Azita Youssefi, born January 18, 1971 in St. Louis, Missouri, is an Iranian-American experimental musician, artist and music teacher based in Chicago. 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 since 2002, and has served as composer and musical director for theater productions of musicals by Brian Torrey Scott.
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 with Sue Anne Zollinger on guitar, 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.
In late 1995, Azita played synthesizer for a short-lived Weasel Walter/Jim O'Rourke project Miss High-Heel. Their self-titled CD was released on B-Sides 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, 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.
