WAKEY! WAKEY! Give Mike Grubbs (piano and vocals) his due for concocting rather intriguing pop. W!W! is essentially Grubbs' muse while the band runs the gamut of cohesive, happy piano-pop. Sure he rubs shoulders with Joe Jackson and Ben Folds on his way to compositional props, but Grubbs has the talent and the moxie to pull off his own stash of original, memorable tunes. With Matt Hires and Brandon Kirkley & The Firecrackers. $8-$10, Tremont Music Hall, www.tremontmusichall.com (Samir Shukla)
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RICHARD BUCKNER For the uninitiated, Buckner's strained, bear-like yowl is hard to mistake like Jay Farrar of Son Volt, it's as much an instrument as the guitars and pedal steel. Like a truck, it might not have much high end, but the torque it creates is considerable. Sometimes Buckner's lyricism tends toward the more abstract, and one wonders why he just doesn't hit the feeling head on. Then you hear him sing, and you know. It's like hunting deer with a bazooka. With Darden Smith, Dean Fields. $12, 10:30 p.m., The Evening Muse, www.theeveningmuse.com (Timothy C. Davis)