From the depths of my external hard drive: Tell Me How It Feels

The Sweetest Ache - Tell Me How It Feels

("Tell Me How It Feels", Sarah Records, 1990)

 

♥ illustration by Vane Kosturanov ♥

Navigator: Bad Children

When you woke up from half-forgotten tangled dreams this morning there was a buzz in your head. It was dirty and muddled and stifling like last night had been and wouldn't stop gnawing at you. And at first you wanted to punch and kill it and trample it down with your feet until the noise became silence. But then this melody shone through, bright and hopeful and oozing pink-and-yellow hope all over the song. Suddenly it all made sense.

Navigator: "Ghost"
Navigator: "Awake"
Navigator: "Blood"

Download the whole -fantastic - album here.
Illustration by Ian Miller.

New Radio Dept!

*the beautiful photograph belongs to Ylvas*

The Radio Dept. - David
1st listen: weird intro; doesn't sound like the usual RD; hmm...are they sure they want to go in that direction?
2nd listen: okay, it's not as weird if you listen to the whole song; the end where the guitar breaks in does have a distinct Radio Deptish vibe.
3rd listen: this is actually pretty good!

From the depths (of my external hard drive) - Guided by Voices - I am a Scientist

 

 

Guided by Voices - I am a Scientist (Bee Thousand, 1994)

Personally...

♠ pic ♠

Good morning fellas! How are you finding the latest Swan Lake album? Personally, I find it delightful...

Heartswarm
Settle on Your Skin
Peace

And, of course, she's Swedish.

Oh No Miriam is a girl with a voice like Tracyanne Campbell; she loves romantic-teenage movies; she writes sweet and honest music which she then proceeds to sing with a very cute accent; she is, for some reason, unsigned and, of course, she's Swedish.

Download:
"Girls at School"
"Teenage Love"
"Little Treasure"

I woke up this morning with boy-girl harmonies in my head

Photo by datahbi

Entire Cities - Coffee

First song on the list an indie countryish gem...I mean a country indiepopish...uhm that is...an indie-folk road-type... well nevermind. In their own words: "My personal contribution to the ol' pigeonhole is 'psychedelic cow punk'; I'm not really worried about it though because I've tried to define the music myself and failed miserably. If I don't know what it is, then how the f*** is anyone else gonna know?" Check out their myspace for more songs.

Orouni ft. Mlie - Panic at the Beehive

Orouni ft. Mlie - Open It In May

Moving on, french pop band Orouni have got a new album and boy is it good! The same sweet French voices that made us love them in the first place are there, plus some really catchy melodies so what else is there to want? We've posted another song of theirs a while ago (that was recently featured on Said the Gramophone) and now we're back with more.

The Deer Tracks - Slow Collision

And last but not least we have The Deer Tracks. We're getting tons of songs and band recommendations e-mailed to us so we try our best to listen to them all. It's not that often that we find something as good as this, though. Beautiful.

BONUS: We got a request for more Watercolor Paintings songs, so here you have an album that I received last time I posted about them (Steven R. M. or Dora K. - can't remember which, thanks). It'll only be available for a short period of time so do yourself a favour and download it!

Things You Can Fight With (zshare)

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.

 *

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..." 

  *

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. 

*

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.

*

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

It Is Finally Time to Tell the Story

'It Is Finally Time to Tell the Story' was written by Dave Eggers I would guess sometime in 2004 (and is kind of relevant what with all this elections-talk in the U.S.). Find it in 'Short Short Stories'.

 

'Yes, it is finally time to tell the story about the sheep from that one island whose name is forgotten but which rhymes with Godiva. There were too many sheep on this particular island, so some of them got on a boat and left for Spain. In Spain, however, they were not welcomed. Everyone in Spain, waiting by the shore for the boat to come in, had expected something more unusual than sheep. When the gangway was lowered and the sheep descended, the Spaniards said many things to them, the overall gist of which was 'Go back to your island, sheep, and send some gila Monsters or Komodo dragons.' It is well known that the Spanish have always longed for gila monsters and Komodo dragons and perhaps some of those child-sized ancestors of Homo Erectus everyone's talking about. So the sheep set sail again, this time looking for Franz Josef Land, which they'd heard had a balmy climate and universal health insurance. But when they arrived, six months later, they found neither. Franz Josef Land was desolate, treeless, and obsessed only with wireless internet access. So the sheep set sail again, this time landing in Montana, which no one - no one but these seafaring sheep - realized had a deep-sea port. They walked around Montana for a while, but found the people to be unfriendly and with very poor taste in music. Everywhere they went, they heard Thin Lizzy and Bachman Turner Overdrive, and though the sheep enjoyed much of the music by these bands, they actually preferred early King Crimson and later XTC. So they set sail again, this time looking for - you know what? Hold on a second. Wait one damned second here. The author of this irrelevant narrative just woke up, momentarily, from a self-induced mental coma, and now something is worming into his consciousness. It couldn't be. Did that really happen? Did we really elect Bush again? Holy fucking shit. Screw the sheep and pity us Americans. Have we ever wanted pity before? We have not, but now we do. Shower us with pity as we cloak ourselves in shame.'

 

And now music.

Shotgun Jimmie - Bedhead

Belly Boat - Little ('Dear Robert Hanoy', dld full album here)

Belly Boat - City ('Dear Robert Hanoy', dld full album here)

Perhapst - Quote ('Perhapst', order it here)

A little folkier than the original:

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The Brooke, A Tiny Ocean:

"Jamie" (Weezer)

from the 'Roaring Nineties' compilation -

download it for free from cllct!

Bonnie Prince Billy:

"World`s Greatest" (R Kelly)
from his 2007 album "Ask Forgiveness"

Emmy the Great:

"Where Is My Mind?" (Pixies)

Existential Hero:

"If Winter Ends" (Bright Eyes)

from his cover album "Barely Covered" -

download it at cllct

Mallu Magalhaes:

"Folsom Prison Blues" (Johnny Cash)

The Magic Numbers:

"There Is a Light That Never Goes Out"

(The Smiths)

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So many lights, so many stars, so few Watercolor Paintings songs

^ Watercolor Paintings - Tender Loving Care ^
^ Watercolor Paintings - So Many ^
^ Watercolor Paintings - Snail ^

If anyone knows where we can find more songs by this great band (except for the ones on their myspace) PLEASE let us know!

Yesterday...

As promised, yet another band from the wonderful Collective Family, and one of my favourites, if I might add. I would describe Blanketarms is as a predominantly twee, slightly punkish and unquestionably DIY band - and though the combination of the words twee and punk (plus the male/female vocals) makes me unavoidably think of Los Campesinos!, they sound nothing like them. Think less drum beats and dancefloors, more ukuleles and lo-fi recordings. The punk influences are noticeable mostly on their album 'One Small Fist ' (which includes songs with titles like 'Just Because I Can't Change Anything Doesn't Mean I Can't Change Everything' and 'Whatever you do, DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT shop at Walmart') or their contribution to a Misfits tribute album, but otherwise they're quite subtle. And that is definitely a good thing, as I rather prefer their tweer and less political side. These next tracks are all taken from their 2006 double album Sweet & Sour, which was, according to singer Isaac Arms, 'a try at mixing the sweetness of indie-pop with my incessant desire to be a pretentious prick'. It's over-cutesy at times, but over-cutesy it's what's needed on a day like today :) Happy birthday S.! I love your guts.

Blanketarms - I Love Your Guts
Blanketarms - Let it Fall
Blanketarms - Eff That Ess

Download full album here.

That's the end of the film. Now here's the meaning of life. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat...

from Kurt Vonnegut's 'Cat's Cradle':

"In the beginning God created Earth and he looked upon it in his cosmic loneliness. And God said: 'Let us make living creatures out of mud, so the mud can see what we have done.' And God created every living creature that now moveth, and one was man. Mud as man alone could speak. God leaned close as mud as man sat up, looked around, and spoke. Man blinked. 'What is the purpose of all this?', he asked politely. 'Everything must have a purpose?' asked God. 'Certainly' said man. 'Then I leave it to you to think of one for all this' said God. And he went away."

Today's picks:
The Chap - Carlos Walter Wendy Stanley
Computerization - MyBody [free at Cllct.Family]
The Ting Tings - Be the One
Orouni - A Greased and Golden Palm
Tiger Force - Syntax Error

"Cover My Ass!" or "Amongst the thousands of idioms, proverbs and cliches that come with the word 'cover' I went and picked this one"

Some covers I'm really enjoying at the moment:

• Lisa Li-Lund - Cry Me a River (Justin Timberlake Cover)
• Why? - Close to Me (The Cure Cover)
• Florence and The Machine - Galaxy of the Lost (Lightspeed Champion Cover)
• Maritime - Boy From School (Hot Chip Cover)
• Page France - Girl From the North Country(Bob Dylan Cover)
• Thos Henley - Bleeding Love (Leona Lewis Cover)
  
• The Watson Twins - Just Like Heaven (The Cure Cover)
• Helena Noguerra - Can't Get You Out of My Head (Kylie Minogue Cover)

And btw.
Little Fish vs. Big Fish = 15-0

Ashworth quoting Pennington

Some things are best left unsaid.

Parenthetical Girls - Love Connection Pt. I - from 'Grrrls', which you could buy here but it's currently sold out!
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone - Love Connection Pt. I (Cover) - from Etiquette