It’s a big night. Heck, it’s a big week. What with five national bands touching down in Iowa City at the Picador, Mill, and Yacht Club over the next three days it’s kind of like we’re experiencing the intense punch of Labor Day Weekend all over again. Thank the heavens it’s an away game on Saturday. For the uinformed: Deer Tick plays the Mill on Friday night while Woods plays the Picador on Thursday and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone plays Public Space One also on Thursday night. Tonight, the head-to-head action happens between the Mill and the Yacht Club but either way you go, you simply can’t lose. First up, the New Mastersounds tear it up at the Yacht Club tonight. This ensemble, straight outta Leeds UK, is one of the premier groove-funk acts around. After rocking the festival circuit from Bonnaroo to Bumbershoot, this nonstop touring outfit will land at the Yacht Club for one of the most intimate shows on a schedule that also includes the mammoth Bowery Ballroom(!) in New York City. If you missed ‘em last time, these guys crank out a hypnotic set. The grooves are so thick, it’s like getting hit with the baseball bat of James Brown’s mojo. Highly recommended for lovers of rare-groove, jazz-funk jams, and delectable soul-wax. WTF is delectable soul-wax? DETAILS: THE YACHT CLUB / 9PM  / $15

Meanwhile, over at the Mill, the punky and disheveled saviors of rock n’ roll, Titus Andronicus, will level their fans with a sonic boom of guitars. Hailing from beautiful New Jersey (hey, I lived in Jersey for four years and it is quite nice… in certain parts), this band tore apart the tight-jeaned taste-making hipster indie scene with their debut record The Airing of Grievances, which, if dramatic, far-reaching, and snooty was only pretentious in its faux-drunken English graduate student posturing.  Like the Mastersounds, Titus wooed crowds off their feet the last time they came through town. If you like your rock n’ roll mixed up with a little bit of Springsteen, a little bit of the Clash, and a touch of Shakespeare, well, you’re in for a good time. DETAILS: THE MILL / 10PM / $8