WED., FEBRUARY 06, 2008
Basia Bulat's Valentine's Day Mixtape
by Basia Bulat
Basia Bulat writes light, lilting songs full of hope and longing and promise, so we were a little surprised when we got a look at the body count on her Valentine's Day mixtape. Lovers are drowned, blown up and turned into violins; women are scorned, men are forgotten and love is unresolved as often as it's rewarded. As Basia herself joked, "Maybe I'm in a dark place right now!" But buried beneath the blood are the kinds of emotions that resonate across decades: the rapture when everything goes right, the feeling of safety that accompanies a lifelong romance and, above all else, the enduring belief that true love will find you in the end. Over the course of a very lively hour, the Toronto-based Bulat giddily justified her morbid choices.
Check out Basia's Valentine's Day Mixtape as an eMusic playlist here.
On what makes a good love song:
It has to come from the heart, no matter what. You have to really believe in the person singing it. "Cupid" is such a good example of this: if you didn't believe the person singing it was sincere, it would just sound sappy and silly. Yet somehow, when Otis Redding sings it or Sam Cooke sings it, you buy it. It's funny: sometimes the songs I think are really romantic are really sad, and the songs I think are sad most other people find romantic. I tend to have a really bad radar for that kind of thing — which I guess shows in the list I put together!
On what she considers "romantic":
It's nice to go out for dinner, but it's the quirkier things that I find more endearing. I used to really love this show The Edison Twins when I was a kid, so my boyfriend found VHS copies of that show and gave them to me, and I thought that was pretty romantic! I think any time someone finds a way to connect with something that's special to you or means something to you — if they find something that's different, that's what matters. The stereotypical "long walks on the beach" — they're nice, but I wouldn't find them exceptional. Maybe if someone made me a mixtape, like the one I'm making now, I'd find that exceptional. I'm a pretty upbeat person, but I like things that are darker, too.
01. Odetta, "Deep Blue Sea"
My brother and I were looking through records at the goodwill a couple of years ago, and we came across Odetta at Carnegie Hall. At first, we just liked the album cover — I didn't really know Odetta even though I should have. As soon as we put it on, though, we were just transfixed. We couldn't move. When we went to flip the album we discovered the second side had a skip on it, so I went out and bought this CD, …Sings Ballads and Blues. Grizzly Bear does a cover of this song, "Deep Blue Sea," on an EP. It's a beautiful cover that they do, but I don't think it can hold a candle to the way Odetta sings it. She's a huge influence on me, she's just brilliant. I'm speechless when I hear this song. Odetta's voice is just so powerful on its own — it's just amazing what one human can do. My brother now owns that Odetta record from the goodwill, because he was the one who paid the dollar for it — which is frustrating!
02. The Carter Family, "Wildwood Flower"
I picked all these "girls been done wrong" songs, didn't I? [laughs] The melody of this song just gets me. It's funny, music is supposed to be the thing that unites and uplifts people, but in a way music is what pulled the Carter Family apart. If you go on to YouTube there's a brilliant clip of Maybelle and her daughters singing this song. I guess I can relate to this one because a lot of songs I write have happier sounding melodies, too, but thematically are not cut-and-dried.
03. Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, "How I Long"
I love Gorky's so much. The only time I got to see them was in Wales on St. David's Day. They were playing with Yo La Tengo — which is why I included Yo La Tengo on this mix as well. Euros Childs' voice is really very unique, and he's able to lead the quirky songs in a very strong way, but I think the timbre of it is particularly suited to heartbreak. This song is a great example of that.
I'm a sucker for the heartbreakers.
04. Neutral Milk Hotel, "Naomi"
If I could pick only one band to be my favorite band, it would be Neutral Milk Hotel. Lyrically, there's a definite sense of helplessness in this song. I also love the imagery of the angels; a lot of the early American songs I love have a lot of heavenly and angelic imagery, and yet there's also some violent imagery in this song as well. He talks about her "exploding" and "her prettiness is seeping." It's both beautiful and violent — just a haunting song. It's just talking about this love that's kind of helpless.
05. Otis Redding, "Cupid"
You absolutely believe Otis Redding when he sings this. I mean, to use an overused expression, he can sing the phone book and I'd believe it. The way his band plays this song is much grittier than the Sam Cooke version with the strings and the "shoooop!" [laughs]. It's definitely a happier song than the other ones. In the past 20 years or so it's been difficult for artists to take the time to develop — more and more it feels like people only have one record to make themselves known. Otis did it on every record. He was just so consistent every time.
06. Yo La Tengo, "Autumn Sweater"
This is such a dreamy song, but the lyrics still hint at something that's gone wrong. First, he's at this party and he's trying to hide. He's waiting for a girl, or a guy, to show up. He's in kind of a dream-haze of wondering, but there are these little clues in there: he sings "should we just call this whole thing off," and he talks about the "waves" in her eyes. At the end he sings "you can't smile so easily anymore like you used to." There's just this little bit of a hint of sadness that runs throughout.
07. Final Fantasy, "Took You Two Years to Win My Heart"
The strings on this song just take my breath away. I went on tour with Owen, and I heard him play this song quit a bit. The way he looped things was just brilliant. There's this moment right before the instrumental kicks in where he holds a note for just a second longer than it should be — that moment just encapsulates the whole feeling of the song.
08. Nina Simone, "Ne Me Quitte Pas"
There's a program in Canada where the government sends Anglophones to Francophone schools so they can learn French during the summer. I went to a school in Montreal and so I made all these friends with Montreallers who were in bands. The following summer I moved to Montreal just to live and work and practice my French — even though my French still has good days and bad days! — and whenever I needed to practice I'd do it by listening to French songs. Nina Simone, most of her songs are in English, but she also does quite a few songs in French. I'm a sucker for the heartbreakers, so I picked "Ne Me Quitte Pas" and I listened to that a lot when I was learning the negative. Sometimes when I listen to Nina Simone I wonder, "why do I even bother?" She's so good that I'm afraid I'm going to ruin music just by trying.
09. Kilby Snow, "Wind & Rain"
In all these terrible domestic abuse ballads, you never really know what went wrong. In this one, in the first verse the lover goes, "hey, I love you, let's get married," and then in the next verse he's killing her and throwing her into the river! She doesn't even get a chance to respond! Whatever transpired between verse one and verse two, nobody knows. There's also this weird supernatural twist, where she turns into a violin at the end. It's just a really creepy, bizarre song. I figured I'd include this one to show that sometimes, it isn't so bad to be single on Valentine's Day.
10. Kimya Dawson, "It's Been Raining"
I find this song to be really uplifting. It starts really sad: she's singing about how everyone she knows is passing away. But then the chorus — and I think it's because there's so many voices singing — it's like they're sharing a feeling, and so it uplifts and comforts. It crosses with a lot of the lyrical themes of the other songs on the list, too: there's Biblical themes, with the reference to "40 days," nature imagery with the "wind and the rain." Just when you think the world is going to end, she sings, "I will build an ark inside my body." It's just very warming.
11. Daniel Johnston, "True Love Will Find You in the End"
I think Daniel Johnston is a genius — every song of his is just a classic pop song. This is just an uplifting way to end after all that sadness. Daniel Johnston makes you believe in love.
Check out Basia's Valentine's Day Mixtape as an eMusic playlist here.
On what makes a good love song:
It has to come from the heart, no matter what. You have to really believe in the person singing it. "Cupid" is such a good example of this: if you didn't believe the person singing it was sincere, it would just sound sappy and silly. Yet somehow, when Otis Redding sings it or Sam Cooke sings it, you buy it. It's funny: sometimes the songs I think are really romantic are really sad, and the songs I think are sad most other people find romantic. I tend to have a really bad radar for that kind of thing — which I guess shows in the list I put together!
On what she considers "romantic":
It's nice to go out for dinner, but it's the quirkier things that I find more endearing. I used to really love this show The Edison Twins when I was a kid, so my boyfriend found VHS copies of that show and gave them to me, and I thought that was pretty romantic! I think any time someone finds a way to connect with something that's special to you or means something to you — if they find something that's different, that's what matters. The stereotypical "long walks on the beach" — they're nice, but I wouldn't find them exceptional. Maybe if someone made me a mixtape, like the one I'm making now, I'd find that exceptional. I'm a pretty upbeat person, but I like things that are darker, too.
01. Odetta, "Deep Blue Sea"
My brother and I were looking through records at the goodwill a couple of years ago, and we came across Odetta at Carnegie Hall. At first, we just liked the album cover — I didn't really know Odetta even though I should have. As soon as we put it on, though, we were just transfixed. We couldn't move. When we went to flip the album we discovered the second side had a skip on it, so I went out and bought this CD, …Sings Ballads and Blues. Grizzly Bear does a cover of this song, "Deep Blue Sea," on an EP. It's a beautiful cover that they do, but I don't think it can hold a candle to the way Odetta sings it. She's a huge influence on me, she's just brilliant. I'm speechless when I hear this song. Odetta's voice is just so powerful on its own — it's just amazing what one human can do. My brother now owns that Odetta record from the goodwill, because he was the one who paid the dollar for it — which is frustrating!
02. The Carter Family, "Wildwood Flower"
I picked all these "girls been done wrong" songs, didn't I? [laughs] The melody of this song just gets me. It's funny, music is supposed to be the thing that unites and uplifts people, but in a way music is what pulled the Carter Family apart. If you go on to YouTube there's a brilliant clip of Maybelle and her daughters singing this song. I guess I can relate to this one because a lot of songs I write have happier sounding melodies, too, but thematically are not cut-and-dried.
03. Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, "How I Long"
I love Gorky's so much. The only time I got to see them was in Wales on St. David's Day. They were playing with Yo La Tengo — which is why I included Yo La Tengo on this mix as well. Euros Childs' voice is really very unique, and he's able to lead the quirky songs in a very strong way, but I think the timbre of it is particularly suited to heartbreak. This song is a great example of that.
04. Neutral Milk Hotel, "Naomi"
If I could pick only one band to be my favorite band, it would be Neutral Milk Hotel. Lyrically, there's a definite sense of helplessness in this song. I also love the imagery of the angels; a lot of the early American songs I love have a lot of heavenly and angelic imagery, and yet there's also some violent imagery in this song as well. He talks about her "exploding" and "her prettiness is seeping." It's both beautiful and violent — just a haunting song. It's just talking about this love that's kind of helpless.
05. Otis Redding, "Cupid"
You absolutely believe Otis Redding when he sings this. I mean, to use an overused expression, he can sing the phone book and I'd believe it. The way his band plays this song is much grittier than the Sam Cooke version with the strings and the "shoooop!" [laughs]. It's definitely a happier song than the other ones. In the past 20 years or so it's been difficult for artists to take the time to develop — more and more it feels like people only have one record to make themselves known. Otis did it on every record. He was just so consistent every time.
06. Yo La Tengo, "Autumn Sweater"
This is such a dreamy song, but the lyrics still hint at something that's gone wrong. First, he's at this party and he's trying to hide. He's waiting for a girl, or a guy, to show up. He's in kind of a dream-haze of wondering, but there are these little clues in there: he sings "should we just call this whole thing off," and he talks about the "waves" in her eyes. At the end he sings "you can't smile so easily anymore like you used to." There's just this little bit of a hint of sadness that runs throughout.
07. Final Fantasy, "Took You Two Years to Win My Heart"
The strings on this song just take my breath away. I went on tour with Owen, and I heard him play this song quit a bit. The way he looped things was just brilliant. There's this moment right before the instrumental kicks in where he holds a note for just a second longer than it should be — that moment just encapsulates the whole feeling of the song.
08. Nina Simone, "Ne Me Quitte Pas"
There's a program in Canada where the government sends Anglophones to Francophone schools so they can learn French during the summer. I went to a school in Montreal and so I made all these friends with Montreallers who were in bands. The following summer I moved to Montreal just to live and work and practice my French — even though my French still has good days and bad days! — and whenever I needed to practice I'd do it by listening to French songs. Nina Simone, most of her songs are in English, but she also does quite a few songs in French. I'm a sucker for the heartbreakers, so I picked "Ne Me Quitte Pas" and I listened to that a lot when I was learning the negative. Sometimes when I listen to Nina Simone I wonder, "why do I even bother?" She's so good that I'm afraid I'm going to ruin music just by trying.
09. Kilby Snow, "Wind & Rain"
In all these terrible domestic abuse ballads, you never really know what went wrong. In this one, in the first verse the lover goes, "hey, I love you, let's get married," and then in the next verse he's killing her and throwing her into the river! She doesn't even get a chance to respond! Whatever transpired between verse one and verse two, nobody knows. There's also this weird supernatural twist, where she turns into a violin at the end. It's just a really creepy, bizarre song. I figured I'd include this one to show that sometimes, it isn't so bad to be single on Valentine's Day.
10. Kimya Dawson, "It's Been Raining"
I find this song to be really uplifting. It starts really sad: she's singing about how everyone she knows is passing away. But then the chorus — and I think it's because there's so many voices singing — it's like they're sharing a feeling, and so it uplifts and comforts. It crosses with a lot of the lyrical themes of the other songs on the list, too: there's Biblical themes, with the reference to "40 days," nature imagery with the "wind and the rain." Just when you think the world is going to end, she sings, "I will build an ark inside my body." It's just very warming.
11. Daniel Johnston, "True Love Will Find You in the End"
I think Daniel Johnston is a genius — every song of his is just a classic pop song. This is just an uplifting way to end after all that sadness. Daniel Johnston makes you believe in love.
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