"Progressive music featuring predominantly exquisite feminine vocals with proficient and tasteful instrumentation, and intellectual yet addictive compositions and arrangements - sometimes with edge, sometimes with otherwordly ambience, always with estrogen and intimacy. Stylistically in the spectrum between Tori Amos, Lisa Gerrard, and Patti Smith."

Musically complex, yet emotionally accessible, the songs of NOE VENABLE have proven capable of reaching audiences across genre boundaries. Ani DiFranco, for whom Noe opened on two national tours, called her "Ravishingly melodic!" while Puremusic.com dubs her “a homegrown, full blown young musical visionary." Reflecting the influence of both sacred and folk music traditions, as well as iconoclastic songwriters such as Robyn Hitchcock and Jane Siberry, Noe's songs explore the theme of lost or mi... (more)splaced childhood as a place of wonder, darkness, and possibility. For this show, Noe will be joined by a full band,including Greta Gertler on keys, Marlan Barry on cello, Richard Hammond on bass and avant garde marimba virtuouso Payton MacDonald.

Seattle's TWO LOONS FOR TEA are like some mad Nashville duo lost on planet chill, or perhaps they're Victorian dancehall entertainers forecasting a successful Vaudeville career for their as yet unborn but talented children. Two Loons Sarah Scott and Jonathan Kochmer are very much the local boho couple warping jazz standards for downtown hipsters but their reach is decidedly global. Scott sings with a sassy impertinence that recalls dark heroines from Dinah Washington and Rickie Lee Jones to Beth... (more) Gibbons, while Kochmer's stylized arrangements recall Zero 7, Air and a touch of Massive Attack. It's vibrant cocktail electronica for the 7pm set, feelgood music for the modern urban sophisticate.

ODESSA CHEN writes singular music navigating the dark terrain of love, longing, and displacement. Described by MTVU as an "unstoppable force with one powerful voice" her second release, The Ballad of Paper Ships served as the basis for sold out dance collaborations at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, featuring Odessa with string quartet, drums and piano. Currently working on her third CD, she returns to New York with drummer Rich Douthit and guitarist Roger Riedlebauer (Jolie Holland).

The marvelous LEE MORETTI, from Boston, opens the show. Search for the line of your favorite book and the line of your favorite song and you'll find Lee Moretti and her band. This rock quartet delivers hooks from their upcoming EP Vanishing Acts with a one-two punch, Moretti's songs reflections on love, loss, and the powers of fate, change and choice. Formed in 2009 with Jordan Alegant, Sonya Perricone, and Andrew Nault, the line-up brings a new force to the stage of rock songwriting, with as mu... (more)ch intimacy as there is boldness.