2014 was the first full year of the “new” Fingertips, in which the free and legal MP3s came once or twice a month rather than once a week. I think we all survived, and I for one feel more generally excited about both the music and the writing than I have in a while. I’d say the recalibration worked.
I’ve also been energized by my ongoing exercise in recapturing the spirit and intent of free-form rock’n’roll radio, which I have rather unimaginatively christened the Eclectic Playlist Series, available over there on Mixcloud (http://www.mixcloud.com/fingertipsmusic/). These playlists have not been setting the world on fire, but no matter. I am used to working like a medieval monk. Some of you listen, and that’s pretty great. I’m up to number 11, and plan to continue these more or less monthly into the foreseeable future.
Anyway, my larger point about this being the first year of a different sort of Fingertips is this: given that I’ve gone from featuring 125-150 songs a year to a few dozen or so, it makes sense to me to reduce my year-end favorites list from 20 to 10. (A few particularly perceptive followers may also have seen that I have recently if quietly removed the Top 5—formerly the Top 10—from the site, which also seems related to the slower rate of songs featured.)
So that’s the new-ish news. Old-ish news regarding the Fingertips Favorites list is me affirming as always that this is not a “best of” list but simply a list of my personal favorites, from among the songs I have featured on Fingertips this year. Needless to say they are all songs that appeared during the year as free and legal MP3s and remain available as such.
All MP3s are embedded anew here, so you can listen or download from this page if you’d like (float your cursor over the song title and you’ll see). If you are interested in reading or re-reading the original reviews, click on the date next to each band name, which is the date of the original Fingertips post.
TOP 10 FAVORITE FREE & LEGAL MP3s, 2014
1. “Joanna” – Southern Boutique (September 9)
2. “Nobody Dies” – Daisy Victoria (December 18)
3. “Nightingale” – The Honey Trees (March 17)
4. “Best Intentions” – Satchmode (January 27)
5. “Archie, Marry Me” – Alvvays (November 20)
6. “Five Days” – Fossa (September 9)
7. “Divisionary (Do the Right Thing)” – Ages and Ages (April 4)
8. “900 Hands” – Elskling (July 3)
9. “Strangers” – The Rebel Light (October 22)
10. “Tiger” – Ponyhof (February 6)
Fingertips 