It's been a busy year for the former N.C. resident, with a highly readable memoir (You Must Go and Win!) about her Russian background and the tribulations of trodding the (sparsely attended) boards of indie rockdom, as well as her best and most intense set of originals to date, Make Your Own Danger. On this record, Simone seems to have channeled more of the desperate heroism of her samizdat hero, Yanka Dyagileva, whom she covered to great acclaim on her previous full-length, Everyone Is Crying Out to Me, Beware. The new one is a dark, luscious listen, and Simone's deserving of a much wider audience. With Alexa Woodward. $1 from each door ticket goes to support the Innocence Project. Emcee is comedian DeVan Penegar.
— John Schacht