Beatrix*Jar at the 7th St. Entry

Watching the two members of Beatrix*Jar flash smiles at each other as they sing into handheld mics, you can't help but feel a little guilty at first. It's Saturday night at the 7th St. Entry, but the duo, both clad in knee-high black socks, appear to be busy at their own made-up version of chaotic karaoke alone in their basement. They have moments onstage that are so intimate and unabashedly honest and sweet (like patting each other on the back when one of them strains to hit the high notes) that it's hard not to feel like a voyeur peeking through the window to determine the origin of these repetitive droning sounds, soulful beats, and frequent Speak and Spell commands ("Say it!"). Beatrix (Bianca Pettis) bobs up and down as she scratches and fiddles with the knobs and buttons on her sampler, triggering a groove that stirs her boyfriend Jar (Jacob Aaron Roske) to wobble and bounce on his skinny legs and furiously grab for the keyboards, the aforementioned Speak and Spell, and what he describes as circuit-bent instruments. When they turn to each other and sing, "Nothing can take the place of us/We're one of a kind, we're dangerous," they unironically and emphatically punch at the air and make sweeping gestures toward one another across their table of digital instruments. It's like they're singing Barry White's "Can't Get Enough of Your Love" at a roadside dive bar on two-for-one Pabst nights. But if they're winking at each other, it's only because they mean it.