Janelle Monae brought her monochromatic stage apparel and hypersonic funk-pop-soul musical concoction to the 9:30 Club stage as the opener for Of Montreal Monday evening, the first of their sold out two-night stay—and promptly stole the evening before Of Montreal even hit the stage. Monae seemed to know in advance that she would...I mean, what other opening act drops balloons on the audience at the end of their set? Channeling James Brown, Grace Jones, and well, ewoks, Monae's vocal beauty come-hithered the audience like the call of a  siren, and before long, her magnanimous energy and non-stop dancing  converted the 930 from a music club into a 1200-person dance hall.

Of Montreal came out determined though with a multitude of stage props, like armed fish creatures in gas masks, women in angel wing cloaks, and lots of persons in head-to-toe bodysuits who, for some inexplicable reason, kept attacking lead singer Kevin Barnes. Later, these included a giant TV screen onstage—watched by monsters in pajamas, as Barnes was projected playing from what looked like the alley—and a 10 foot tall spaceman display, among others. It seemed like there was a different prop for each song, which, over the course of almost two hours, had a tendency to cause stimuli overload. While the music may not have held up to the display,  at the very least, it was most definitely a colorful feast for the eyes.

It wasn't enough to save his mayoralty, but Adrian Fenty enlisted Anwan "Big G" Glover, aka Slim Charles, persuade late-deciding voters. And there was plenty of go-go playing last night at Adrian Fenty's headquarters on Georgia and Missouri avenues — until a young Fenty supporter tumbled through a poorly installed plate-glass window and onto the sidewalk. The kid was fine, but Fox 5's Karen Gray Houston is headed for a dose of YouTube stardom after this reaction.

With that aside, let's address last night's real burning question: Was of Montreal's second night at the 9:30 Club any improvement over the first? Ryan Kearney of TBD came away disappointed on Monday and WaPo's David Malitz calls the show "worthless" in today's Style section. But last night's show was an improvement if you believe the tweets of City Paper Arts editor Jonathan L. Fischer and/or Arts Desk contributor Chris Klimek. "The Past Is a Grotesque Animal" was a welcome addition to the second night's set list, but in reality Fischer was most excited to see frontman Kevin Barnes dressed as a sex pirate. I guess Klimek enjoyed the show too, though he probably could have done without the audience's bodily fluids and sloppy drinking.

Alex Baca reports that The Red Palace — the long-awaited merger of H Street's Palace of Wonders and The Red and The Black — is only a month away.

Tonight at the Kennedy Center: Free Ozomatli!

If you're still ginned up about next January's reunion of the Dismemberment Plan — and really, who isn't? — TBD's Andrew Beaujon has an interview with bassist Eric Axelson.

Finally, as you head out into this new paradigm of D.C. government, it's time to once again wonder if Jimmy Smits can ever convincingly play a political figure. WaPo's Hank Stuever says the answer is still no.

- Local rapper Don Juan is live—right now.

- The Smithsonian had 30 million visits in 2009, the Washington Post reports.

- City Paper contributor Sarah Godfrey interviews D.C. rapper Lola Monroe over at Click Track. Monroe used to model in urban skin magazines and music videos, but she says she's focused solely on music now. Grab Untouchables, her recent mixtape with Lil' Boosie, here.

- Corgan Watch! Evidently, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan still has pretty good taste. He's starting a record label that will release music from the remaining members of the Germs, as well as '60s psych acts the Electric Prunes and Strawberry Alarm Clock.

- Damn the haters: The members of Vampire Weekend are not privileged or Waspy or cultural imperialists, they say! (The Vampire Weekend drinking game notwithstanding!) From a profile in the Guardian:

Koenig, however, is generous in understanding how the band have come to be perceived in the way they have. "Because we favour certain ways of dressing and don't shy away from using obscure words and we went to Columbia University, people have put all the elements together and prejudged us as privileged white kids, even using the word 'Wasp', which immediately implies privilege," he says. "Those things, juxtaposed with our interest in world music, have made it very easy for people to raise the flag of colonialism or imperialism. But the two main writers in the band are Jewish and Persian, which is a pretty broad definition of 'whiteness'. We're certainly not all fresh off the Mayflower."

Koenig has a theory that his most ardent detractors – "mostly," he guesses, "white, college-educated critics" – are just using Vampire Weekend for some easy point-scoring. "They don't often get the chance to be activists, so when they see us come along, it provides them with a brilliantly simple opportunity to be activists: 'This is an outrage! These people are exploitative!' Of course people should be on guard for exploitation, but ..." Their argument has one tiny flaw, Koenig suggests: "They're attacking a version of us that doesn't actually exist – the myth of Vampire Weekend."

Koenig, however, is generous in understanding how the band have come to be perceived in the way they have. "Because we favour certain ways of dressing and don't shy away from using obscure words and we went to Columbia University, people have put all the elements together and prejudged us as privileged white kids, even using the word 'Wasp', which immediately implies privilege," he says. "Those things, juxtaposed with our interest in world music, have made it very easy for people to raise the flag of colonialism or imperialism. But the two main writers in the band are Jewish and Persian, which is a pretty broad definition of 'whiteness'. We're certainly not all fresh off the Mayflower."

Koenig has a theory that his most ardent detractors – "mostly," he guesses, "white, college-educated critics" – are just using Vampire Weekend for some easy point-scoring. "They don't often get the chance to be activists, so when they see us come along, it provides them with a brilliantly simple opportunity to be activists: 'This is an outrage! These people are exploitative!' Of course people should be on guard for exploitation, but ..." Their argument has one tiny flaw, Koenig suggests: "They're attacking a version of us that doesn't actually exist – the myth of Vampire Weekend."

- Of Montreal added some last-minute tour dates: The trippy indie-poppers perform at the 9:30 Club on Jan. 28.

-Russell!

- Because we have yet to meet our indie-rock quota. A new Animal Collective video:

"Smoke hood! M'lion! Female erection! You fetishize the archetype!"

Of Montreal's new song, charmingly called "Teenage Unicorn Fisting," is ripe with shrill non sequiturs. With its catchy bass-driven acoustic riff, talking breaks, two-part harmonies, and abrupt leaps into almost-parodic falsetto, it sounds like the sort of song Flight of the Conchords might compose if they went suddenly insane. "I want someone to frisk me / I want this night to distort me / I didn't come here just to see you dancing, I came to see you ride my bike / Oh, that's the you I think I really like / Anyways, I'm crippled inside." It is possible that there is deep meaning beneath these impenetrable metaphors, but it reminds me of the nonsense I used to get when trying to translate my Latin homework using Babel Fish.

Kevin Barnes's glib introduction and unforgivably hip ensemble at the band's live performance of the song for Rolling Stone's Smoking Section seemed to say, "We're artists, trust us." But it sure feels like they're putting us on.

Watch and listen here. Feel free to offer your interpretation in the comments section.

Lil Wayne: "Prom Queen"
Ignore the braggadocio and oblique verse of Tha Carter III: Turns out that Lil Wayne is neither thug nor playful screwball. No, deep inside Wayne's thoroughly inked breast beats the heart of a teenage wolf-boy spurned. On this single from his forthcoming album The Rebirth, which apparently skews rap-rock, Wayne gets all bitter about the girl he wasn't cool enough to get during high school. But the rapper is aware that living well is the best revenge. "Now the prom queen is crying and sitting outside my door," sings Wayne from the top of bling mountain while guitars of adolescent trauma weep in the background. P.O.D., it ain't.

Of Montreal: "First Time High" (Remix of "An Eluardian Instance" by Jon Brion)
Rather than extending Of Montreal's sorta schizo new single "An Eluardian Instance" for the dance floor, producer Jon Brion reorganizes the song into a more manageable nugget by manufacturing a chorus, a bridge, and hooky refrain. The process of trying to turn frontman Kevin Barnes' loopy songcraft into something concise must have been maddening (perhaps analogous to editing David Lee Roth's autobiography) but Brion really makes this pop.

Blues Control: "Tenku You"
Make a mashup out of Mountain's Nantucket Sleighride and Brian Eno's Ambient 1: Music For Airports and wind up with, well, this. Using cassette loops, piano, and plenty of scrunchy-faced pentatonic jamming, New York City duo Blues Control continues its exploration of the dankest and swampiest reaches of outer space.

Theophilus London: "Crazy Cousins"
Heavy Latin rhythm drives this snippet from Brooklyn rapper Theophilus London's most recent mixtape. London rattles off some OK lines about his "crazy cousins", but his skills aren't quite a match for the ebullient bongo-jamming.