Azita Youssefi ( fa, آزیتا یوسفی ), born January 18, 1971 in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, is an Iranian-American experimental musician, artist and music teacher based in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. She was originally associated with the Chicago no wave scene, which included bands such as the Scissor Girls, U.S. Maple and Bride of No No. She has been a voice and piano teacher at Chicago's

Old Town School of Folk Music The Old Town School of Folk Music is a Chicago teaching and performing institution that launched the careers of many notable folk music artists. Founded by Folk musicians Frank Hamilton and Win Stracke, and Dawn Greening, the School opened in the ...

since 2002, and has served as composer and musical director for theater productions of musicals by Brian Torrey Scott.

Background

Born in the United States to

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

parents, Azita spent part of her childhood in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and was attending grade school in Tehran when the

Iranian revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

began in late 1978. Her family moved back to the United States soon after, settling in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

. Growing up, she attended an all-girls school, Holton-Arms, and studied classical piano. As a teen, she would attend punk rock shows in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

In 1989, Azita moved to Chicago to study at the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

. She is a fluent

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

speaker.

Musical career

Scissor Girls

Disillusioned with the visual arts as a medium for expression, she turned to performance art and sound. In 1991, she formed the spastic noise-rock group

The Scissor Girls The Scissor Girls were an American, Chicago-based band, formed by Azita Youssefi, Sue Anne Zollinger, and Heather Melowic in 1991. The idea to form the group was conceived during the late 1980s by Azita Youssefi and Heather Melowic while they we ...

with Sue Anne Zollinger on guitar (later replaced by Kelly Kuvo), Heather Melowic on drums, and herself on vocals and bass. Their live performances were highly theatrical and the members often dressed in homemade costumes ranging from Catholic schoolgirl uniforms to clothes made of Bubble Wrap and duct tape. After two albums and a singles compilation, the Scissor Girls broke up in late 1996.

Miss High Heel

In late 1995, Azita played synthesizer for a short-lived

Weasel Walter Weasel Walter (born Christopher Todd Walter, May 18, 1972) is an American composer, improviser, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and founder of ugEXPLODE Records. Walter's work has been informed by techniques and traditions of music including Av ...

/ Jim O'Rourke project Miss High-Heel. Their self-titled CD was released on B-Sides Records (now NoSides Records) in 1998.

Bride of No-No

Azita formed the Bride of No-No, another project known for extreme theatrics, in 1999. Band members, which included drummers Jen Kienzler, Shannon Morrow and guitarists J. Graf and M.V. Carbon (also of

Metalux Metalux is an American noise band consisting of M.V. Carbon and J. Graf, both members of Bride of No No. They are occasionally joined by Nautical Almanac member Twig Harper. Early material was released on the Hanson Records label, while t ...

), disguised themselves onstage in what has been described as mummy-like burkhas. After two albums the band eventually dissolved in 2002.

Solo

Azita recorded her first solo work, ''Music for Scattered Brains'', to be used as a part of her college thesis project. ''Music for Scattered Brains'' was originally released on vinyl in 1995. In 1997, Azita returned to playing her childhood instrument, the piano while rooming with engineer Elliot Dicks who brought a piano into their loft. On piano, she started writing and recording material which would eventually be released under her own name. ''Enantiodromia'' was released in 2003 on Drag City, and ''Life on the Fly'' followed in 2004. Descriptions of this release varied, from comparisons with Steely Dan to comparisons with "a bad Rod Stewart album from the early 1980s". Azita's album, ''How Will You?'', was released on February 17, 2009. Her latest album, ''Year'' was issued in November 2012.

Discography

AZ * ''Music for Scattered Brains'' (CD, Atavistic, 1997; LP, SG Research, 1995) Scissor Girls * ''We People Space With Phantoms'' (LP/CD, Atavistic, 1995) * ''Here is the "Is-Not"'' (CD, Atavistic, 1997) Bride of No-No * ''B.O.N.N. Apetit!'' (LP/CD, Atavistic, 2000) * ''II'' (LP/CD, Atavistic, 2003) Azita * ''Enantiodromia'' (LP/CD, Drag City, 2003) * ''Life on the Fly'' (LP/CD, Drag City, 2004) * ''Detail From the Mountain Side'', music from the Brian Torrey Scott musical (CD EP, Drag City, 2006) * ''How Will You?'' (LP/CD, Drag City, 2009) * ''Disturbing the Air'' (LP/CD, Drag City, 2011) * ''Year'', music from the Brian Torrey Scott musical (LP/CD, 2012)* ''Year'', music from the Brian Torrey Scott musical (LP/CD, 2012) * ''Glen Echo'' (LP, Drag City, 2021)

Art

* Cover art on

To Live and Shave in L.A. To Live and Shave in L.A. (TLASILA) is an experimental music collective founded in 1993 by avant-garde composer/producer Tom Smith (formerly of Washington, DC groups Peach of Immortality and Pussy Galore) and Miami Beach musician/producer Frank " ...

's ''Ride a Cock Over Horse'' 7" (Menlo Park Recordings, 1996) * Artwork for the LP/CD ''Music for Scattered Brains - AZ''

References

External links

Azita's Official website

Azita's MySpace page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Youssefi, Azita 1971 births Living people School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni American people of Iranian descent Drag City (record label) artists Old Town School of Folk musicians Women bass guitarists Silver Jews members 21st-century American women pianists 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American bass guitarists