For the past few years the college airwaves have been dominated by songs like “That Was a Crazy Game of Poker” and “Night Shift,” by the band O.A.R. (Of a Revolution). Who could blame fun-loving college students for taking a liking to this music? After all, with jam-band roots and a funky reggae sound, it’s no wonder that O.A.R.’s songs can be heard coming from the student-filled bars of Elmwood Avenue at 3am. Collectively this is a group of exciting and skilled musicians, and their fourth studio album, Songs of a Stranger (Lava), has a slower feel than their previous albums but makes better use of treasured saxophonist Jerry DePizzo. O.A.R. considers itself to be primarily a touring band, and the five members (Benj Gershman, Chris Culos, Richard On, Marc Roberg and DePizzo) thrive on the concert performances that have taken them across the globe. O.A.R’s popularity can be attributed to an ability to meld catchy song lyrics with the “anything goes” playing style that has been captured on the band’s two previous live albums (there is a third live recording on the way). Still, this is one act that’s best experienced in person. Support comes from ska outfit Telegraph.

Small Sails is a four-person musical and filmmaking collective from Portland, Oregon. Currently on a cross-country tour to promote their first label-supported CD, Similar Anniversaries (Other Electricities), Small Sails will hold their only area performance at Squeaky Wheel. The collective is well-known and deeply loved in Portland, where they’ve shared the stage with bands such as Deerhoof, the Helio Sequence, Mice Parade and Styrofoam, playing post-electronic ambient music set to live screenings. Images of dandelion fields, aerial light shows, birds and waterfall images loop while spacey electronic chords and futuristic pop strains interplay with the visuals. Ryan Jeffrey runs the dual 16-millimeter projector using reel-to-reel footage, playing it almost like an instrument while his partners Ethan Rose (guitar, keys, vocals), Adam Porterfield (guitar, keys, vibraphone) and Gary Jimmerson (drums, vibraphone) create rich and haunting melodies. This is an opportunity to see a unique show of sonic and visual interplay from a group to look out for. Word is, we may be hearing a lot more about them.

Gritty practitioners of American roots music, the Tarbox Ramblers hail from Cambridge, Massachusetts but make the kind of music you’d expect to hear echoing out of a Southern church or juke joint from about the middle of the last century. Led by the dark slide guitar work and haunting vocals of Michael Tarbox, the band has been building a national following on the strength of their transcendent live shows and two critically praised releases on Rounder records. Greil Marcus had this to say of “Country Blues,” from the band’s most recent release A Fix Back East: “Tarbox is so growly he might as well be a bear, and when he applies himself to Dock Boggs’s 1927 testament to a wasted life, the startling boogie arrangement makes his voice feel like a put-up job. But his slide guitar makes another voice—and when Tarbox comes back singing in an almost delirious mode, he takes the song out of his head and into some ugly bar, where new people keep turning up even if no one’s left for years.” As an added bonus, come check out fabulous openers the Alison Pipitone Band.

Champaign, Illinois band Headlights has been creating some of the most beautiful pop of the past decade. Formed in 2004, Headlights combines swirling oceans of sound with a danceable electronica, echoing a sound that falls somewhere between the Postal Service and the Cocteau Twins. On their recent Polyvinyl Records debut Kill Them With Kindness, the trio won critical acclaim for its innovative soundscapes and fragile pop. Their frequent visits to Buffalo continue to attract more and more fans with each trip. This time Headlights shares the bill with Page France (pictured), a band whose sparse indie folk has also won much acclaim and many followers. Their most recent release on Suicide Squeeze, 2006’s Hello Dear Wind, has endeared them to listeners of artists such as Sufjan Stevens and Danielson. Headlights and Page France co-headlinethis show at Mohawk Place, with Headlights’ favorite Buffalo band Ice Cream Social opening the show.