Whether it's the ache through which she tinkles the piano, slams her guitar or enunciates her anxious intentions, Nicki Jaine oozes tortured, teasing sexuality. (I didn't mention she also plays concertina and musical saw. Consider it mentioned.) There's a big Germanic element to the Philly songstress' cabaret craft—a meeting of Strange Weather-era Marianne Faithfull and any-era Lotte Lenya—whether she's solo or backing up Black Tape for a Blue Girl. When Jaine does "Alabama Song" from Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahogany, or Dietrich's "Ich Bin Von Kopf Bis Fuß Auf Liebe Eingestellt," or even the dippy "Bei Mir Bist Du Schön," from the Andrews Sisters' catalog, you'll think of Isherwood's Berlin Stories crushed and put to music. But on the brand-new Nicki Jaine Live you hear a darting moodiness on originals like "A Pigeon Named Crow" and "Sometimes, Sunshine" that's thoroughly modern.