2014 in 10 tracks*

One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2014 was to keep up with new music, to open my horizons and pay close attention to new artists. But looking at the list of major musical releases in 2014, I realize there are some arena-sized holes in my listening habits – and looking at the year-end lists by Pitchfork and NME further confounds me.

So I guess I’ll recycle that resolution for 2015, and rather than do a typical list of the best music of the year – there are plenty of those floating out there on the Internet already – I’ve decided to compile a playlist of the tracks I listened to the most in the last 12 months:

1. “Red Eyes” – The War on Drugs. I first had the War on Drugs described to me as being reminiscent of ’80s-era Springsteen, and I was sold before I’d even heard a note. But the band, a vehicle for songwriter Adam Granduciel, is dreamier and poppier than anything the Boss has done, and their 2014 album “Lost in the Dream” is the real discovery of the year. There’s not a bum track on the record, but this one, with its infectious vocal-synth hook, is the one I keep coming back to.

2. “How Can You Really” – Foxygen. The two core members of Foxygen are in their early 20s, but their sound is rooted in the fuzzy AM pop of the mid-’70s. “How Can You Really,” the first single from their shambling double album “… And Star Power,” plays like a dispatch from a long-lost Todd Rundgren record, a power-pop gem in which the verses are as catchy as the chorus.

3. “Passing Out Pieces” – Mac Demarco. DeMarco has been a critical darling for a few years now, but the Canadian singer-songwriter came into his own with his most recent album “Salad Days.” His music exudes the vibe of a stoned Sunday afternoon; you don’t so much listen to it as float along on it.

4. “How You Got That Girl” – Ex Hex. Although they released their first album this year, it would be easy to convince someone that Ex Hex was a forgotten band from the late ’70s when the lines between punk and new wave were starting to blur. “Riffs,” their debut release, consists of one catchy track after another, but this one, with its perfectly executed hand claps and “whoa-oh-oh” vocal harmonies, has the energy and pop sensibility of a great Ric Ocasek joint.

5. “Headbanger” – King Tuff. Kyle Thomas, the brainchild behind King Tuff, is one of the great unsung songwriters working today, a grungy classic rock disciple who takes familiar riffs and melodies and imbues them with a snotty, ebullient energy. It seems appropriate, then, that the standout song from his 2014 LP “Black Moon Spell” is about a guy falling in love with a girl through her record collection. “You had Sabbath and Priest and ‘Number of the Beast,’ ” Thomas sings. “It was heavy metal perfection.”

6. “Forgiven/ Forgotten” – Angel Olsen. I saw Angel Olsen live this summer, and there’s something about her that’s absolutely beguiling. This song, from her great new album “Burn Your Fire for No Witness,” is a bit out of character for her – it’s got more of a punk edge than her typical spare, folky sound – but it suggests an exciting new direction for her future output.

7. “Take Me to Church” – Hozier. This is one of those songs that’s so disarmingly different from everything else on mainstream radio that you have to wonder how it came to be a hit. The Irish singer-songwriter seemingly came out of nowhere and scored a Top 10 single with “Take Me to Church,” a big, booming ballad that’s haunting and somber and yet impossibly catchy. Whether he has staying power remains to be seen, but this is a damn good first impression.

8. “i” – Kendrick Lamar. Lamar’s 2012 LP “good kid, m.A.A.d city” has already been heralded as one of the best rap albums of all time, so the prospect of a new release from him is going to be treated as a major event. His newest album comes out this year, but Lamar teased it with the release of “i,” a bright, buoyant, Isley Brothers-sampling single that’s a huge shift in tone from anything he’s previously released. (And an untitled song he premiered on “The Colbert Report” might be even better.)

9. “Digital Witness” – St. Vincent. Annie Clark has been making eccentric, artsy rock under the name St. Vincent since 2007, but her 2014 self-titled album represents a massive step forward. “St. Vincent” was the album I listened to the most this year – it’s in my car stereo right now – and this song, with its quirky stylistic nods to Clark’s mentor David Byrne, is probably the best distillation of her musical personality.

10. “I’m Not Part of Me” – Cloud Nothings. There’s something primal about the simplicity of Cloud Nothings: Their songs often begin with a lone guitar riff before bursting out with all the pent-up energy of a punk band, and their choruses pummel you with the repetition of a tribal chant. They’re often derided as a one-trick pony – if you don’t like one of their songs, you probably won’t like any – but what a great trick it is.

Hidden bonus track: “Shake It Off” – Taylor Swift. OK, hear me out on this one. In her transformation from country sweetheart to pop princess, Swift’s first single of 2014 seemed to sweep the country like an infectious disease, and it’s a pretty genius piece of fluff. Of course, nobody wants to confess that they like this song, so let’s all collectively admit that it’s really not that bad. (It’s still a hidden track, though, for the sake of discretion.)