WEDNESDAY

About every, say, five years or so it happens: You come across an album that you fall head over heels in love with. I’m not talking about a Hanson-type crush that lasts two months before evaporating and leaving you with rug burns and a cavity—I mean a deeply spiritual, powerful, long-term commitment. The kind of album you hum all day then race home from school in the afternoon to hear. The kind you can pull off the rack again in five years to find just as sweet and masterful. This is a rare event for me (the last winner was Radiohead), but it happened last week when I bought Grant Lee Buffalo’s new disc Jubilee. Ringmaster and songwriter Grant Lee Phillips has authored a work of towering, timeless majesty, from the Dylan-meets-the-BeachBoys tough and tender hooks of “APB,” “Truly, Truly” (the first single), and “Change Your Tune” to the piercing acoustic melancholy of “The Shallow End.” Don’t let the band’s fondness for Mark Twain-era American styles make you think this is retro; the pump organ and other garnishes are barely noticeable. This is a modern rock record, the best so far this year. Grant Lee Buffalo plays with Harvey Danger at 8:45 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12, at the 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. $15. (202) 393-0930. (Mark Gauvreau Judge)