Budo Following the long tour for his lauded 2008 album 88 Keys & Counting, Seattle MC Grieves went through something of an existential crisis, and, after doing some soul-searching, emerged with the artistically superior and chart-friendly follow-up Together/Apart. Budo was the producer on both those albums, and, it would seem, gleaned some inspiration from his MC’s bold moves. Feeling the itch to get behind the console, the noted multi-instrumentalist sound engineer entered the studio in the spring of 2012 and recorded the album he will be celebrating tonight, The Finger & the Moon. Pulsing with trumpets, strings, and Budo’s own vocals, the album is an artistically adventurous effort, an act of bravery. With Iska Dhaaf, DJ Thig Natural. Barboza. 8 p.m. $10 adv. MARK BAUMGARTEN

Har Mar Superstar, aka Sean Tillmann, has been having a banner year. First came the April release of his fifth album, Bye Bye 17, then a summer run with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Perhaps most notably, Minneapolis mayor R.T. Rybak named September 20 Har Mar Superstar Day in the R&B singer’s hometown. Belated celebration, anyone? With Furniture Girls, Hidden Lake. Chop Suey. 8 p.m. $10 adv./$13 DOS. All ages. AZARIA PODPLESKY

Dublin-based Little Green Cars is a magical quintet of 20-somethings who create an insanely intimate feeling wherever it plays the indie folk pop it made popular on its debut album, Absolute Zero. Check out “Harper Lee” and “The John Wayne” to get a taste of what to expect tonight. With Kris Orlowski. The Crocodile. 8 p.m. $10 adv. ALICIA W. PRICE

The last time I saw Langhorne Slim, he was conducting a burn-it-down hootenanny at a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Bozeman, Montana. He plays a style of country expressly made to whip an audience into a fury—not to mention himself, as he’s given to being the hardest-stomping man in the hall as he rips through his sets. After that Montana show, I downloaded one of his albums, but rarely listen to it. What Slim gives you live can’t be captured; it’s fleeting and beautiful, and, most important, communal. With Johnny Fritz. The Neptune. 8 p.m. $16.50 adv./$18 DOS. DANIEL PERSON

Sturgill Simpson A throwback to the outlaw country of Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, Simpson’s latest LP, High Top Mountain, is equal parts ode to his birthplace (Kentucky) and deeply personal journey through his past. Most refreshingly, it’s a record nearly devoid of the typical Nashville establishment sheen. Sunset Tavern. 9 p.m. $10. CORBIN REIFF