Yep, I’m getting married in a few days, so I figured it was time to put together a love-themed radio show. I tried to keep it centered around positive love songs, but with indie music, but a few oddities slipped in. In true form, I also made it my latest vinyl-only night.
Lykke Li: Little Bit
Lykke Li opened the night with her hit “Little Bit” off a 10-inch single for the song. While this was her ‘hit’, it was far from my favorite off the single. The soft and subtle “Everyone But Me” on the B-side took that spot pretty quickly.
Companion: All That I Want
This was the only digital song I played, after I forgot to prep the next record and ended up talking awkwardly to break the silence. I wasn’t sure about Companion at first, but after hearing “All That I Want”, I kinda became obsessed. Speaking of awkward; Companion’s hard-to-describe electro-meets-pop-meets something else has a weirdness to it that makes me think of how awkward I was in middle school. While that may have been an unpleasant time, I find this music anything but unpleasant.
Listening to “Lover of Mine” off Beach House’s 2010 LP Teen Dream, I was not only reminded of how great this album is, I also had an epiphany. I under-appreciated last year’s Bloom; while Teen Dream hits all the points that make an album great, I failed to see the same in Bloom at the time.
Chromatics: Kill For Love
The other week, I finally had a chance to give Chromatics 2012 LP a full listen beyond the title track, “Kill For Love”. For the most part, the album stunned me. At 16 tracks, there are obviously a few duds, but it’s a solid LP for sure!
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: Young Adult Friction
OK, after listening to this again, I’m not sure how much of a love song this is. Whatever, I just remember thinking, back in 2009 when I had this song on pretty constant repeat, that it made me feel happy to be in love. So there.
Constantin Veis: The One Who Loved
Baroque pop is quite a change of pace from TPOBPAH. Constantin Veis holds up his end, though with plenty of strings, a great yet quiet guitar melody and insatiable accented vocals. “The One Who Loved” is off his 10-inch EP Memory-La on Siesta.
Starlet: Scent of You
Not so much a love song as a hopeless romantic song, Starlet’s “The Scent of You” is pure Swedish acoustic indie pop. Off the band’s 2000 LP Stay On My Side, you can find this LP on Parasol Records.
Listen to the song (and album) here.
The Lucksmiths: Smokers in Love
Few things make me happier than The Lucksmiths playing songs off their 1999 10-inch EP Staring At The Sky off Matinee Records. Throughout their quite long career as a band, I have yet to discover a recording that makes me feel, as a whole, as good as this one does. It is, in my opinion, the pinnacle of their career.
Suburban Kids with Biblical Names: Marry Me
What a quirky little song! I love it though; it perfectly sums up what makes love great. You want to better yourself, show your worth and shower that person with anything and everything they could possibly want.
Jens Lekman: I Saw Her at the Anti-War Demonstration
Jens Lekman, believe it or not, writes some of the best — and most unique — love songs around. Songs like “I Saw Her at the Anti-War Demonstration” and “You are the Light” are among my all-time favorite love songs, simply because they’re so unique and fun.
Acid House Kings: Do What You Wanna Do
“Do What You Wanna Do” by Acid House Kings is possibly the most-listened-to song in my library. When Sing Along With The Acid House Kings was released in 2006, I immediately became obsessed with the band. So much so, I sought out whatever I could find by them, their members (i.e. past bands) and even their label. It began my long-time love with Swedish pop.
Voxtrot: The Start of Something
Much like Acid House Kings and “Do What You Wanna Do”, Voxtrot’s “The Start of Something” was released in 2006, kicked off a major obsession with the band, and is also one of the most-listened-to tracks in my library.
Pure Bathing Culture: Ivory Coast
Another track I’m not entirely sure is a love song, but it’s one that makes me feel very happy. The lyrics “You’re what I love the most” lead me to classify it as OK for this themed show. After raving about this band and EP for about, if not more than, a year now, I finally broke down and picked it up on vinyl. Pure Bathing Culture is back late this summer with their debut LP, so keep an eye out for that.
The Clientele: Step Into The Light
Dreamy orchestral indie pop, I always forget how great the music of The Clientele can be, and “Step Into The Light” is a perfect example. I remember a lot of people going crazy about this record at KZUU when it was released in 2005, and while it didn’t blow my mind right away, I came around pretty quickly. The band’s last album, Minotaur, was released in 2010 with the band calling it quits the following year.
Camera Obscura: The Sweetest Thing
The problem with some of my favorite bands, like Camera Obscura and Belle And Sebastian, is that you really have to stretch to find a good love song. It’s even harder when you don’t have everything on vinyl; Camera Obscura’s single for “The Sweetest Thing” was the closest thing to a love song I have by this band on vinyl.
“The Sweetest Thing” is off the band’s 2009 LP My Maudlin Career on 4AD.
Belle And Sebastian: (My Girl’s Got) Miraculous Technique
I love the title of this song, especially since this song is the closest thing to a non-depressing, actual love song by this band. Most songs that could remotely be considered love-ish have something down about them. “I’m Waking Up to You” is downright depressing. Same with “Don’t Leave the Light on Baby”. Brilliant, but not the most upbeat. “(My Girl’s Got) Miraculous Technique” won out as possibly least depressing love song by Belle & Sebastian.
St. Vincent: Marry Me
Off her debut album of the same name, “Marry Me” sure seems romantic. Hard to believe, then, that it was in fact influenced by the running gag-line Marry Me by Maeby Funke in Arrested Development.
Christopher Owens: Lysandre
“Lysandre” follows countless love songs written by men and named after the women they love. After leaving Girls, Christopher Owens struck out on his own with Lysandre, an album that stands quite apart from his previous project, with flutes and saxophones. Yet it maintains his high standards for songwriting and orchestration.
Bodies of Water: One Hand Loves the Other
Bodies of Water are one of those unique bands that crafts wildly imaginative songs. “One Hand Loves the Other” features an incessant array of background instrumentation that carries the song forward superbly, fronted by melodic vocals and an occasional saxophone. Other songs by this band feature tremendous volume, inaudible lows, and call-and-response male/female vocals.
Dutchess and the Duke: Side By Side
Despite two pretty stellar full-length LPs, two of my favorite songs by The Dutchess and the Duke were released on a lone little 7-inch single — the infamous Sub Pop Singles Club — in 2009. “Side By Side” is on the A and “Daggers” on the B.
Best Coast: When I’m With You
“When I’m With You” is the song that did it for me with Best Coast. Before this song, the band didn’t really exist for me. Now, of course, I love this style of music. Not necessarily a love song, it still fits the mold: you’ll be singing “When I’m with you I have fun” and “I hate sleeping alone” on repeat.
Colin Meloy: California One/Youth And Beauty Brigade
The lyrics in “California One” makes me think of road trips, sitting in the car for hours on end looking out the window at the scenery with my love by my side. I put the song on earlier in the week and it made me very excited for our upcoming trip to Vegas to get married. This version is off a previously unopened version of Colin Meloy Sings Live!
Jeremy Jay: Whispers of the Heart
I was quite surprised when I put Jeremy Jay’s Dream Diary on the record player and Andi, my fiance and soon-to-be wife, fell in love with it. So, on this love-themed show, I couldn’t help but put on a somewhat love-themed song off that record. “Whispers of the Heart” is the ideal indie love song.
Craft Spells: Scandinavian Crush
This song always reminds me of my obsession with Swedish pop music, if only in name. Craft Spells have become a favorite over the past few years, thanks in part to songs like “Scandinavian Crush”, though also complimented by tracks like “You Should Close the Door” and “After the Moment”. All three can be found on the band’s 2011 LP Idle Labor