M3 Valentine Edition!
13 February 2006 |Yesterday Zack over at All Things Go informed me of his intentions to post a Valentine’s Day mix he made with the help of GWFAS contributor Everett (who I guess temporarily defected) and showed me his tracklisting and artwork for it, thus inspiring me to blatantly copy him and make my own mix, titled M3 Valentine Edition. I kind of feel badly because I jacked his idea and yet still posted mine before him, so you should all make sure you check out Zack and Evro’s mix here. The only song that both of our mixes share is the lead-off track, Outkast’s immaculate “Happy Valentine’s Day”, which is easily one of the best holiday-themed songs of all time, which kicks off both of our mixes, but then both go their own separate ways from there. Below is the cover art and tracklisting (click on the images to enlarge so that it looks clearer), as well as a (very rushed and poorly written) track by track explanation of the album.
1. “Happy Valentine’s Day” - Outkast
Andre 3000 at his finest, one of the best and funkiest tracks on The Love Below and easily the best holiday-themed song of all time (and yes, I’m aware I already said that).
2. “Digital Love” - Daft Punk
Some of you might be surprised to find Daft Punk on a Valentine’s Day compilation comprised predominantly of love songs, but that would mean you’re forgetting the cardinal rule of mix CDs - that is, any mix is automatically made 1000% better by Daft Punk’s presence on it.
3. “Heartbeat” - Annie
Pitchfork’s #1 single of 2004, “Heartbeat” is sheer dancefloor bliss courtesy of the new queen of Euro-pop, Annie.
4. “This Modern Love” - Bloc Party
“This Modern Love” was definitely one of the best tracks of 2005, but unfortunately was excluded from my Top 25 Songs of 2005 list, pretty much only because I felt like putting six Bloc Party songs in the Top 25 would make me look ridiculous.
5. “Dice” - Finley Quaye & William Orbit
Yeah, I’ll admit it, I first heard this song on the New Year’s episode of the first season of The OC, and I immediately loved it. You should too.
6. “What I’m Trying To Say” - Stars
One of the top three tracks on Stars’ stellar (lolz) 2005 album, Set Yourself On Fire, “Trying To Say” might sound like it’s nothing but lust and lo-fi synthesizers, but it’s so much more.
7. “Crown of Love” - Arcade Fire
Beautiful, swirling love song explodes into a strings-laden dance party at the 3:43 mark, but it’s not like you haven’t listened to every song on Funeral at least 1,000 times already.
8. “This Is The Dream of Win & Regine” - Final Fantasy
Wondering who’s responsible for those beautiful strings on “Crown of Love”? It’s Owen Pallet, known as Final Fantasy on the streets, here with his best song from his 2005 solo debut, Has A Good Home.
9. “The Pledge” - Brendan Benson
Brendan Benson pledges to “always love you and never put anyone else above you”, and to make it his “life-mission” over banging percussion and tolling bells on this, the second-best track from 2005’s The Alternative to Love (see Zack’s mix for the best track off of that album, “Cold Hands, Warm Heart”).
10. “Funny Little Frog” - Belle & Sebastian
Lead singer and lyricist Stuart Murdoch fantastizes about a girl from afar and dreams of their perfect relationship on the first single from B&S’s great new album The Life Pursuit.
11. “Pull Me In Tighter” - Rilo Kiley
If Jenny Lewis actually needs to ask her companion to pull her in tighter then there’s really something wrong with the world.
12. “Inside & Out” - Feist
French soft-jazz-rock courtesy of Feist, in which she declares that she’s the girl that will “love! you! inside and out” forever.
13. “First Day of My Life” - Bright Eyes
One of, if not the single happiest songs Conor Oberst has ever written, watch the overwhelmingly adorable music video to really get in the Valentine’s Day mood.
14. “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” - Death Cab
Back in early August PASTE magazine declared this “Plans best song because “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” is one of the most gorgeous songs of the past decade, in any genre, throughout the heliosphere”. While that might be a slight overstatement, this is still one of the most touching and moving songs Gibbard’s ever penned.
15. “Such Great Heights” - Ben Gibbard
Now for what actually is one of “the most gorgeous songs of the past decade, in any genre, throughout the heliosphere”, “Such Great Heights”, my favorite song of all time, performed acoustically by Ben Gibbard here in beautiful fashion.
Feel free to download this mix, print out the artwork, find that special someone to give it to and take credit for it yourself if you think it’ll score you points. Also, Zack and Everett wanted me to ask you guys which V-Day mix you enjoyed more (again, you can see there’s here), so feel free to post your choice for your favorite in the comments. Again, I hope everyone has a happy Valentine’s Day, enjoy the mix.




