Born on a cattle ranch in Utah and transplanted to Berkeley, California, ground zero for all things beatnik, Emit Bloch is a guitar and vocal stylist with a rich history to draw on when creating his distinct brand of avant-country music.
"A genuine songwriting talent" - NW1 magazine, London
"Emit Bloch is an amazing talent" - Alan McGee
"Emit's got a Woody Guthrie thing going on. Great lyrics, vocals too" - Beth Orton
"Cosmic Americans (upcoming album march 09) is a work of avant-country"- Martyn Myers, Resonance FM
"This talismanic new country singer ... is dragging country music kicking and screaming into the 21st Century" - fRESH dEER mEAT
JESS BRYANT
ON STAGE: 9.20
Favorite Music: Sparklehorse, PJ Harvey, My Brightest Diamond, Neutral Milk Hotel, Grizzly Bear, John Tavener, Buddy & The Huddle, Radiohead, Sufjan Stevens, Yo La Tengo, Arvo Part, all the people on the front of this page.
Favorite Films: Brazil, Coen brothers stuff, Delicatessen, Ma Vie En Rose, Pi, Buffalo 66, Waking Life, Once Upon A Time In The West, In The Mood For Love, Leon, Amores Perros, Dark Days, Hable Con Ella, A Scanner Darkly, 2046, Mulholland Drive.
I cannot be without a book: Murakami, Phillip K Dick, Ray Bradbury, Virginia Woolf, Dostoyevsky, Alasdair Grey, Italo Calvino, David Mitchell, Donna Tartt, Pablo Neruda, John Steinbeck and probably some others as well.
LAURIE MCNAMEE
ON STAGE: 8.40
London based musician Laurie McNamee is a singer, multi instrumentalist and composer whose music traverses numerous genres from folk noir to minimalist Americana; her compositions drawing on modern classical and free-jazz influences.
Having been described as a post-rock Joanna Newsom, she has also gained maybe more apt comparisons to Jason Molina (Songs: Ohio, Magnolia Electric Co.) in her experimental song writing methods, Low in her emotive sound and both Nina Nastasia and Bjork in her powerful yet hauntingly delicate vocals.
A series of well received shows preceded her self released debut album '...and they will teach us that eternity is but the standing still of time…' in March 2008. This intriguingly titled and startlingly mature release features not only her unique vocals, but her unique guitar picking methods as well as highlighting her instrumental prowess on Celtic harp, banjo, cello, bandolin, charango, harmonium and percussion.
Recently, Laurie has performed at venues including The Union Chapel, The Luminaire, The Vortex and Bush Hall, composed for L.I.F.T (London International Festival of Theatre) and is currently writing for various film projects with students from the Royal College of Art and The Slade School of Art and has been featured on Tom Robinson's 6 Music radio show. She is also working on projects with her newly established music and arts collective beware! the crows bite for which a manifesto can be read at the address below.
27 April (Monday) - EMIT BLOCH, JESS BRYANT, LAURIE MCNAMEE
