New band: Hannah and Sam

  

art by misspaq 

 

"We, will practice pronouncing, what's tricky to say"

Hannah & Sam are both seventeen years old. They live, attend college, and make music in Canberra, the capital of Australia. That's about as much as their Myspace page tells us...

Their music however sounds like tin cans, jelly donuts, sprinklers, bottle caps and sunny Saturday mornings. Picture The Moldy Peaches without the mold and The Lucksmiths with a bit more luck.

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I discovered them on the rather brilliant Cherrypeel, a site dedicated to discovering and uncovering new, mostly unsigned bands. Their quest is to take the power back from 'major labels, radio stations, and TV channels' and giving it to those who SHOULD be the focus: musicians and listeners. Or, in their own words: 'The Democratic Music Revolution'.

 *
"We will measure in ounces, what's measured in grammes..." 

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As for Hannah & Sam. I arrived home late last night, drunk on the stars, and fell in love with them immediately. And in the morning, I loved them even more. And though we're featuring them today, Cherrypeel is full of tonnes of other great new bands you might or might not have heard (of), many of which will surely feature on Letters have no Arms in the near future. 

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Hannah & Sam - Who's bitten you ? (draft)

Hannah & Sam -  Babydoll

Hannah & Sam - Trouble on an iceberg

+have a look at a video of Who's Bitten You? here.

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"what would you say, what would you say if I scribbled your name, scribbled into my heart?"

Oh my God, it’s somebody’s birthday again

It’s the same problem every time. It’s someone’s birthday and you don’t have any good birthday songs.

It’s not like Christmas, for which there are already approximately 2,300,987 songs, and new ones added every year.

It’s a bit like Easter. Know any good Easter songs?

Exactly.

Well it’s the same with birthdays. So I’ve compiled a few, sorted by theme. None of them are particularly suitable for cakes, candles and wishes, but hey, that's exactly my point.

*A freaky kooky ooh ooh ooh look, a squirrel (!) birthday beside a lake. In Iceland.

The Sugarcubes – Birthday

"Today is a birthday
They're smoking cigars
He's got a chain of flowers
And sows a bird in her knickers

They're smoking cigars
They lie in the bathtub
A chain of ... flowers"

*Fuck it, what’s the point, this year will just be worse than last year.

Bright Eyes - Happy Birthday to Me (Feb. 15)

"Into this song I send myself
And with these drinks I plan to collapse
And forget this wasted year, these wasted years
Devoted friends, they disappear..."

*You’re in a club, surrounded by Danish models. Someone is opening a bottle of Cristal, and somehow there’s confetti everywhere...

Cut Copy – Lights And Music

"This is what you hoped to say on your birthday
the secrets that we held that day will be kept straight."

*All your friends have their birthday during the same month, and every year you have to buy a million presents at the same time. You consider perhaps replacing a few friends for others (with more practical birthdays) next year.

Candy Bars – The Birthday Song

"Oh my God, it’s somebody’s birthday again"

*And uhm… if you have a friend named Lisa.

Jens Lekman – Happy Birthday, Dear Friend Lisa

"Turn on the radio, clean the windows.
Do it in slow-mo, as the day unfolds.
Oh how the sun shines inside you, just like I do."