E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

There were other tracks, like ''Serpents' by Sharon Van Etten , or 'Poison & Wine' by The Civil Wars , 'Husbands' by The Savages , 'Wrath of God' by The Crystal Castles , a new song by the Stones , several by returning heavy-hitters Public Image Ltd., ZZ Top, Soundgarden, Sinead O'Connor, Dexys, Bob Dylan, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen , Van Morrison , Bill Fay , Blur , Bobby Womack , Scott Walker , and Leonard Cohen , as well as universal hits from Gotye , Carly Rae Jepsen , Usher, or Taylor Swift , as well as songs by Jack White , that might have found a place in Eyewear 's Top 40 affections at the end of 2012; and each came very close to slipping in. However, at the last moment, it seemed utterly essential to include Willy Moon 's outlandishly upbeat pop song, 'Yeah Yeah'.  The song is preposterously in-yer-face, and entirely joyous - it celebrates musical entertainment as the purest form of instant gratification, and does ...

Was there a more haunting, crypric theme song on telly this year, than 'Hollow Talk' for the arty, very cerebral / visceral Nordic Noir, The Bridge ?  Chanelling A-ha and Talk Talk , the se young believers managed to forge something new a nd yes, poetic .  Lovely.

One of the most intelligent Americana singer-songwriters of our times i s Anais Mitchell .  Her song 'Young Man In America' is an epic dramatic monologue - "everyone will know my name" - of the rise of the eponymous American - and his disturbing ambitions for power and love - as if penned by Theodore Dreiser .  It feels timeless, essential, very poetic, almost biblical, and relevant to this age of fiscal corruption.  Two more songs to go...

Grizzly Bear came to prominence several years ago with a brilliantly nuanced Jazzy album of indie pop with an obscure title; but this year they returned with an album of songs that had critics comparing them to a new Radiohead or Coldplay (though they themselves are American).  'Yet Again' more than confirmed such claims - it's one of the richest, smartest and most satisfying songs of recent years.

As unlikely as it seems, a dance song managed to be deeply moving in its discussion of childhood memories, fathers, and blue lakes where comes heartbreak.  I tried to resist, but in the end, this lapsarian I too was in Arcadia approach won me over.  A great song.

No other song this year managed to follow the minimalist template of Glass and also be about the division of cells.  A studiously quirky yet highly intelligent song, I found its braniac catchiness admirable and unique.

It wouldn't be Eyewear if we didn't select a Ska song this year - we love Ska - even one as sleek and commercial as this come-back single from the long-missing Gwen Stefani band.  No Doubt are fun and very good at what they do, and this is a timeless Chelsea girl romp. Seven more songs to come this week!

I hadn't seen the video for this when I fell in love with the song from this New York duo - but you won't believe me once you've seen it, as its love letter to Soho burlesque is quite risque.  The song itself is that sort of gothy electropop pomp that Florence & The Machine do so well; but here, I feel it is done even better.  I like "beautiful dance that happened by chance" and "leave the soul alone" as lyrics, among other pleasures to be found littered about this song.

One of the great indie songs of the year, its agressive, ominous and faintly absurd lyrics established a confused landscape of brand identification and incipient madness.  Best of all, the sound harkens back to the sort of thing that Julian Cope used to do so well, as in songs like 'Safe Surfer'.

Arguably the oddest new arrival this year was eccentric Canadian Mac DeMarco .  This song preceded his second, better recived album, 2 , but retains the shock of the new.  Sounding like a warped recording of Elvis , this has the kitsch of The Cramps , but a genuine sweetness, too.  Once heard, never forgotten.  Ten more songs to come later this week!

There were bigger urban/ rap songs of the year, but none managed to strike such a chord, with me, of intense urgency, street cred, and poignant lustiness - ultimately a celebration of a woman by a man entranced by how she "wind up her body like that".

Hard to remember before the Olympic summer of joy, but this was the early sound of summer 2012 - angry, shockingly ugly, bluntly political, and urgent - Plan B 's finest moment.  Plan B's movie felt over-determined to me, but the song's lyrics remain about as relevant as any British song of the century so far.  This is one we'll be returning to in a decade, in a century, to recall what these austere mean days were like. "We're just bloody broke in Britain" indeed.

We often mock X Factor type singers and songs - but of all the many (more lauded) slick, commercial, Top 40 pop tunes this year - this one stood out for me, as having, at its core, a rather sweet, and moving message.  I liked the idea of joy and sadness both being brought by the same lover.  I tried to ignore it, but it kept coming back t o me ; every time I hear it, I tear up .

There was a lot of alternative music this year, but little of it had the seriousness of intent, and passionate yet cool tone, that marks the very best of this genre. 2:54 , who seem to have been ignored in most end of year polls, created a seamless, beautiful and deeply polished album of haunted, aloof alt love songs, lost somewhere between dream pop and early Cure .  Hard to select the best from a perfect album, but here goes.

15 more songs to go after this ; no more tonight!   Hot Chip are precisely what Depeche Mode or The Pet Shop Boys were - but now - that is, masters of sexy vaguely ominous, smart, literate synth pop.  And this one just happens to sound a lot like Tears For Fears , too.  Oh boy.  'Motion Sickness' was, I think, the greatest British pop song this summer, catching as it did (as it does) the dizzying power of "the wall of sound" versus "the world is sound" - "everything locks to my grip" echoes Avril Lavigne 's "Losing My Grip" but is far weirder. "World of entertainment in your hands".... the song is almost a Nirvanesque series of commodified non sequiturs mocking the music industry, but celebrating, paradoxically, the industriousness of music.  Pop for Adornoheads?

But wait!  More 80s sound ... with 2012's 'Id ea of Happiness' that, again, sounds a b it like China Crisis , b ut a more robust version, one married to Kate Bush .  One of the sunniest, most positive tunes of the year.

Here comes some more 80s pastiche/ homage.  No one came closer to classic '82 new wave in 2012, than Chad Valley , with Twin Shadow , another 80s guy, whose song 'I Owe You This', when not sounding like 'Nocturne' sounded exactly like Tears For Fears .  No, I mean, totally.  I was in heaven when I heard this.  It really was the year that The Hurting came back to haunt us all.

I might have mentioned that recreating a certain 80s sound was uppermost in the minds of many bands this year, but who thought someone would want to perfectly recreate the achingly fragile, sweet pop of China Crisis , which make kittens seems like heavy metal types?  If you want to swoon amidst pale fountains, mist, smashing champagne glasses, and wildly-dyed asymetric hair cuts, look to Wild Nothing , whose sound is so 80s it hurts.  I love this song.  It makes me feel 16 again.  Okay, 14. "You can have me" is just the sort of androgynous passivity that so many of the bands of the time toyed with, if only to entice, to endear.

I hadn't selected any alt-country or folk, yet, but here comes First Aid Kit , a Swedish group that sounds like they're from the Ozarks. I like the inauthenticity of the vo ices, the artificiality - but then again, who says Americans own countr y? "I'm a goddamn fool, but then again, so are you" - it's a great genre work, and really brings you into its cornpone world of faux Nashville gee-tars.  Fans of Fleet Foxes will love their whole album, in fact.

Although first released as a single in 2007, 'Harder Than You Think' was cannily chosen as the theme song of the British coverage of the 2012 Paralympics.  The event was a highlight of the year - inspiring and moving and exciting - and this remarkably powerful song ended up becoming an unlikely late summer hit on the UK charts.  It's very much a song of the year on this side of the pond; we're now halfway through our top 40 countup, by the way.