Pick Your Poison: Wednesday 2-12-14

This upcoming Friday is Valentine’s Day, and if you’ve got a special someone I wish you all the best for the holiday. I hear all these stories every year of people completely forgetting about the date and running to the store at the last possible minute hoping to find something to get for their significant other. Yet that’s also never happened to anyone I know. Maybe it’s those couples who tell each other “no gifts this year,” but one of them doesn’t really mean it. Still, it’s probably less of a common occurence than the media makes it out to be. Of course I DO know people who choose poorly when it comes to gifts from year to year. You think you’re getting your boyfriend or girlfriend something special, but you completely misinterpreted the situation and he or she winds up hating it. Some relationships don’t come back from that. I guess what I’m saying is, be careful. Birthdays and anniversaries can be tough to navigate, but Valentine’s Day might be the toughest of them all. Friday will also be Singles Awareness Day, reminding those of us without someone in our lives that there’s a void that “needs” to be filled. As someone who is perpetually single and has had a total of two Valentine’s Day dates in his entire life, I used to get bitter and depressed whenever this holiday rolls around. But I’ve given up the resentment in favor of warmth and kindness towards others. You could say that I’m spreading the love around. It’s also the sort of day that single people can be incredibly selfish and it’s not frowned upon. Want to treat yourself to a big steak dinner, then bring it home to eat in your pajamas in front of the TV? Knock yourself out. That’s not just something you can do on Valentine’s Day, but everyday if you’d like, since nobody will stop you. If you feel like V-Day is just something invented by greeting card companies and restaurants to make some extra money, you might be right, but there’s also something nice about taking a day to celebrate love in all its forms. Yeah, that’s something we should incorporate into our everyday lives, but since 95% of the population can’t seem to really do that (at least not in the right way), this holiday will have to suffice. So no matter what your situation or whatever you’re feeling on Friday, take some time out to love. As The Beatles famously said, love is all you need. Now then, let’s talk today’s mid-week Pick Your Poison. Plenty of things I hope you’ll love in this set of music. Key tracks today come from Avon Dale, Cassorla (ft. Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes), COnfluence, Midnight Magic’s remix of Holy Ghost!, Ryan D. White and VEDAS. In the Soundcloud section after the jump, stream songs from Circa Waves, Cloud Nothings, Courtney Barnett, Moon Bounce, Spiritualized and Woods.