It being the month of love, we made you a mixtape. Each track has a special meaning and reminds us of you.

Tracklist:

Mick Ronson-Growing Up and I’m Fine: There’s something so decadent and romantic about glam rock. This little gem appeared on Slaughter on 10th Ave, an ill-fated solo record by Bowie’s Spiders From Mars-era guitarist, the amazing Mick Ronson. In fact, this may be the best Bowie song performed by someone other than Bowie. And, well, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Mott the Hoople….it’s a good song anyway. Every guy needs to find someone who keeps him out of knife-fights and the like.

Yo La Tengo-You Can Have It All: Hearing couples in bands write love songs to each other is cuter than cross-eyed little kitties. YLT has been sounding more warm and lovable lately, and this track, because of its vocal sweetness and weird beatbox/round background vocals, has become a live favorite.

Baby Dayliner-The Way You Look Tonight: So what if he looks like a tall Kevin Bacon? Ethan Marunas, aka BabyDayliner, is a romantic crooner for the 21st century. In fact, his music is so slick and strident/ironic, it’s practically hipster panty-peeler. For those of us who love irony and erotic dancing.

The Nails- 88 Lines About 44 Women: Do people actually find this new wave oddity mysoginist? Yes, the 44 women listed in this tour de force of casiotones and humming are not remembered for their virtues, but rather for their eccentricities, fetishes and bad behavior. But what’s more lovable than faults? Especially in hindsight. The Nails hit a chord with all of us who miss that ex that made our lives a living hell until they up and left us.

Cansei De Ser Sexy-Let’s Make Love and Listen to Death From Above: The dancefloor hit of 06. Bless CSS. These guys must be from the Brooklyn side of Sao Paulo, because this electro-rock couldn’t fit in better with the fashionable trashing crowd. If there were a song that exemplified crushing on someone at a bar, and then unbelievably taking them home, and getting french toast with them at brunch the next day, this would be it. Oh, DFA is good too.

Mos Def-Ms Fat Booty: Rap is storytelling, right? And what story are we always telling to our friends? The one that got away. Mos Def is so casual-classical his flow is like Def Poetry but good. But that girl is out her damn MIND not to get serious with a guy like the Mighty Mos .
Kaiser Chiefs-Everyday I Love You Less and Less: Yeah, sometimes I don’t like you that much. This song celebrates narcissism, (or self-love) like few others outside of Carly Simon. Also, pretty much everything the Chiefs do is totally radical. Also, who doesn’t get attracted to a jerk?

Pinback-Concrete Seconds:What’s more heart-on-your-sleeve than emo? Or sort-of emo like Pinback? As much as it might be dissed, the genre expressed the neurotic awkwardness which we have all felt at one time or another. Also, emo is the official music of mixtapes, and we had to put something at least resembling mopey-romantic on this tape or we’d get sued by Saddle Creek.

Ween-the Homo Rainbow: We are not gonna get accused of being insensitive to the gay and lesbian community. So we’ll throw in a little Ween.

Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers-My Little Kookenhaken: No explanation needed for the huggy-kissy sweetness and innocence of Mr. Richman. We don’t know what Kookenhaken means either, but if you call us your little kookenhaken, we’ll probably blush and giggle and all of that good stuff. If you’re wondering why these Modern Lovers aren’t busting out the proto-punk, we should explain their the later version of his famous backing band.

Tom Waits-Downtown Train: Tom Waits rarely gets praised for his love songs, but he sings them with a tenderness and conviction that makes them as timeless as his weird freak-out rock. Off of Rain Dogs, this tune might sound a little more familiar to you as the Rod Stewart cover, which was a legitimate hit. But come on! The original sounds more for real, and definitely makes you feel all broken-up about taking the train home with “those Brooklyn girls.”

Blossom Dearie-Two Sleepy People: Blossom Dearie’s light-hearted jazz vocals are like one big cuddle party. This version of Fats Waller’s classic, a duet with breathy spouse Bobby Jaspar is so silly and cute that it almost feels campy. But it’s a cool slow jazz creeper. Blossom is still smoothly operating at Danny’s Skylight Room here in New York. And yes, that’s her real name.

If this mixtape made you feel all gooshy, you might want to make it out to our LV HRD dating extravaganza.