A longtime fixture of the Chicago underground music scene, singer and multi-instrumentalist
) was born in the U.S. in 1971 but spent the better part of her formative years in her parents' native Iran. The family permanently settled in Bethesda, Maryland, in early 1979 in the wake of the Iranian revolution. As a teen,
was a regular visitor to nearby Washington, D.C., immersing herself in the city's fabled punk scene before relocating in 1989 to Chicago to attend the city's School of the Art Institute and study drawing and sound.
After losing interest in the visual arts, in 1991 she formed
the Scissor Girls, a highly theatrical no wave band that saw
Youssefi taking the stage clad in everything from a Catholic schoolgirl uniform to strips of bubble wrap. Comprised of
Youssefi on lead vocal and bass duties and fellow D.C. refugees
SueAnne Zollinger on guitar and
Heather Melowic on drums,
the Scissor Girls were among the most notorious and musically extreme of the abrasive no wave bands that emerged from Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood during the early '90s, recording a series of indie label singles as well as two LPs for the local Atavistic imprint,
We People Space with Phantoms and
Here Is the Is-Not, a compilation of singles released following the trio's late-1996 breakup.
Youssefi then released her first solo record,
Music for Scattered Brains, before founding a new band,
the Bride of No No. Forging a heavy, apocalyptic art rock sound not far removed from
the Scissor Girls, the new group also maintained its predecessors' flair for the dramatic, with
Youssefi, guitarist J. Braff, and drummer
Shannon Morrow covering themselves in all-white outfits inspired by traditional Islamic women's garb. In 2000, while in the midst of recording
the Bride of No No's debut effort,
B.O.N.N. Apetit!,
Youssefi returned to the piano, an instrument she'd previously studied as a child, and began writing and compiling solo material. She then recorded a piano and voice demo, convincing local indie Drag City to offer her a deal; after
the Bride of No No dissolved in mid-2002,
Youssefi re-recorded the demo with
Isotope 217 bassist
Matthew Lux and her boyfriend,
John McEntire of
Tortoise, on drums; the resulting
Enantiodromia was issued in early 2003.
The following year's Life on the Fly took her jazz-pop in a wittier, more accessible direction, while the 2006 EP Detail from the Mountain Side presented five musical-esque pieces under two minutes each.
Azita returned in 2009 with her third Drag City effort, How Will You?, one of her most lighthearted albums yet; by contrast, 2011's Disturbing the Air was a stark, somber effort.
Azita returned in 2012 -- the same year that The Chicago Reader proclaimed her the city's best singer/songwriter -- with Year, a collection of songs written for an avant-garde theater production by director Brian Torrey Scott.
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Jason Ankeny, Rovi