Valentine’s Day Mixtape

Nothing says “I love you” like a good mixtape. Of course, I’m not even sure where you can actually buy cassette tapes these days (I’m guessing The Source). But luckily for us, we can all simply go on the Internet and compile a mixtape all our own using links from Youtube.

Here are seven songs to throw on your MacBook when you’re getting in the mood this Valentine’s Day.

Friendly Fires – “Paris”

England’s most romantic young men deliver a bombastic track about moving with your sweet to the world’s most romantic city. Euro trash synths add to the sex appeal, while guitarist Jack Savidge delivers orgasmic explosions with his delayed guitar, echoing Prince 20 years earlier. Also, girls seem to love Ed Macfarlane.

The Beatles – “All You Need is Love”

The Beatles wrote practically all of their first three albums about love (with the latter half being about love and drugs). This one epitomizes the group’s message. If you’re the kind of person who’d rather stay in on Valentine’s Day and watch *Across the Universe* with your partner, this is your go-to Valentine’s Day song.

Cut Copy – “Need You Now”

Australian shoegaze funkateers Cut Copy’s leadoff single from Zonoscope, “Need You Now”, is a clap-happy song about unrequited love. Its strong beat and six-minute length makes this a pretty good track to kick off a makeout session.

And speaking of making out like you’re a high school freshman…

Outkast – “Happy Valentine’s Day”

The highlight from the mostly terrible Outkast album Speakerboxx/The Love Below has Andre 3000 at his funkiest. PETA’s sexiest vegan does his best impression of Prince and Bootsy Collins, delivering a call and response akin to Parliament/Funkadelic.

Pavement – “Major Leagues”

Probably the most sentimental of the Stephen Malkmus catalogue (I’m not sure if that is a good or bad thing), “Major Leagues” is a love song about going the distance with the one you love. Sparkling piano and dense synthesizers make this one of the cleanest-sounding Pavement songs. This is also Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard’s favourite Pavement song, so if you’re partner grew up watching The O.C. this may be the song for you.

Rick James – “Give It to Me Baby”

These days Rick James is better known for fucking up your couch, but back in the day, this was the kind of music your parents had sex to. “Give It to Me Baby” is a slightly creepy song when you watch the music video, because Rick James really won’t stop badgering his girlfriend to make love to him. But the video ends with the couple romantically canoodling during a skinny dip session in James’ hot tub (which he probably later pawned for cocaine). “Give It to Me Baby” is the track to put on when things get serious.

Peter Frampton – “Baby, I Love Your Way”

We are talking about mixtapes, after all, and John Cusack would be unimpressed if I left the king of trashy love ballads off the list. “Baby, I Love Your Way” is the track to put on when you’re coming down from a night of passion, staring adoringly into each other’s eyes as the sun rises. To make it a real special night, make sure it’s the live version from Frampton Comes Alive!.

Happy Valentine’s Day!