Songs of the Week: It's 2009, Right?

There's only four songs on this list, and two are by The Walkmen. Why? Because they're great. Really great. New York indie without the pretensions. The singer, who might actually be a giant, croons perfectly over this drunken serenade about loud music, angry neighbors, and the end of it all. This one -- off of Bows + Arrows -- should be played ironically, blasting on your system right before the lights streak across the horizon.

And when those fireworks do go off, there is simply no better track than this Zombies classic. Nothing too good can be said about this band, a British act that broke up right in there prime. This track is from their swan song album, Odyssey and Oracle, which should be a part of every collection. You've probably heard it in a commercial for a car or a fridge or a camera or something, and I'm sure it sounded great. But I'd like to think it was meant for just this occasion.

The Thrills are sometimes joked about among their fellow Englishmen for being too "American." When the band moved their recordings to the states for their second album, the songs got a more polished production, but the band were "American" before the move. Pure emotion and admirably shameless romanticism of youth are the group's hallmarks, and this track, taken from their third album Teenager, shows their strengths to kick off the year right.

The final song in this mini-mixtape is also by The Walkmen, and it's also perfect. Pulled from their latest -- the excellent You & Me -- the track starts off easy enough, but boy, once that chorus starts, you can't help but get excited. Try listening to this on the loud ones without grabbing somebody and singing along. "It's gonna be a good year!" yells frontman Hamilton Leithauser. And I agree with him. It's going to be one to remember.