Christina Abbott

Singer-songwriter Christina Abbott and her conga-playing cohort Jenn D. have been touring around Northeast venues looking for a little love. OK, a lot of those venues happen to be in Connecticut, but that doesnt make the trip any less noteworthy, or, for that matter, any less diverse. Most people know Abbott as a band-backed (sometimes just a kit drummer, sometimes the kit and bass), plugged-in, sure-fired mistress of the microphone who has a way of capturing crowds with her mixture of cheeky, funky songs and self-effacing banter. But Abbott started off a little softer and finds something very real about her identity in the stripped-down format. Her acoustic performances are refreshingly off-beat, with that funky undercurrent still giving the songs the added pulse that makes her music stand out. As Jenn D. said on their shared blog in October after a gig at New Havens Elm City Java, Christina was smolderingly subdued. Tucked into the corner of SoNo Caffeine surrounded by two of their favorite things--coffee and eager listeners--the two should provide much the same smolder.

- The Fairfield Weekly

She's been free of both publicity company and manager for the past few months, she's about to release a new CD with a new band and she's seconds away from devouring a thick filet mignon at Picasso's in Black Rock. Christina Abbott's smile beams across the table. I like the new material, I'm excited about it, she says. It's recent inspiration. The CD was recorded at Acoustic Caf´, and though she worried about the feedback and sweated through the editing process, the live album, Catchin' Fire , is exactly what the 23-year-old singer-songwriter needed.
I hate doing studio albums, she says, having done a couple, including last year's Maybe This / Maybe That . It's never how I want it. This is music. This is the glasses clinking on your greatest moment, but it all works. Live, Abbott has flair, her always-curious, always-comical personality spilling over into her songs and onstage banter. Live, the opening track, Upon Closer Inspection, has added oomph, with Christina Abbott Band veteran Ron Nihoff and upright bassist Robert Ortner giving it grit. Her voice comes in smooth, full of attitude, stretching every word so it counts, as one of her inspirations, Martin Sexton, likes to do. When the song morphs into a fast-spoken segment from Salt 'N' Pepa's song Shoop, the audience eats it up. I've been listening to a lot of rap, Abbott admits, and that bleeds into my music.

On the more introspective Skyline, her subdued strumming is matched by the slow longing sound of the harmonica. Soft lyrics unravel like Skyline went out as I stepped off the curb and into your car but I could hardly tell. She reaches out and pulls in as easily as breathing. That's why the right band members are so crucial. It's very organic, she says. Between audience and artist and between bandmates, there exists an intimate, acoustic-with-attitude feel that Catchin' Fire has finally captured.

-Brita Brundage

- The Fairfield Weekly

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."

- NPR.org