Ching Chong Song is an unconventional duo comprising Julie LaMendola, who sings and plays the saw, and Dan Gower, who sings, plays piano and, if you catch him on the right night, wears a piano tie. Their songs are vocally driven and unfalteringly spare; this conjures an atmosphere that’s compounded by Gower’s habit of leaping up from his bench to join LaMendola at center stage, where the two alternately sing into and away from the microphone. And while the singing saw is typically employed for spooky color or as a kitschy showpiece, here it reverts to its essence: a rudimentary instrument powerful enough to cut a listener to pieces. It’s an entertaining act that has few peers in New York clubs, overpowered by the homemade charm of offbeat performers, clearly thrilled to be putting on a show.—Jay Ruttenberg

“Julie LaMendola, who, with her piano-playing partner Dan Gower perform what she calls "subversive anti-folk," flounced onstage in a black crinoline and bra. She proceeded to play the singing saw while weaving absurdist narratives peopled by characters like a "woman with lemons on her head" and confessing to drinking rum, smoking cigarettes, and not fitting in: "I'm too anything for anybody, it seems/and everybody is everything to me." Margery Gordon 6/22/07, Art Basel

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