hot bitch arsenal

Open Mic, February 13, 2006 · Hot Bitch Arsenal consists of a self-described "wordsmith" and an "alpha geek," collaborating to create a genre they call "Sultronica."

Christina Abbott (the wordsmith) and Kim Galibert (the geek) came together in the fall of 2005. They are based out of New England and despite their aggressive band name, assure listeners their music is about "all that is chill."

Taking cues from electronica groups like Sneaker Pimps, Portishead and Massive Attack, Hot Bitch Arsenal rely heavily on Abbott's superb vocals. The HBA have lofty aspirations of creating a high-tech, interactive live show where the audience can fulfill "their quest for repeatable, scientific proof of the existence of telepathy."

HBA are using the Internet and word-of-mouth almost entirely to promote their album. They call the traditional model used by record companies to be "terrible for musicians, fans and the environment. Why use those precious drops of oil to make more plastic when the listeners are just going to rip the CD to the iPods anyway?"

The featured track from Secrets in Tiny Pockets is "You Bet I Will."
- national public radio

Damn. Jonathan’s beaten me to the punch once again.

I was supposed to write a review of hba, but what would be the point, now?

Ms. Abbott and Mr. Galibert’s comments about the music industry are similar to those of Courtney Love’s y2k roasting of the music companies.

What’s left to say? In short that I’m as much a victim of ’90’s hipsterism as anyone else. Because I spent the ’90’s going back and forth from DC to Chicago, to Paris, the South of France and London and hangin’ out with as many hip art-school kids, I got exposed to plenty of their music – Portishead, Texas, My Bloody Valentine, Ride, The Catherine Wheel, the Cowboy Junkies, Galaxie 500, New Order and numerous ethered and synthesized college bands of the moment. ‘Shoe-gazer’ is what the the Brits called it and most Americans first got an earful of it in Danny Boyle’s ‘Trainspotting‘ (1996).

From the moment that Jonathan turned me on to hba, I assumed that they were Brits, considering their sound, an Anglo lilt on Ms. Abbott’s part and an apparent reference to the Arsenal footballers. But I was wrong.

Mr. Galibert hails from New Rochelle, NY and Ms. Abbott is from Norwalk, CT, indicating that the British sampling scene - the ‘basement invasion’ can and did migrate back across the Atlantic, though it took about 15 years for it to properly take root. But damn, what a fine job Galibert and Abbott have done – hot bitch arsenal might best be described as My Bloody Valentine meets the Velvet Underground with Nelly Furtado or Texas‘ Sharleen Spiteri as their front-person. The triumph here is Ms. Abbott’s voice – appropriately, they call their music Sultronica. To be frank, Ms. Abbott could melt provolone cheese with her voice. Don’t believe me? Listen [Click to listen] here.

And then, Mr. Galibert’s guitar licks seem to have been hatched from the Eno-Fripp factory c. 1982. Anybody familiar with that body of work won’t take that lightly.

And that’s about as much gushing as I can bear for today. They DEFINITELY need a Wikipedia entry. I hope they make it BIG. - amphetameme.org