GIRLS IN TROUBLE at Top 200 + On Tour Now!!!!

My ninth official Band Mom album (or fifth solo, non-LIFT co-venture) is INCREDIBLE, you guys. I cannot believe my luck that someone else didn’t snatch this up before I got to them. I knew the bass player, Aaron Hartman, from when I worked with his other band, Old Time Relijun, through my old employer. BUT this band is nothing like OTR. It’s helmed by the beautiful Alicia Jo Rabins, who spent years in Israel studying Jewish texts and came away with these ten stories about women from those texts; she tells them from a feminist perspective couched in truly breathtaking tunes.

For more info, JDub has a beautiful press page up, but for starters, here is an easy bullet point list of all the unbelievably awesome things about this Girls In Trouble record:

– it’s a set of songs about Biblical women told from a feminist perspective in a K Records-type style of music/songwriting.

-music sounds like St. Vincent, Alicia’s voice sounds like Regina Spektor, lyrics reminiscent of The Mountain Goats’ writing style.

-Features Aaron Hartman of Old Time Relijun on the bass.

-Cover art by Arrington de Dionyso, also of OTR

-released on JDub Records.

-recorded by Scott Solter (Spoon, The Mountain Goats, John Vanderslice, St. Vincent)

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!

HOWEVER: this album had a very limited physical release, and I could only get a tiny number to send out to you sweethearts at college radio. So if you didn’t get a hard copy, please don’t be offended, but if it is at all possible please DO download it!!! I promise it will be worth it. Contact me for the link!

GIRLS IN TROUBLE

GIRLS IN TROUBLE

JDub

At first listen, Girls in Trouble projects an upbeat, care free indie-folk feel which carries each track from beginning to end. What’s less apparent is the underlying concept: telling the stories of obscure Biblical women through a song cycle. Lushly produced, and artfully arranged with strings, upright bass, and electric guitar, the self-titled debut LP will be released October 27, 2009 on JDub Records.

Girls in Trouble is the songwriting debut of multi-instrumentalist Alicia Jo Rabins, who performs all vocals, guitar parts and string sections for the album. Alicia marries her classical training and folk-punk sensitivity to her penchant for Jewish literature, mysticism and history. The result: pop hooks grounded in experimentation, subtle musicianship and a taste for ruminative lyrics.

Alicia began playing music at age 3, and advanced to play violin in conservatory programs and chamber groups before moving on to poetry, in which she holds an MFA. Disenchanted with poetry by a series of downtown internships and cocktail parties, Alicia escaped to Jerusalem in search of spiritual grounding. After two years studying ancient Jewish texts, Alicia returned to New York and created Girls in Trouble, a synthesis of her explorations in music, poetry and mystical literature.

In the tradition of Leonard Cohen and Joanna Newsom, Alicia’s music draws the listener into a world of poetry, intimacy and violence. Her songs draw from ancient material, yet remain deeply personal; her performance is raw, naked, and unbound. In “Snow,” spiders and scorpions crawl up to comfort Miriam, Moses’ sister, who has been exiled and struck with leprosy. In “Mountain,” a nameless child rushes out to greet her father as he returns from battle—only to learn about his vow to sacrifice the first creature he sees.

For the LP, Alicia lured three of her closest friends to the studio with the promise of bourbon. The full band includes Aaron Hartman (Old Time Relijun, K Records) on upright bass, Tim Monaghan on drums and Jascha Hoffman on keys and glockenspiel. Together, they traveled to rural North Carolina and spilled their guts and Alicia’s dynamic arrangements onto two-inch tape with the help of Scott Solter (Spoon, The Mountain Goats, Okkervil River).

RIYL: St. Vincent, Regina Spektor, The Mountain Goats, Joanna Newsom

Start With:  3, 6, 4, 5, 1 FCC CLEAN

Contact me for a download link!

This record went for adds on 11/2 and has been getting some great feedback so far, but hasn’t quite hit a chart yet. So this is the week!! Also, it’s been getting some incredible press!! Check out some awesome high-profile reviews at Heeb Magazine, AOL Spinner, and AbsolutePunk. Also this video of Alicia performing “Hunter” with her trademark beautiful violin looping was featured on YouTube’s music spotlight for two days.

Also, they are going on tour! Facebook events here (Southeast, this week) and here (San Francisco, next week). Myspace with info here. Dates here!

Wednesday Dec 2: Baltimore @ Cyclops

Thursday Dec 3: Takoma Park/DC/Northern VA, LOOKING FOR A VENUE (w/Jupiter Rex)

Friday Dec 4: Carrboro NC @ Leo Gaev Metalworks, 102B Lloyd St. (shopwarming concert, with poetry smorgasbord and GIT set)

Saturday Dec 5: Atlanta, GA @ Highland Ballroom (w/Meeks Family)

Sunday Dec 6: Asheville, NC @ Posana (w/Pilgrim and A Copper Crow)

Friday Dec 12: underground San Francisco show @ Socha (w/Jascha vs Jascha)

Saturday Dec 13: big San Francisco show @ Contemporary Jewish Museum of SF (Chanukah party, w/Charming Hostess and others)

FUN!!!! You should definitely go. It was a show a few months ago that convinced me I NEEDED to work with this band, and their record release show last month (with Franz Nicolay opening) was equally incredible. Here and here and here are some videos I took.

http://www.myspace.com/girlsintroublemusic

http://blog.jdubrecords.org/category/girls-in-trouble/

http://jdubrecords.org/press/girlsintrouble/index.php

yes yes yes yes yes!!!!!!!!