GOOD COP

Joan as Policewoman —real name: Joan Wasser—calls her music “punk-rock r&b,” but, really, there’s more to it than that. After studying the violin with Yuri Mazurkevich at Boston University, Wasser, Jeff Buckley’s ex (she was his girlfriend at the time of his death), became the violinist for hire, working with all sorts of musicians from Antony to Lou Reed. So, yeah, there’s the attitude of punk and the sexiness of r&b, but also a singer-songwriter’s heartbreak—”Try me, please/I’m a better dancer than it seems,” she sings on “Anyone” from her debut album Real Life—and, above all, the meticulous composition of a classical music virtuoso. Call it whatever you like, but it sounds like rock ‘n’ roll. With special guest Holly Miranda.

Sat., July 25, 9 p.m., 2009