We Asked DJs to Pick Their Favorite Valentine's Day Tracks

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Music

We Asked DJs to Pick Their Favorite Valentine's Day Tracks

In a special edition of our heartbreakers column, we asked selectors and writers to make us a loved-up playlist.

Hey baby. Here at THUMP we've been looking forward to this weekend for a long time, because we want you to know you're special. That's why we asked a bunch of super-cool DJs and writers to pick out their favourite Valentine's Day heaters and slow jamz, just to make sure you are more than equipped when it comes to 11pm on Friday evening and that special someone says the fateful words, "why don't you put on some music?"

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The following tracks are a mixture of RnB cheese, Baltimore breeze and house sleaze, all guaranteed to make the 14th of February one to remember. So get some candles lit, put on your lucky underwear, stuff some gum under your pillow for when you wake up tomorrow morning, and enjoy the sweet sounds of sentimentality.

Poté

Daft Punk - "Make Love"

It'll have to be "Make Love" by Daft Punk. The French can do no wrong when it comes to making love songs. It's simple enough for it not to be a distracting during a romantic moment, but effective enough to add to the moment.

Andrea Oliva

Nathan Fake - "The Sky Was Pink (James Holden Remix)"

One of the most romantic techno songs I know! Heartbreaking melancholic melody with just the right amount of drama in the track. Exactly the way it is when you are in love!

Angus Harrison (THUMP UK, Staff Writer)

DJ Technics - "Girlfriend (Technics vs Dukeyman)"

This DJ Technics re-purposing of Ready For the World's "Love You Down" is the sound of realising just how much you like someone. It's not aggressively sentimental, rather it gently suggests over and over again that having a really great girlfriend is really great. The sentiment is carried effortlessly along by a Baltimore breakbeat skimming gently underneath and the playfully edited vocal clippings. it's enough to make you call your partner to tell them you love them—or sit in bed dragging Chilli Heatwave Dorito dust across your phone screen on a Tinder rampage—depending on your relationship status.

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DJ Gregory

Manuel Gottsching - "E2-E4"

After a tour with the band Ashra Temple, Manuel Gottsching jams a 60 min electronic journey. That journey was E2-E4. Besides the fact that "E2-E4" remains an electronic alien to this day, it has this je ne sais quoi that puts you in a hypnotic joyful type of mood that evolves more and more as the track takes you deeper.

DJ Barely Legal

The Weeknd - Loft Music

I live for the moment and I stay away from love at all costs so I'm just out here to party, get wild and have fun—not with numerous people like my guy though, just my one.

Josh Baines (THUMP UK, Editor)

TC Crew - "I Can't Do It Alone (LP Mix)"

Yeah yeah yeah, I know it's obvious, but piss off, it's Valentines Day and if you can't be obvious and soppy and schmaltzy on Valentine's Day, when can you? Tyree Cooper's timeless ode to the power of the potential is an everlasting example of just how affecting house music, when done right, can be. Everything about it positively drips with unabashed sentimentality, and, every so often, it's good to be reminded of the sheer potency of the sentimental.

"I need you like a flower needs rain/cos when you're not around I just go insane."

Fuck Shakespeare.

Miguel Campbell

Hey baby. Here at THUMP we've been looking forward to this weekend for a long time, because we want you to know you're special. That's why we asked a bunch of super-cool DJs and writers to pick out their favourite Valentine's Day heaters and slow jamz, just to make sure you are more than equipped when it comes to 11pm on Friday evening and that special someone says the fateful words, "why don't you put on some music?"

The following tracks are a mixture of RnB cheese, Baltimore breeze and house sleaze, all guaranteed to make the 14th of February one to remember. So get some candles lit, put on your lucky underwear, stuff some gum under your pillow for when you wake up tomorrow morning, and enjoy the sweet sounds of sentimentality.

Poté

Daft Punk - "Make Love"

It'll have to be "Make Love" by Daft Punk. The French can do no wrong when it comes to making love songs. It's simple enough for it not to be a distracting during a romantic moment, but effective enough to add to the moment.

Andrea Oliva

Nathan Fake - "The Sky Was Pink (James Holden Remix)"

One of the most romantic techno songs I know! Heartbreaking melancholic melody with just the right amount of drama in the track. Exactly the way it is when you are in love!

Angus Harrison (THUMP UK, Staff Writer)

DJ Technics - "Girlfriend (Technics vs Dukeyman)"

This DJ Technics re-purposing of Ready For the World's "Love You Down" is the sound of realising just how much you like someone. It's not aggressively sentimental, rather it gently suggests over and over again that having a really great girlfriend is really great. The sentiment is carried effortlessly along by a Baltimore breakbeat skimming gently underneath and the playfully edited vocal clippings. it's enough to make you call your partner to tell them you love them—or sit in bed dragging Chilli Heatwave Dorito dust across your phone screen on a Tinder rampage—depending on your relationship status.

DJ Gregory

Manuel Gottsching - "E2-E4"

After a tour with the band Ashra Temple, Manuel Gottsching jams a 60 min electronic journey. That journey was E2-E4. Besides the fact that "E2-E4" remains an electronic alien to this day, it has this je ne sais quoi that puts you in a hypnotic joyful type of mood that evolves more and more as the track takes you deeper.

DJ Barely Legal

The Weeknd - Loft Music

I live for the moment and I stay away from love at all costs so I'm just out here to party, get wild and have fun—not with numerous people like my guy though, just my one.

Josh Baines (THUMP UK, Editor)

TC Crew - "I Can't Do It Alone (LP Mix)"

Yeah yeah yeah, I know it's obvious, but piss off, it's Valentines Day and if you can't be obvious and soppy and schmaltzy on Valentine's Day, when can you? Tyree Cooper's timeless ode to the power of the potential is an everlasting example of just how affecting house music, when done right, can be. Everything about it positively drips with unabashed sentimentality, and, every so often, it's good to be reminded of the sheer potency of the sentimental.

"I need you like a flower needs rain/cos when you're not around I just go insane."

Fuck Shakespeare.

Miguel Campbell

Blakkat - "The Rite Place (Crazy P Remix)"

Definitely one for the lovers out there. I played this lots in Ibiza on the boat parties in 2010 and I have some really fond memories of this track.

Anna Codrea-Rado (THUMP, News Editor)

Four Tet - "My Angel Rocks Back and Forth"

A deeply haunting, yet somehow uplifting track, Four Tet's "My Angel Rocks Back and Forth," is a next-level emo heartbreaker for me. From his 2003 Rounds album, the opening instrumental that loops throughout reminds me of an oxygen machine and brings up images of hospitals and other super sad, morbidly fascinating places. Makes you think of how fragile life can be, and how things can unravel no matter how tightly you try to hold on.

Tom Shorterz

R Kelly - Your Body's Calling

This one's as smooth as silk, the ultimate slow jam for those who like to 'slow....jam' - but be warned, you might end up trapped in a closet at some weird fetish party this Valentines night. Play it safe.

Blakkat - "The Rite Place (Crazy P Remix)"

Definitely one for the lovers out there. I played this lots in Ibiza on the boat parties in 2010 and I have some really fond memories of this track.

Anna Codrea-Rado (THUMP, News Editor)

Four Tet - "My Angel Rocks Back and Forth"

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A deeply haunting, yet somehow uplifting track, Four Tet's "My Angel Rocks Back and Forth," is a next-level emo heartbreaker for me. From his 2003 Rounds album, the opening instrumental that loops throughout reminds me of an oxygen machine and brings up images of hospitals and other super sad, morbidly fascinating places. Makes you think of how fragile life can be, and how things can unravel no matter how tightly you try to hold on.

Tom Shorterz

R Kelly - Your Body's Calling

This one's as smooth as silk, the ultimate slow jam for those who like to 'slow….jam' - but be warned, you might end up trapped in a closet at some weird fetish party this Valentines night. Play it safe.