BiBaBiDi Mini Mix 1.5

It's back by popular request. Or rather, one request. Requests aside, though, I was planning on doing more of these mixes for the blog, as I have a huge amount of unused bandwidth that I want to share. (Why the hell is sharing always such a big theme with me? I disgust myself ... ).
This mix features some of my favorite mix songs -- songs that are bound to be on a mix that I make for someone. Perhaps not the first mix, but all of these songs are bound to be on a mix I make for someone at some point.
Here are the tracks:

the Fall - L.A.
Liars - We Live NE of Compton
Fire Engines - Jaqueline
the Clash - Spanish Bombs
Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence
New Order - Round and Round

And now for explanations. (Why are these songs so awesome!?)

The Fall is ridiculous. How in the hell does a guy who looks like Mark E. Smith (that's to say, someone who looks like he could be a grandfather, and has for his entire life) make songs that have pop appeal!? While the songs tend to be sort of out there, occasionally political, always weird, and usually difficult to understand, they have a pop aesthetic about them. Smith is damn good at writing hooks and make appealing-sounding songs, which is cool! It's not every day that an avant garde artist makes music that could appeal to the masses, applied appropriately.

Yeah, you're all tired of hearing 'bout Liars, I know. But this track, from They Threw Us In A Ditch ... , is interesting in particular since it seems to sort of imply that the group would get all into drum circles and witch hunts and living in Berlin and stuff. The song is definitely "dance-punk," but check out that drumming! We should have seen it coming!

Fire Engines is getting some attention now. Seen as a[nother] predecessor to Franz Ferdinand, the group is credited with perfecting that angular guitar sound that so many "post-punk" groups of today utilize. But this song is cool -- taken from a recent split 7" that the group recorded with Franz Ferdinand ... their cover of "Jaqueline." Weird.

"Spanish Bombs" may be my favorite song by the Clash. Granted, it's the most "straight forward" Clash song I've heard (no reggae in this one ... no sax ... just guitars and bass and drums). But it's a perfect pop song, to me. Therefore I love it.

Depeche Mode is not one of the favorite bands (okay -- that's a weird thing to say). I just don't like them all that much. I get what they're going for after listening to the first track or two from every album. But "Enjoy the Silence" is amazing. Their best song. Ever. Period.

I love New Order. My love for them comes from my love for the bass. I love to hear a nice thump-da-thump every once in a while ... a nice, fat bassline (and I'm not talking about like, gansta rap here ... I mean a real bass). And New Order's Peter Hook is so damn good at it. He plays the bass so friggin' high, it blows my mind every time I hear it. "Round and Round" is, unfortunately, an overlooked track from the overlooked album Technique. The album was made at the height of their cocaine use and the height of their popularity as a rave band (they owned the bloody Hacienda ... go figure). But "Round and Round" has an amazing bassline. It should not have been overlooked. Listen to this bizarre version of the song from one of New Order's "best" comps ... the bass has been like, completely omitted! Round and Round.