Mi Ami

Mi Ami have made a name for themselves thanks to two excellent albums, the first released by Quartestick (in 2009) and the other in April 2010, on Thrill Jockey. Essentially, this is a group (or rather, a trio) formed in San Francisco by former Black Eyes bassist Jacob Long, together with the fiery, femme-voiced singer Daniel Martin-McCormick and drummer Damon Palermo. Their sound can be pinned down as an intriguing hybrid of no-wave, disco-punk, electronics and post-rock experimentation.

In short, anticipation for seeing them live was considerable. The Rome show took place at the New Traffic Club, which is essentially the new incarnation of the old Traffic venue, bigger and better suited to live events than the old location, though harder to reach, since it's tucked away on the far outskirts of Rome, on Via Prenestina near the ring road. Opening the night at 11pm on the dot were Real Miracolo, a Roman band (though half of them are actually from Abruzzo) devoted to the purest strain of New York no-wave (DNA above all, but also Mars, Teenage Jesus & The Jerks, and early Sonic Youth). Vocalist Mauro Bertarelli eyed the crowd like a latter-day Mark E. Smith, his "singing" almost spastic and thoroughly unpolished, probably helped along by a rather high blood-alcohol level, since he didn't seem all that focused or together — he was actually reading the lyrics off scraps of notebook paper he held in his hand! Still, it was a solid three-quarters of an hour of noise-rock, nothing especially original, but decidedly better than a lot of Italian indie bands out there. A shame about the less-than-ideal sound (perhaps down to the venue's acoustics or their sound engineer at the mixer, but overall the sound in the room was a bit overloaded and muddy) and about the tiny turnout: barely fifteen people!

At midnight on the dot, Mi Ami finally took the stage (having spent the time before Real Miracolo's set having fun as DJs on the decks and soundsystem set up in the room). To everyone's surprise, there were only two of them: bassist Jacob Long and singer McCormick. The drummer was missing, for reasons that weren't made clear, which obviously put something of a dent in the overall performance.

Even so, they played the entirety of their latest album, "Steal Your Face", kicking off in style with "Harmonics (Genius Of Love)", though performed entirely with the help of electronic instruments, as was the rest of the set. Long never once picked up a bass, instead working the mixer, various consoles and a laptop (only once did he briefly improvise on drums), while McCormick was the real draw of the show. A frenzied, possessed singer if ever there was one, with a fairly high, femme, piercing timbre, and above all, a fantastic performer and showman.

Besides playing a vintage analog minimoog and also fiddling with the mixer knobs himself, he immediately began writhing and contorting on stage. At one point, he even seemed to want to swing the microphone at a guy standing below the stage, who didn't take kindly to the joke and shouted insults and made threatening gestures back at him. McCormick took the bait and, at one point midway through the show, stepped off the stage, still singing, and got right up in the guy's face, almost body to body. For a moment it looked like the two of them might come to blows, but thankfully someone stepped in in time to pull them apart. The possessed vocalist's show didn't end there. After a shower with a bottle of mineral water (this one, yes, was then thrown into the crowd), he came dangerously close to stripping down on stage.

The music, meanwhile, kept powering along nicely, though it felt more like a live set from a DFA act or an alternative dancefloor night than the material from Mi Ami's records, where electronics are seamlessly blended with post-punk and no-wave. Still, for dancing, the grooves were excellent. Suddenly, after all that commotion, at a quarter to one, Mi Ami pulled the plug and made a swift exit. The show ended just like that, with no warning, after barely forty minutes in front of about forty people. All in all, they left a bit of a bitter taste. The impression was that they played without much enthusiasm, perhaps due to the missing drummer. Their records, however, are worth a great deal more than this performance.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google