I’ve been putting out my take on the year’s best jams since…I dunno.  Forever.  As in Nirvana and audio cassettes were involved.  2014 is no exception, except I’ve moved far from hitting record.

While I wasn’t CRAZY in love with so much of this year’s new tunes, it was still a good year.  The Black Keys were a little underwhelming, but Spoon, The New Pornographers and TV on the Radio filled in that gap.  In terms of newbies, we got Shamir; and Stromae made his leap over the Atlantic (and into the Mockingjay soundtrack for some serious mainstreaming). We got so much modern soul and sexy with electronic love from Aluna George and FKA Twigs. And of course – there was  this little hippy shaking ditty after all.  Charli XCX made her big debut this year after teasing us with the funnest EPs and mixtapes over the last couple of years. And some of the best music also snuck in at the end of 2014 (so much gratitude to D’Angelo).

Favourite song this year?  I can never pick one. But Sylvan Esso’s Coffee sits up top.

I dig anything that makes my ears happy.  The tunes (including remixes) on this list are the ones that elicited some sort of visceral reaction in me and often wound up on repeat for the rest of the year.  I can also guarantee that they are definitely not the super-progressive-indie-electronic beats going around these days. I’m getting too old for that.

So without further delay, here are my favourite songs that were released this year, in alphabetical order for fairness.  (and lists for faves in 2011, 2012, and 2013).  Enjoy your Monday!