Click to listen to our feature episode on Beatbeat Whisper!

Click to listen to our feature episode on Or, the Wahle!

Click to listen to our feature episode on Emily Jane White!

In February, we’re joining with Adrian from ipickmynose to take our Presents series across the Bay for the first time, with a terrific lineup of folk, indie rock and alt-country music at Berkeley’s venerable Starry Plough. Captivating melodies, heartfelt lyricism, the songwriting here is second to none and the live performances should meet or surpass them.

About the bands:

Oakland-based duo Beatbeat Whisper (MySpace/web site) headline the show with their haunting melodic folk. The band’s self-titled album has been very well received by reviewers and college radio, and they’re preparing two new full length albums for release this Spring. “Dreamy, poignant renderings of life’s breathless moments. Brother and sister duo…wrap delicate melodies in Nick Drake-like guitar weavings. Fans of Devendra Banhart and Jolie Holland will find this friendly territory, but they’ll wish they sounded more like this. If hummingbirds made music, this is what they’d sound like.” (Richard Rice, San Francisco Free Folk Festival)

By this point, Or, the Whale (MySpace/web site/blog) likely need no introduction. Winners in the Best Alt-Country/Folk category at the SF Weekly Music Awards, their debut album Light Poles and Pines ranks as one of 2007’s best releases. “Seeing this band play live is touching, invigorating, and downright fun.” (West Coast Performer) “Brandishing four Grand Ole Opry–worthy vocalists — frequently harmonizing to thrilling effect — as well as three other accomplished musicians, Or, the Whale throw one hell of a barn dance.” (SF Bay Guardian)

Emily Jane White (MySpace/web site) released another of 2007’s best records, the sparse and moving Dark Undercoat, and there’s simply no excuse not to show up on time to catch her performance. “The twenty-six-year-old Northern California native’s debut CD comes alive with enough gothic imagery for an Edgar Allan Poe novel.” (Rolling Stone) “At last humanity gave the finger to the dreadfully polite platitude-plopping coffeehouse strummers of the world and pulled up a chair for the folkies with songwriting worthy of our time. Good-bye to the contrived sensitivity of the ’90s.” (SF Bay Guardian)