the latent prog fan inside you start drooling. And the thing is, it works. Before last night I wasn't quite sure what to make of the album, but its highlights are exhilirating in the live setting, especially those featuring the powerhouse vocals of My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden. Set the absurd concept aside and the music stands on its own remarkably well.

More photos and thoughts after the jump. Full gallery here.

Colin Meloy and company were on last night, blazing through the Hazards of Love material and then playing a short second set that drew at least one song from each of the band's full-length albums, plus a couple surprises (including a cover of Heart's "Crazy On You" that was basically an excuse for the band's two guest female vocalists to wail). The selection tended to the mellow—for instance "Red Right Ankle," "Engine Driver," and the gorgeous, moving encore of "Sons and Daughters." For this last, Meloy mentioned that the band had made a side trip to tour the White House, and in the spirit of what they felt during that visit, he had the audience join him for the song's ecstatic refrain, "Hear all the bombs fade away." It was probably the only song more perfect for an encore closer than "The Mariner's Revenge Song."

I saw the Decemberists' show in Richmond last Friday as well, and came away from that one less than satisfied – the band fucked around too much, making jokes to the point that it killed the flow of the concert and hurt the actual performances of the songs. At Merriweather, thanks to a strict time limit on their set, the band were forced to tighten things up a bit, which had a hugely positive effect on their show. After all, prog-rock might revel in its excess, but it's always best with at least a hint of moderation.

Robyn Hitchcock and Andrew Bird opened. Merriweather isn't the easiest place to get to from D.C., so I missed Hitchcock's set, but Bird's performance was predictably great and photos of it are included in the full gallery. A teaser:

Earlier this week, the upcoming Grizzly Bear album, Veckatimest, leaked. We gave our first-impressions of the album. While a colleague joked that the much-anticipated LP was all texture and scaffolding and no melody, we disagree! We love the album more and more with each listen no matter the bootleg's sound quality.

Yesterday, the band responded in a blog item about the leak:

"So yeah, we are kind of bummed this leaked so early. We know it’s not the 90’s anymore and times have changed, and we’re super grateful for all the support people have shown us on the blogs and internet, but we were kind of hoping it wouldn’t happen this soon.

Ultimately we feel like we put out a great album and hope people enjoy it, and we really hope people take the time to pre-order and support the good one-and-a-half years it took to write and record it.

I promise you the album art for both CD and vinyl is going to be gorgeous. And a bonus: all vinyl people will get a high quality download coupon with their purchase.

Leaking is a tricky subject; as we all know, I’ve had my run ins with the law O__o (Hi, Mr. Sheriff!) I have conflicting opinions about it, as it’s really complicated, but ultimately it saddens me that a bummer-quality version of Veckatimest is going around. Please consider putting your energies into a pre-order or into waiting till May 26 for the album the way we intend it to be presented.

Not to get all mushy, but we definitely put a lot of love and work into this one and are just excited to hit the road and tour it again."

The band's singer/songwriter Ed Droste was more fun on Twitter.

Droste write on his twitter account:

"So yeah, it leaked. I'm happy people are loving it. Makes me smile! Just remember it's not a top notch sonic example. So keep that in mind."

In a later post, he teases with this: "You know what, screw it here's a quality version of the album! ENJOY!!!" He then provides a link to the Insound vinyl pre-order. Ha.

Of course, Droste tries a jokey sales pitch in another post: "Going to EXTRA dazzle up album both CD/Vinyl art to make up for this early leak!!!"

Veckatimest comes out May 26.