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NPR.org, 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."

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 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.

MP3 #210 Kemiso and Hot Bitch Arsenal - Fade In Fade Out Publié le 12/11/2007 par Eric dans Music : electro-pop trip-hop electro pop / trip hop Aujourd’hui, c’est un jour un peu spécial, j’ai reçu un mail de Kemiso, que j’ai diffusé il y quelques temps. Je me permet de reprendre son mail, car son histoire m’a beaucoup touché, je souhaite donc vous la faire partager : Eric, Tu as posté un de mes morceaux ‘Amy’ l’année dernière, lorsque je publiais ‘Stories’. Depuis j’ai produit un autre album ‘Five Fantastic Stories’ mais j’estime que les morceaux ne sont pas assez aboutis donc je ne t’ai pas proposé de les publier sur ton blog. Blog que j’écoute de temps en temps, où je prends un réel plaisir à découvrir de talentueux artistes libres. C’est d’ailleurs grâce au bout du fil que j’ai découvert le groupe Hot Bitch Arsenal et leur morceau Sailing On Right by. Je suis alors entré en contact avec Kim pour le remercier de ce joli morceau que j’aime beaucoup, et il m’a proposé de faire un remix d’une de leur musiques. Je viens de publier ce remix sur mon site, et je pense qu’il vaut le détour. En tout cas, je trouverai chouette de publier, sur le bout du fil, une collaboration libre qui a vu le jour grâce au bout du fil :) – car c’est vraiment l’une des meilleures choses du petit monde de la musique libre : les rencontres musicales sans arrières pensées, sans nécessité, sans contraintes. Vous pouvez donc écouter ce remix Hot Bitch Arsenal à la sauce Kemiso, je suis sûr que ça peut donner des idées ce genre de collaboration :)