Hooves on the Turf

Though I’ve known for a while that Chicago’s violist-singer-songwriter Anni Rossi puts on incredible one-woman shows, I kept missing her at SXSW. She played at Death by Audio yesterday, though, with Micachu and the Shapes, and is playing tonight at Mercury Lounge with Camera Obscura, and then on the 27th at Union Pool with Midnight Masses and Wild Yaks. Pictures of Anni and the Micachu crew from last night are after the jump.

Download “Wheelpusher” by Anni Rossi

The sound of Anni’s viola is fierce and gutsy, but she plays it with incredible ease, her face unstirred by all that torment pouring out of her finger tips. Her singing is on the calmer side, too, though it never stops being playful.

She stood atop a suitcase the whole time, banging her heel against it to produce just the right effect.

When she started packing up, she was asked to play one more song.

The house music went on in confusion, but she was only packing because she’d meant to play the last song unamplified, which she did.

Everyone’s favorite, Micachu and the Shapes went on next.

Download “Golden Phone“

The vocals and the guitar were a little too quiet compared to the keyboards and the drums, but I still enjoyed them a whole more this time (my second time seeing them).

Micachu’s voice is somewhat boyish and her demeanor is full of potential mischief. It’s a great combination!

The last song was “Golden Phone”, which Micachu introduced, with a smirk, as their “pop one”, but the version they played had a lot more noise to it than the one on the album.

Micachu and the Shapes are playing Pianos tonight with The Grates.