As I plugged previously, there was an ipickmynose presents show last Wednesday with Geographer and Two Sheds (myspace), Friday Mile (myspace), Marabelle Pheonix at Annie’s Social Club in San Francisco, CA, USA, World.

I’d never been to Annie’s and getting there before the music started, I had a chance to check out the place. It’s sort of a quirky shape, with the show space next to and parallel the bar/ entrance area but separated by a wall for the most part. But with a photobooth, a pool table, a decent selection of beer and a generally chill atmosphere, I liked it.

Friday Mile

Marabelle Phoenix and Friday Mile ended up playing nice background music to catching up with or meeting some cool people like Emily and Ben from the Bay Bridged, Will from New & Used Records, the Deli SF and Joe from the Don’ts. I did manage to solidly pay attention to a chunk of Friday Mile’s set and it was pretty enjoyable indie rock. I’m sorry I can’t review their performances much beyond that.

Two Sheds played next. I don’t know what to say about a band that I’ve seen five times in six months (did I mention there’s a problem with liking local bands). They played a great set as usual.

Their album’s great, but I really like their new songs like the EP material (”WTF”, “You”, “Alive”) and even newer stuff (”Mindwrecker”). One new thing about this show was Hannah from Friday Mile sang harmony vocals on a couple songs and hers and Caitlin’s vocals sounded great together.

Two Sheds with Hannah from Friday Mile

Geographer closed out the night. It was getting late so the crowd was thinning by this point. Again, I’ve seen this band a number of times by this point and I always have a good time. They make the heads bob. They also manage to fill a room with their sound even though they’re only three people.

Update: I have a pair of tickets to give away for this show. Email me (picker at/@ ipickmynose dot/. com) with “contest” in the subject line before Wednesday June 11 at noon and I’ll pick a winner at random shortly thereafter. Update2: The contest is now closed. Thanks for playing.

As a reminder, the next ipickmynose presents show is this Wendesday, June 11 at Annie’s Social Club in San Francisco.

Ipickmynose will be presenting two of my favorite local bands Geographer and Two Sheds (myspace), along with Seattle-ites Friday Mile (myspace) and locals Marabelle Pheonix. The show starts at 8pm and will only run you only 7 American dollars.

I wasvery excited about this show as I was before I was even on board as a presenter. I’m a big fan of both Geographer or Two Sheds as evidenced by the fact that I post about them all the time.

I first saw Geographer a few months ago when they were called something else at the Great American and heard something pretty exciting in their sound. I also caught them a month or so ago at 12 Galaxies and they had the crowd going. They make nice indie pop with catchy synth lines and great melodies. I think your head will be bopping if you see them. Be sure to check out some more tracks from their set down at KZSU.

Geographer - Rushing In, Rushing Out (mp3)

Geographer - Wonderful (Live at KZSU) (mp3)

Two Sheds hit me like a train the first time I heard “It’s Hard”. I just couldn’t get over it. I made sure to see them at SxSW (and then again in SF and SD). They write really great songs and the simple and effecting instrumentation supports Caitlin’s wonderful voice nicely. They’ve put on great sets every time I’ve seen them. They came down and did a set at KZSU last week and their new tunes sound good too.

Two Sheds - It’s Hard (mp3)

Two Sheds - Undertow (Live at KZSU) (mp3)

I haven’t seen Friday Mile before but I got their EP a couple weeks ago. It’s a disc of solid, subdued indie rock with male and female vocals. “Westward Bound” is a nice tune with country-ish inflections.

Friday Mile - Westward bound (the Whitest Blanket) (mp3)

I don’t have any Marabelle Phoenix to share with you at the moment, but you can check out her/ their sometimes dark countryish sounds on myspace.

Should be a great show. Hope to see you there!

The last ipickmynose presents show was so much fun that I decided to do it again.

On Wednesday June 11, ipickmynose will be presenting two of my favorite local bands Geographer and Two Sheds (myspace), along with Seattle-ites Friday Mile (myspace) and locals Marabelle Pheonix at Annie’s Social Club in San Francisco. The show starts at 8pm and will only run you only 7 American dollars.

I’m very excited about this show as I was before I was even on board as a presenter. You can’t swing a dead cat around here without hitting a post about Geographer or Two Sheds.

I first saw Geographer a few months ago when they were called something else at the Great American and heard something pretty exciting in their sound. I also caught them a month or so ago at 12 Galaxies and they had the crowd going. They make nice indie pop with catchy synth lines and great melodies. I think your head will be bopping if you see them. Be sure to check out some more tracks from their set down at KZSU.

Geographer - Rushing In, Rushing Out (mp3)

Geographer - Wonderful (Live at KZSU) (mp3)

Two Sheds hit me like a train the first time I heard “It’s Hard”. I just couldn’t get over it. I made sure to see them at SxSW (and then again in SF and SD). They write really great songs and the simple and effecting instrumentation supports Caitlin’s wonderful voice nicely. They’ve put on great sets every time I’ve seen them. They came down and did a set at KZSU last week and their new tunes sound good too.

Two Sheds - It’s Hard (mp3)

Two Sheds - Undertow (Live at KZSU) (mp3)

I haven’t seen Friday Mile before but I got their EP a couple weeks ago. It’s a disc of solid, subdued indie rock with male and female vocals. “Westward Bound” is a nice tune with country-ish inflections.

Friday Mile - Westward bound (the Whitest Blanket) (mp3)

I don’t have any Marabelle Phoenix to share with you at the moment, but you can check out her/ their sometimes dark countryish sounds on myspace.

June 11 may seem like an awfully long time away, but it’s actually less than two weeks. Mark your calendars!

Should be a great show. Hope to see you there!

Saturday night was the ipickmynose presents (along with the Bay Bridged show that I’d talked about. The bill was Beatbeat Whisper (myspace); Or, the Whale (myspace)[1]; and Emily Jane White (myspace) at the Starry Plough in Berkeley.

When I got there a couple minutes after the door opened, the pub was already fairly full. People were sitting, eating, chatting, drinking, etc. The Bay Bridged boys and girl were there already and I said hi. In addition to the bands on the bill, I ended up knowing a good amount of people at the show, so it had a feeling of seeing a show with a lot of friends.

Emily and her band finished setting up and went through a quick sound check. Her band included her on piano, acoustic guitar and vocals; a drummer, a lead guitarist (on electric), an upright bass player and backup vocalist and a fiddle player. She started her set with a couple piano songs. It seemed it was hard to get across through the chatter from some of the crowd. After a few songs and switching to guitar, she seemed to grab the audience more. They played well. Her songs, as I’ve heard on Dark Undercoat are lovely, and that came across over the talking during most of the set.

Or, the Whale came on after a short break to set up all their many instruments. Before their set, the crowd had swelled to what I have to imagine was near capacity. They played a set of old favorites and a few new songs. One of the new songs that I really liked was called, I think, “Shasta”. It had Lindsay on lead vocals and Julie on harmony vocals. It was a really pretty song.

The group is really well practiced and knows how to rile up the crowd with their energy and songs. I would like to mention once again that Tim Marcus, who plays pedal steel with the group is absolutely great.

The crowd thinned a bit before the Beatbeat Whisper set; it was quite late by that point. Beatbeat put on a nice set of mostly unreleased songs. They’re solid and just exuded joy throughout. I always like it when a band enjoys playing and shows it. I’m looking forward to their new album that they’re working on currently; Davyd told me that it should be done by the end of February, but no word on a release date yet.

View my full photo album.

[1] By the way, I think Or, the Whale will singularly bring back the semicolon, if for no other reason than out of necessity.

I just wanted to remind all of you what a great show is coming up this weekend. I’m presenting it along with the Bay Bridged. I’m really excited about this show; I’m excited about it more so because it’s a really great bill than because I’m presenting it.

2/9 Beatbeat Whisper; Or, the Whale; Emily Jane White @ Starry Plough, 8:30pm, $8, a/a(?)

The show features Beatbeat Whisper (myspace); Or, the Whale (myspace); and Emily Jane White (myspace) at the Starry Plough in Berkeley.

Check out these mp3s or the original post for words about all the bands.

Beatbeat Whisper - Lulu (mp3)

Or, the Whale - Call and Response (mp3)

Emily Jane White - Wild Tigers I’ve Known (mp3)

If you go to the show, feel free to say hi. I’m the guy whose photo is in this article.

Along with the Bay Bridged, I’m co-presenting a great concert Saturday, February 9 at The Starry Plough in Berkeley. Beatbeat Whisper (myspace); Or, the Whale (myspace); and Emily Jane White (myspace).

This is one of the folky triangle shows that I mentioned before. These artists are great. If you feel like I’m repeating myself, you should already be sold on this concert. But let’s run down the line up anyway.

Beatbeat Whisper (who I’ve talked about plenty) are a brother-sister duo out of Stanford Santa Cruz Berkeley that make folk music that blends traditional Anglo-American styles with modern folk. They strike the balance pretty well, case-in-point, “Lulu”.

Beatbeat Whisper - Lulu (mp3)

Then there’s Or, the Whale (who I’ve talked about plenty). I’ve recently put them at the top of my list for all to see. I’m totally sold on their album Light Poles and Pines and they put on a good live show. The came together to form a “sweet country rock band” and succeeded as far as I can tell.

Or, the Whale - Call and Response (mp3)

I’ve talked about Emily Jane White less but that’s only because I’ve known her stuff for less time. She’s got a great and breathy voice and writes nice, relatively unadorned songs.

Emily Jane White - Wild Tigers I’ve Known (mp3)

All this for eight American dollars!

I know this is in Berkeley, and that’s “far” from many parts of the Bay Area, but I think it’s worth the trek. For the carless, pretty close to the Ashby station and with an 8:30pm show, 3 bands and BART open till midnight you should be in the clear.