paloma faith

The songs on this list are as cool as this doge. Well, almost.

Around this time, it starts to get really hard to place songs. I like all of these tunes — a lot. My Top 100 Songs of 2014 (80-61):

80. Vance Joy – Riptide/Mess Is Mine

79. Dum Dum Girls – Too True To Be Good

Favourite track from their really sexy last album.

78. Schoolboy Q – Man Of The Year

77. La Roux – Kiss And Not Tell/Sexotheque

These songs deserve waaaaaay more views.

Bonus: Omar Souleyman – Wenu Wenu (from 2013)

76. Lykke Li – No Rest For The Wicked

75. Foster The People – Best Friend

Best song on their latest LP.

74. Aphex Twin – Minipops 67 (120.2) (Source Field Mix)

Welcome back Richard. You were missed.

73. Marina and The Diamonds – Froot

72. ILOVEMAKKONEN f. Drake – Tuesday

So random. So fresh. So 2014.

71. Charli XCX – Boom Clap

Bonus: Kongos – I’m Only Joking (From 2011)

70. Bombay Bicycle Club – Luna/Home By Now

Two really, really good songs. Two good videos, especially the one for “Luna”.

69. Ex Cops – Black Soap

Heard this one late in 2014, but it grabbed me right away.

68. Interpol – All The Rage Back Home

El Pintor raging here, home, and anywhere else is always comforting.

67. One Direction – Story Of My Life

66. Hedley – Crazy For You

Methinks it’s the best song these canucks have ever done.

65. Ask Embla – Legion

64. A.G. Cook – Beautiful

Reminiscent of Happy Hardcore, yet still on the cutting edge of pop. Banger.

63. Sam Smith – Stay With Me/Stay With Me (Rainer & Grimm Remix)

I’d previously mentioned the Rainer & Grimm Remix of this tune in my Top Remixes of 2014 list, but I had to link it again. Both it and the original are fantastic, though I do prefer the remix.

62. Paloma Faith – Only Love Can Hurt Like This

Big, brassy, bombastic pop.

61. Ed Sheeran – Sing/One

It took me a while to get into “Sing”, but when I did, I was hooked. “One” is simply gorgeous.

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)