Cyclops

Unusual indie-rock songs spawned by the Bible(!) You’ve never heard music quite like this…

“Passionate sex, familial betrayal, abandoned children. No, it’s not another teen angst-driven nighttime soap opera: it’s the Torah…with a feminist twist…(and) poppy, Laurie Anderson–meets–Sunset Rubdown indie rock sounds” – Venus... zine

Review by SETH ROGOVOY, editor-in-chief, Berkshire Living + rogovoy.com

(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass., October 20, 2008) -- It's rare for an audience to get in on the ground floor of a new musical project, and it's even rarer when, as was the case last night with Alicia Jo Rabins's GIRLS IN TROUBLE ensemble at Club Helsinki, it's on an elevator that seems destined for a quick ride to the penthouse suite.

An outgrowth of her graduate studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary, GIRLS IN TROUBLE is Rabins's unique fusion of musical and Biblical midrash. It's also the
first fully developed, entirely personal work of creativity sprung from Rabins's voracious and eclectic appetite for all things musical, intellectual, spiritual, and poetic, and, still in its infancy, a remarkable, jaw-dropping success that had listeners in the club mesmerized by the awesome implications of Rabins's talent and idiosyncratic creation.

Both the name of the band and the project, GIRLS IN TROUBLE is a song cycle revisiting the stories of mostly forgotten Biblical women, including Dinah, Miriam, Tamar, and Samson's first wife. In story and song, Rabins explores the
harrowing stories of these women, mining them for their oft-overlooked lessons of courage and heroism as well as their more ambivalent messages of weakness and surrender.

Rabins doesn't shy away from the uglier lessons inherent in some of these stories and the behavior of their heroes (or anti-heroes); neither is she didactic about any of this at all. Rather, she is pulled off the seemingly impossible: a song cycle as serious as anything in 19th century music that also functions entirely as entertainment: think Liz Phair crossed with Camille Paglia, or Regina Spektor channeling Susan Brownmiller.

In other words, Rabins rocks.

That, in itself, was one of the revelations (pardon my Judeo-Christianity) of the evening: those who have followed Rabins's career have enjoyed seeing her talents evolve as a founding member of the folk-roots group the Mammals, for which she played fiddle and sang a little, through various other string-band and Appalachian folk efforts, in concert and on record, and, most prominently, her role as the fiddler in the popular Yiddish-klezmer outfit Golem.

While there are hints of all this in GIRLS IN TROUBLE, the project introduces an entirely new side of Rabins, one that for the most part has never before been seen or heard. Here she is an electric guitar-wielding bandleader, front and center, singing and performing her own songs that defy categorization but are essentially indie-rock songs in sheep's clothing.

Backed by an ace ensemble including Golem bandmate Tim Monaghan on drums, organist Jascha Hoffman, and bassist Aaron Hartman, Rabins was a compelling frontwoman, her vocals veering from soft, tender balladry to soaring,
keening wails, borne by music that took daring, inventive, chromatic leaps that surprised listeners as they betrayed Rabins's compositional studies in conservatory. The musical and rhythmic arc of several of her tunes suggested a
firm grounding in the works of Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell, while the greater aspect of what she was accomplishing through her poetry -- which, while serving
the stories, stood entirely on its own through its riff-based imagery -- and music suggested a female version of Leonard Cohen.

A solo tune with looped violin parts was a clear homage to one of her musical heroes, Laurie Anderson, and suggested that in more than one way, as much as GIT functions simply as an indie-rock band, it's subsumed under an umbrella of
performance art. But this is just more of the beauty of what Rabins accomplishes here: she has created a musical form entirely suited to and based upon the content, yet a mutable one that can prosper as easily in synagogue as it can on the rock stage.

GIRLS IN TROUBLE is in its earliest stages, with less than a handful of public performances behind it. The group will head into the recording studio in late November to turn Rabins's creations into digital bytes that will see the light of day next spring on JDub Records. Those in attendance at Club Helsinki last night got an early taste of what is undoubtedly going to be an exciting musical
development, certainly in the Jewish music field, but more rightly in the indie-rock field at large, once it gets before larger and more diverse audiences that will flock to the group for its many faceted pleasures, including its grit, melodicism, wit, intelligence, groove -- and no shortage of sex appeal. After all, these are GIRLS IN TROUBLE.

Seth Rogovoy is an award-winning music critic and author of THE ESSENTIAL KLEZMER and the just-released BOB DYLAN: Prophet, Mystic, Poet, a full-length analysis of Bob Dylan's life and work.Read More

Cyclops is proud to have the return of Sarah Bowman in a rare solo performance. Sarah played several times in our old location downtown with her sister, Claire.

The Bowmans' new album is produced by the acclaimed Malcolm Burn (Emmylou Harris, Kaki King, Bob Dylan) and mastered by Greg Calbi (Dylan Modern Times).

From the... bio:

Sarah Bowman is a classically trained musician who grew up in an environment of singer songwriters and protest folkers due to the convenient combination of her parents’ vastly different musical tastes.

She started performing her own songs with her twin sister at the age of 14, and had a regular gig at the local Java Hut in Davenport Iowa during her high school years. Sarah decided to leave her hometown to pursue a career in classical music. She has a bachelors degree in cello performance and a masters certification in vocal and general music education.

Sarah performed as a member of the Baltimore Symphony chorus for two seasons under the direction of Yuri Temirkanov, Bobby McFerrin and others.

Sarah was inspired to cross over from classical cello playing into the world of indie folk due to her appearance with Scottish songwriting legend Alexi Murdoch in Baltimore in 2002. She then sat in with Baltimore’s hottest funk bands The Octonauts, The Financial Group and recorded with the intricately sophisticated instrumental math rock group Dark Water Transit.

After completing four years as a choral and orchestral director and instructor in the Baltimore County public schools, Sarah decided to move to New York City to become a performing and recording artist. Sarah quickly became a fixture on New York’s Anti-Folk scene as a solo artist and guest cellist, sharing the stage with more than two dozen of the hottest up and coming artists at the time. Among these artists are Nicole Atkins and the Sea, Charles Zerner, Lowry, Brook Pridemore, Kris Gruen and Ian Thomas.

Sarah is currently performing all over Europe and the US with her own group, The Bowmans and formerly performed as cellist and singer with the critically accalimed goth rock cello outfit Rasputina. Read More

From the bio:

"Human Host began in December 2002 in Baltimore, Md., USA. Their work is a combination of crunk, psychedelia, folklore, and theatre.

Led by Mike Apichella, the creative core of Human Host also includes producers Rick Weaver, Jeff Duncan, singer/producer Josh Marchant, and multi instrumentalist/songwriter Lu...cas Rambo, with a live group featuring Apichella and Lucas Rambo accompanied by a rotating ensemble of diverse musical & non-musical contributors and collaborators.

They have released four full length c.d.'s: a split with the Baltimore band Fridge A on the Baths Of Power label in summer 2003, Invisible Arteries released by MT6 Records in October 2004, Exploding Demon(MT6) in February '06, The Halloween Tree which came out in summer '07 exclusively on Fall Records as a digital download (with the c.d. version of it jointly released by Fall Records, Terra Firma Records, Firecracker Firecracker, and Human Conduct), and most recently Creature Mountain released in December 2008 in both the c.d. and download format on Firecracker Firecracker Records.

Human Host have also released many non full length records, contributed tracks to several various artists compilations, and they have also scored the soundtrack music for two independent films: 'Electric Blood' by Evan Devine and 'Mall Crawlers' by N.O. Smith, both of which were released in the winter of 2008. Off and on since 2007, the group has been hard at work collaborating with various auteurs on a feature length, self titled Human Host movie to be completed in the near future.

Between 2004 and 2009 HH promoted it's work through 9 different domestic tours that found them performing live shows all over America at a wide variety of venues, including a 2 month long coast to coast US tour in the summer and fall of 2008.

Later this year Amber Majesty (the 5th full length Human Host record) will be released as a download and on cassette by Firecracker Firecracker Records."
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The Maryland Writers' Association Baltimore Chapter, co-sponsored by the CityLit Project and the Write Here, Write Now workshops, presents Christine Stewart of the Maryland State Arts Council and the founder of the Write Here, Write Now Workshops, speaking on how to read your work in public before an audience -- an ess...ential skill for writers of all kinds.

Chris will open the meeting with a discussion of effective public reading techniques and common mistakes that writers make, followed by an open-mic session in which attendees who volunteer to read will be receive a critique (constructive, of course!) by Chris. So if you're interested in practicing your technique in front of an experienced instructor and helping your fellow writers learn from your example, please bring about five minutes' worth of your work to the meeting!Read More