Happy New Year/Los Campesinos!

It's past midnight now, so I guess it's officially New Year's Eve and seeing as how I won't be here most of today and Tuesday, there's no better time to post some New Year's related songs, right? Right. The reason for most of these being here is blatantly obvious so I won't bother going into further details, but you may be scratching your head at the inclusion of "Troubadours". But wait - it has the sound of party noisemakers throughout and Jenny (or at least it sounds like her) shouts "Happy New Year!" randomly at the very end. Okay, so, it's not much of a reference, but you know me, always looking for an excuse to post some Rilo Kiley. And on a semi-related note, I just watched the movie Talk to Me which featured Jenny as a drug-addicted prostitute which was a bit odd to see. The movie was completely terrible besides her, unsurprisingly, but it's always fun to catch a glimpse of her acting past. Anyhow, before I veer totally off-course, here are some lovely songs for the occasion!

• Asobi Seksu - New Years
• Camera Obscura - Happy New Year
• Death Cab for Cutie - The New Year
• The Dresden Dolls - New Year's Day (live U2 cover)
• The Good Life - New Year's Retribution
• Rilo Kiley - Troubadours
• Stars - A New Year (live)

And... yay for rapidly developing obsessions! I present:

Los Campesinos!

So, after dismissing them as annoying in the past, I have totally discovered how crazy awesome these guys are. I swear, this always happens to me! I guess I really need to start listening to things with a more open mind the first time. But I guess that's one of the good things about being music-obsessed: a band you hated in the past you can suddenly adore without any obvious reason for the change of opinion. It kind of proves that your taste is always changing and evolving slightly, even if you can't tell. Anyway, so, yes Los Campesinos! rocks. Their songs are really energetic and fun and make me want to dance and sing along at the top of my lungs. Even though I barely know any of the words. And I think I have a thing for rock bands with strings, ala Stars, and obviously, Los Campesinos! as well. Those violin melodies are so damn infectious. The male lead singer's voice is kind of irritating at first but I got used to it pretty quickly. I can now add them to my list of highly anticipated 2008 releases. They don't have many songs right now, but their upcoming full-length, Hold On, Youngsters..., is due out February 25th in the UK and April 1st in the US as of currently, and it definitely seems promising. Here, have some songs! Be warned, they'll get stuck in your head almost immediately.

• Death to Los Campesinos!
• The International Tweexcore Underground
• Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks
• We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives

(Meanwhile, that 2007 mix is coming along slowly. I've kind of completely abandoned the original and have decided to go back and listen to some albums I never gave proper attention to and cram in a few that I never got around to listening to at all. I'm probably taking this way too seriously, but it gives me a good reason to listen to things I would've kept putting off otherwise, so I guess that's good.)