Bolton be Damned [Happy Heart Day]

Girl Boy
Aphex Twin
Girl/Boy [EP] [1996]
[DL] [Buy]

Lovers Of Loving Love
The Aquabats!
VS. The Floating Eye Of Death! [1999]
[DL] [Buy]

Something About Us
Daft Punk
Discovery [2001]
[DL] [Buy]

Miss You Less, See You More
Faithless
No Roots [2004]
[DL] [Buy]

As
Stevie Wonder
Songs In The Key Of Life [1976]
[DL] [Buy It, Because It's Amazing]

Together
William Shatner
Has Been [2004]
[DL] [Buy]

Call Me Call Me
Yoko Kanno & The Seatbelts
Blue [1999]
[DL] [Buy]

Sure, valentines day is the bane of all consumers and the joy of all card manufacturers. But, it can still be fun. Taking advantage of a themed day for one of the first times, here's a few choice picks from my personal collection - something that, as you've guessed, doesn't feature too many love ballads: Michael Bolton be damned - but I've managed to dig up a few appropriate gems none the less.

Starting it off with one of the best songs that we could have chosen for today - 'Girl Boy' by Richard D. James, one of the most revered contemporary Intelligent Dance Music composers, going under the moniker Aphex Twin - and you should know him by now. His work is comprised prominently of Drum n' Bass beats that are as heavy as they are graceful like so many sumo wrestlers on figure skates with perfect scores. 'Girl Boy' is somehow different from the rest in that it incorporates his signature high BPM with a set of strings to a soulful effect that often borders on bringing me to tears. This production is deep, beautiful and awesome.

Flipping the coin in an entirely different direction, hell it's a different kind of currency for that matter, are California super heroes of Nerdcore: The Aquabats! I'll take any chance that I can to spread the word on how good these guys are - on the rare occasions that I see someone wearing an Aquabats shirt, without any hesitation whatsoever, I will approach that person and shake their hand - because they've earned it like Egon earned his Snickers bar ["you...you've earned it."]. This song was written when the 'Bats still had a solid horn section. The guitars and vocals are happy and silly in signature Aquabats style - but they're completely serious in their ridiculous antics. On top of not taking a damn thing seriously, they are incredibly talented musicians [and acrobats]. Easily, the best line in this song is "It's so great to give you a kiss and taste cherry chap stick!" See them live if you can, propose to your someone special while The Bat Commander and Crash McGlarson fight the evil Toilet Paper Cyclops on stage in the background - it's the perfect setting for a cherry-chap stick kiss.

When the Robots finally returned [well, actually, when they showed up for the first time] with Daft Punk's second album, Discovery, Guy and Thomas really had outdone themselves by reinventing their sound, their identities and creating a Daft Punk exclusive napster-like service to boot [that was the Daft Club, if you remember, with their silly proprietary music file formats and extremely restrictive media player]. In addition to the artistry that is their music, they teamed up with Japanese animation master, Leiji Matsumoto, to turn Discovery into an animated feature ['Interstella 5555: The Story of the Secret Star System'] to follow in the stylistic footsteps of the Space Ship Yamatos and Voltrons before it. 'Something About Us' is a slow, groovy track also known as 'The Love Theme to Interstella 5555.' I will admit, this track does walk the edge between very-fine downtempo-chill and a porn soundtrack - but that never stopped me from appreciating it. It's definitely a track to listen to at night and it would work well served to a solitary listener just as well as it would to listeners in pairs. It's romantic and smooth while never entering that feared area known as cheese. This is the version from the Discovery album, as opposed to the version from the Daft Club CD [a compilation disk of tracks that were originally released periodically via the Daft's online exclusive download service] - talk about instant gratification - go get yours.

'Miss You Less, See You More' is easily the 'dancey' track du the jour. Sister Bliss sets the beats and Maxi Jazz tears off his shirt as he breaks into a rhyme. This track is from the album No Roots, a far cry from when Faithless originally hit it big around 1997 with their single 'Insomniac'. The keyboard has a bounce that gets me where it counts, causing my feet to shift and do that dance that DJs do when their really digging their relationship with the ones and twos. Maybe I'll dedicate this track to them...because I've learned that platonic love can exist between a man and a turntable.

Next on the play list is Stevie Wonder's 'As,' perhaps one of the most soulful love songs ever. Stevie's voice and skills on the keys are virtually unsurpassed and the backup singers are so spot on. There's not a bone in my physical structure that can resist moving to this one. The solo section that comes up at 3:45 [elapsed] is incredible. It's a challenge to explain this track with mere words - listen to it now!

Had it not been for Ben Folds' Fear of Pop, Vol. 1, I can't say that I would be expressing so much interest in William Shatner outside of the comedic value of Star Trek. Shatner returned with his first album in a while in 2004, entitled Has Been [his incredible duet with Henry Rollins can be found in a previous post here]. The list of collaborations is impressive, and with Ben Folds on the production side, there was little cause for concern, it's an incredible album. 'Together' is a slightly electronic, relaxed guitar-and-beat track with a very positive feel to it, sort of like riding off into a sunrise. Electronic duo, Lemon Jelly lays down the beats and Bill - with the guest appearance of his wife, Elizabeth - sets the whispered vocals. It's light hearted without being shallow - a nice companion to a hot lover or maybe just a hot cup of coffee.

Yoko Kanno and The Seatbelts provided the entire musical catalogue for the phenomenal anime series, Cowboy Bebop, directed by Shinichiru Watanabe. They've produced myriad soundtrack CDs and each one is very much worth the price of importing - much of it muddled in the areas of Jazz, Rock, Folk, Electronic and some experimentalism. 'Call Me Call Me' has a very low key, rustic folk aesthetic. The vocals definitely lead the song, the keys and strings are a nice addition, especially at the points where they are played in reverse. This is only a sample of the impeccable production quality that is the effort of Yoko Kanno. The song ends in a beautiful smash of sound as if a glass hit the floor and its pieces slowly faded out of existence.

Enjoy these tracks and your evening of romance [or a solitary night eating fried rice and loving a good set of headphones.]

Love,
FeedMeGoodTunes