Force Field PR artists & staff curate Anti V-Day Spotify Mix, Vol. VII
Listen to it & wallow in despair here
Featuring selections from Neon Indian, Lilys, Cristin Milioti, Lo Tom, The Natvral, Peel Dream Magazine, Keep Shelly In Athens & many more!
Let’s face it, Valentine’s Day is the WORST holiday of the year! We launched this playlist series back in 2015 as a way of getting through that awful day, February the 14th — and this year it seems it might be especially needed. We are pleased to bring you Vol. VII which is, in a word, devastating. Get your kleenex ready. Thanks to all of our artists who took the time to contribute their favorite break-up songs / songs about heartache:
1. Al Green – “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart”
Selected by Bedroom
2. Palace Music – “Valentine’s Day”
Selected by Belaver
3. Joe Bataan – “Ordinary Guy”
Selected by Neon Indian
4. Colin Bluntstone – “Exclusively For Me”
Selected by Peel Dream Magazine
“I’m a big fan of the Zombies and, maybe even moreso, Colin Blunstone’s solo records. Particularly his first two, One Year and Ennismore. I had a big moment with these albums. When I lived in New York, there were a few occasions where I would go to midtown, buy a cigar (??) and wander around. A lot of these walks took me to Central Park, and I have this vivid memory of listening through both of these albums on one. Central Park is a very lonely place (in a good way?), and something about the tenor of the music matched this characteristically lousy, Romantic New York vibe. I remember first hearing this song while I was perched on a rock, seemingly buried in a magazine but really spying on everyone around me. In the song, he’s decided that he’s kinda burned out on love, and written a love song to himself instead. So killer.”
5. The Roches – “Hammond Song”
Selected by Daniel Gill of Force Field PR
“This isn’t really a breakup song in the classic sense but it is definitely anti-love. Two sisters are pleading here with their youngest sister to not run off and get married too young, to go to school instead. To pick logic over love.”
6. Yves Tumor – “Gospel For a New Century”
Selected by Hiroki Tanaka
7. Cat Power – “Metal Heart”
Selected by Sara Noelle
8. U.K. Jones – “And The Rains Came Down”
Selected by Real Numbers
“”What can I say, I simply adore a pop banger with devastating lyrics –
especially if it’s bubblegum Shangri-Las worship”
9. Fiona Apple – “Werewolf”
Selected by Cristin Milioti
“This song has some of my favorite lyrics/sentiments of all time :
But we can still support each other
All we gotta do’s avoid each other
Nothing wrong when a song ends in a minor key
take that, cupid.”
10. Wire – “Two People In a Room”
Selected by Body Double
11. Salami Rose Joe Lewis – “Do You Care?”
Selected by Doohickey Cubicle
12. Roberta Flack – “Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye”
Selected by Spacette
“This is a Leonard Cohen cover. Her voice is stunning, jazz great Ron Carter anchors a slightly unhinged arrangement on bass (I dig it, but why does the beat drop every time we get to the breakup haha), and Cohen’s words are, as always, devastating.”
13. Heatmiser – “See You Later”
Selected by Lo Tom
14. Roxy Music – “In Every Dream Home a Heartache”
Selected by Lilys
“Roxy Music brought up a really good point with “standards of living/they’re rising daily” in relationship to the loss of interpersonal connections. Against a lyrical set-up of insane grandeur, choosing images that somehow imply conspicuous consumption and leisure can possibly make up for isolation, the go in for the “all alone” kill. peak twilight zone pop.”
15. Blur – “To The End”
Selected by Body Double
16. The Clash – “Should I Stay or Should I Go”
Selected by Proper Nouns
17. Gram Parsons – “Hearts on Fire”
Selected by Daniel Gill of Force Field PR
18. Scott Walker – “Mathilde”
Selected by Bodies of Water
19. Buzzcocks – “Promises”
Selected by Lunchbox
20. Kevin Ayers – “Shouting In a Bucket Blues”
Selected by Max Foreman
21. Dinosaur Jr. – “Puke and Cry”
Selected by Lo Tom
22. Johnny Rivers – “Memphis”
Selected by Lilys
“One of the blueprint songs of rock and roll. It’s subtle, the destruction of family over parents failing to reach an separation agreement , yikes, welcome to hell. Even though the original can’t be beat, the Johnny Rivers version has a few performance “hooks“ added in that make it even more chuck berry? it’s a ballpark.”
23. The Pretty Things – “Loneliest Person”
Selected by Lo Tom
24. The House of Love – “I Don’t Know Why I Love You”
Selected by Lo Tom
25. Sandy Denny – “It Ain’t Me Babe”
Selected by The Natvral
“The song is deservedly a classic, but I prefer to hear others sing it. No, it’s not that I don’t care for Dylan’s original version. His take is undeniably moving, but it’s tough to hear in light of his tumultuous relationship with Joan Baez, who was generous to him in ways he couldn’t reciprocate until – possibly – a later time in life. So here is Sandy Denny, an icon in her own right, whose demos are better than most everyone else’s final mixes.”
26. Arab Strap – “Soaps”
Selected by Daniel Gill of Force Field PR
27. My Hidden Track – “I Gave Her My Heart, She Gave Me a Pen”
Selected by Keep Shelly In Athens
28. James Figurine – “55566688833”
Selected by John Cohill of Force Field PR
29. Perfume Genius feat. Weyes Blood – “Sides”
Selected by Daniel Gill of Force Field PR
30. American Music Club – “Ex-Girlfriend”
Selected by The Reds, Pinks & Purples
31. Guided by Voices – “Pimple Zoo”
Selected by Paul Jacobs
“I wouldn’t wanna hear this song during my V-Day dinner”
32. Daniel Johnston – “You Put My Love Out The Door”
Selected by Daniel Gill of Force Field PR
“Daniel Johnston has many, many songs about rejection but this deep cut just about sums it up”
33. Boris / Merzbow – “Love”
Selected by Hiroki Tanaka
THE SOUNDTRACK TO THE LONELIEST VALENTINE’S DAY OF OUR LIVES IS HERE