Engineer Men: Roanoke, Virginia’s Young Sinclairs can toot their collective horn for chugging in at #3.

BY MIKE METTLER

It’s that time of year: Time to cite the tunes that caught hold of my expert ear over the past 12 months — the ones I consider most worthy of purchase, hi-res download, and/or dropping the needle on at 45 rpm! Here, in reverse order, are my favorite 25 songs of 2013. Happy listening!

Where Did All of the Workmen Go: Houndmouth put a twang-jammin’ bite on #17.

Vix Humana: Jenn & Reeves are absolutely, seductively transcendent at lucky #13.

Live and Yearn: Amy Gore & Her Valentines go for the jugular valve at #9.

Lightning in My Pocket: The Bayonets ensnare the real deal at #2.

25. Joan Jett & The Blackhearts: “Any Weather.” Forecast calls for her continued reign. Co-meteorologized with Foomaster Dave Grohl.

24. U2: “Ordinary Love.” As in, “Extra-” and “This Is No.” And Mandela smiles from The Great Beyond.

23. Michael Monroe: “Ballad of the Lower East Side.” Punkin’-A NYC luv letter. Sneer perfection.

22. Baby Woodrose: “Bubblegum.” Flip your tongue like… super-chewy Euro-garage pop!

21. Palmyra Delran: “Some Day Soon.” Hopeful, wistful, wonderful: Yes, please. Stick it out — rewards ahead.

20. Radio Days: “Love and Fun.” Beach-blanket underground-pop rabble-rouser.

19. Charles Bradley: “Hurricane.” New millennial soul brother, all aswirl.

18. Kurt Baker: “Weekend Girls.” Bouncy, jouncy, hello-ladies kinda singalong.

17. Houndmouth: “Ludlow.” Spot-on down-home jammin’ and jukin’. Tight futures.

16. Lorde: “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” Evocative Tears For Fears cover, and perhaps the one thing we have running in our blood common with those ruddy luxe “Royals.”

15. Mark Lindsay: “Show Me the Love.” Killer hook ’n riffs, to be Revered and Raided accordingly.

14. The Launderettes: “Cold Cold Hearts.” A solemnly cool ’n seductive blast of Norwegian love.

13. Jenn Vix & Reeves Gabrels: “Speed of Light.” Wholly auralgasmic electronic guitar mashup in 9/4 time.

12. Jake Clemons: “You Must Be Crazy.” The sax man’s bloodline runs strong ’n true, and grows anew.

11. Daft Punk Featuring Pharrell Williams: “Get Lucky.” More like Daft Funk, especially with main Chic-man Nile Rodgers on guitar.

10. John & Brittany: “Start Sinning.” How to bash out raw sentiment with abandon, drive, and verve.

9. Amy Gore & Her Valentines: “Send Me a Postcard.”  Perfect post-garage-punk kiss-on/kiss-off. Mwah!

8. Robin Thicke Featuring T.I. and Pharrell: “Blurred Lines.” Ubiquitously catchy honeydripper. (You know you want it…) The late Robert Palmer woulda simply made it even more irresistible.

7. The Anderson Council: “Gardening Man.” Perfectly tilled garage-rock seeds. Listen how they grow.

6. Ryan Bingham: “Until I’m One With You.” Haunting theme to FX’s The Bridge resonates deep and wide.

5. Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic & Pat Smear: “Cut Me Some Slack.” They so heavy. (Dun-dun-dun!)

4. Tedeschi Trucks Band: “Calling Out to You.” Mournful, foot-tapping acoustic quiet prayer, the perfect end to a brilliant album.

3. The Young Sinclairs: “Engineer Man.” Infectious garage riff and spot-on harmonies mesh 1965 vibe with 2013 reality. “He does all of the work around here.”

2. The Bayonets: “Whatcha Got.” Slinky ’n sultry and slunky ’n funky in all the right places. “Casanova was a lightweight, Valentino was a clown … You wanna sweet talk? You can take a walk … So what so what, show me whatcha got.”

1. Steven Wilson: “Luminol.” 12 minutes of hard-charging transcendence, ranging from post-prog pummeling to layered harmonic elegance, fully realized in the mulitchannel king’s own envelope-pushing surround-sound mix. Officially my personal favorite benchmark 5.1 demo track.