astr

This is what I thought of 2014.

I typically write a lengthy preamble when I issue my Top 100 Songs of The Year list. This year’s won’t be an extended or hyperbolic one.

2014 was fucked up in all manner of ways. One giant ray of light that helps pierce the omnipresent darkness of the world, at least for me, is music. 2014 was no different. My love for and of music is as strong as ever. I continue to zestfully seek out good music, as there’s a bounty of good new music around every corner, if you know where to look.

“Genres” and “types” of music are harder than ever to distinguish and designate, though if I had to isolate one type that resonated the strongest with me in 2014, it’d be pop music. It’s not that pop music ever went away, it’s just that pop has become such a versatile and shifty chameleon — it seems with every passing year, more types of music get sucked into the massive “pop” black hole, and “pop” infiltrates other genres with gusto and stealth. A tip of the cap to “pop” in 2014; a handful of brilliant pop songs made an indelible mark on the year in music (more than I can recall in recent years).

Music does so much to and for me; I won’t go into that though, as I mentioned at the outset of this piece that I’d practice brevity. So instead of me spitting game at music, I’ll end this introduction with some light, but ever true words, from the one of a kind one hit wonder, Cansei de Ser Sexy…

“Music is my boyfriend, music is my girlfriend, music is my daddy. Music’s my imaginary friend. Music is my brother. Music is my great grand-daughter, music is my sister, music is my favourite mistress…my music is where I’d like you to touch…”

My Top 100 Songs of 2014 (100-81):

100. Broncho – Class Historian

99. Vince Staples – Blue Suede

98. Tensnake f. Flora – No Relief

97. Tove Styrke – Even If I’m Loud It Doesn’t Mean I’m Talking To You

96. Lady Antebellum – Bartender

95. Le1f – Boom

Bonus: Flume – Sleepless (from 2013)

94. ASTR – We Fall Down

93. Foo Fighters – I Am A River

92. Young The Giant – Mind Over Matter

91. Ryn Weaver – Octahate

90. Walk The Moon – Shut Up And Dance

89. Wildlife – Lightning Tent

88. Beyonce f. Jay-Z – Drunk In Love

Bonus Track: Gypsy And The Cat – Sorry (from 2012)

87. Royksopp and Robyn – Monument

86. Shabazz Palaces – Forerunner Foray

85. Beck – Blue Moon

84. Lorde – Team

83. Milky Chance – Flashed Junk Mind/Stolen Dance

82. Lily Allen – Air Balloon

81. Sleeper Agent – Waves

I wrote the following last year, but the words don’t belong to 2013. What follows is an evergreen sentiment that applies to all remixes. Here it is:

Transformation can do many things to an object. It can make something louder, quieter, bigger, smaller, heavier, lighter, darker, brighter, and so much more. The process of transformation is of some measure science, art, and parts unknown, and thus, cannot be coerced into formula.

Remixes seek to transform, in some manner, the source material into something new, fresh, and vibrant. The best remixes do this, and also pave a bridge of familiarity to the original. Developing something new while maintaining some semblance of the old is an enormously difficult task, and that’s why it rarely happens.

If a remixer is smart, the simple act of picking the right song to treat will come with a certain amount of cache, and will garner a certain level of intrigue (read: there will be a built-in audience). But that doesn’t mean the remix will end up being good. So many are not. There are some though, that are good, and some, even better than that. Not only do they transform, they transcend: the source material, emotions, and every so often, time itself. To be lost in a piece of art where an entire dimension ceases to exist is one of the joys of the artistic process, and indeed, one of the joys of this life.

To remix is to change. The best of the best though, remember to keep something of the original intact, whether it’s on the surface or buried deep beneath it. The great Roman poet Ovid, in his sprawling poem, “The Metamorphoses”, gives us an idea that serves as supreme directive for approaching remixes, “Omnia mutantur, nihil interit (everything changes, nothing perishes).”

50. alt-J – Left Hand Free (Lido remix)