Love, etc.

I am not a huge Valentines Day kind of girl, but I like the candy that comes with it, and I like the pink and red, and I like the hearts, and I like how it's a good excuse to leave work early in the middle of the busy season. The first Valentines Day I spent with Andrew was at a gay club in Halifax where we watched drag queens lip synch "My Heart Will Go On", and it was probably one of the most romantic nights I had ever had at that point in my life. Love is, you know, absurd and silly like that. And it often results in good music. One of my favourite Magnetic Fields lyrics is, "The book of love has music in it /In fact that's where music comes from/ Some of it is just transcendental /Some of it is just really dumb." So, in honour of the upcoming February 14th, here are my favourite transcendental/dumb love songs. My Valentine is in Toronto for work, so I'll listen to these songs to maintain that warm and squooshy feeling for the precious, stupid holiday (by "warm and squooshy" think: the consistency of a handful of cinnamon hearts getting melty in the bottom of your coat pocket).

WE WERE NEAT AND WE LOOKED COOL

Les Etoiles Secretes - Ida - Because driving around listening to music is still probably one of the top 5 most romantic things I like to do on dates.

I Found A Reason - The Velvet Underground - For awhile I preferred the Cat Power version, but I have completely flipped sides, mostly for those "ba ba ba"s.

This Will Be Our Year - The Zombies

There Is A Light That Never Goes Out - The Smiths - I once wrote a story that revolved completely around the two main characters listening to this song. It was an awful story that you will never read, but the thought of it is kind of funny.

Like Dylan In the Movies - Belle and Sebastian - If your heart doesn't turn into a puddle when Stuart Murdoch sings, "Yeah, you're worth the trouble and you're worth the pain", I feel sorry for you.

A Girl Like You - The Troggs - I cannot put into words how sexy I find this song.

A Case of You - Joni Mitchell - I am linking to a performance of the song from YouTube - her voice sounds amazing in it. It's still sweet, but the years of smoking have started to take their toll on her vocal chords. It's just enough to make her sound a little more whiskey + honeyed. Oh Canada.

La La La Song - Low

and finally:

Beautiful - Broken Girl: This song is early, early Julie Doiron, when she used to go by the painfully endearing moniker of "Broken Girl". I remember hearing it for the first time on a Saturday evening on that defunct CBC radio show "Real Time". I was 18, which is very close to being 10 years ago. I taped it onto cassette. I still love this song in all of its naive, sweet glory. That last line, "We were neat, and we looked cool, and somehow it was beautiful" is to this day one of the dumbest and most perfect ways to summarize the best parts of a relationship.

Goodnight Streetlight

I just got this email, and I wanted to share it with all of you.

"Hello my dear friends and acquaintances,

Raoul here.
This mass email starts with an apology: I apologize for this mass email.

I'll keep it as short as i can:

My experimental electronic-pop persona Goodnight Streetlight has released a new full-length titled "The Curfew Bell" and this is an invitation to check it out. You can read about it at the
goodnight streetlight website here where you can also download a couple free
mp3s.

For those faraway, the cd is available to order here at cdbaby.com.
If you live in vancouver, and want a copy, i'd encourage you to go to Red Cat
Records (4307 Main St.) to pick one up. It'll be available at Zulu Records on
4th probably by tomorrow. Getting one from me in person is also an option that
i'd encourage as well, especially if you are one of the friends i've been bad
and keeping in touch with. um, coffee?

i've really put a lot of work into this album, as has my
friend Aaron, (who produced it) and i really want to get it out to ears of all
shapes and sizes. so don't hesitate to forward this to people, share mp3s, buy a
copy for your great aunt, etc.

ok, a few more links then i'm
done.
myspace.com/goodnightstreetlight
the goodnight streetlight livejournal/blog

thanks for your
time!
yours,
raoul"

Raoul is a sweetheart**, and his music is amazing, so order this!

** Proof of him being a sweetheart - he invited me to sing on a track on one of his earlier albums, and uh, 99% of the population would not ask me to do so.