We asked Pitchfork writers and editors to share their personal highs and lows of 2013. Check back for more installments of My Year in Music throughout the next two weeks.
Favorite Tracks of 2013:
01 Drake: "Worst Behaviour"
02 Perfect Pussy: "I"
03 All Dogs: "Say"
04 Kanye West: "New Slaves"
05 Swearin': "Dust in the Gold Sack"
06 Iceage: "Ecstasy"
07 Speedy Ortiz: "No Below"
08 Radiator Hospital: "Our Song"
09 Pharmakon: "Ache"
10 Joanna Gruesome: "Secret Surprise"
Favorite Albums of 2013:
01 Waxahatchee: Cerulean Salt
02 Body/Head: Coming Apart
03 Merchandise: Totale Nite
04 Deafheaven: Sunbather
05 Majical Cloudz: Impersonator
06 Sky Ferreira: Night Time, My Time
07 Gun Outfit: Hard Coming Down
08 Nuclear Spring: Nuclear Spring
09 Julia Holter: Loud City Song
10 Milk Music: Cruise Your Illusion
Most Played Song of 2013: According to last.fm, Drake's "Furthest Thing" followed pretty closely by the Merchandise single "Anxiety's Door". According to iTunes, it would be the entirety of the All Dogs demo cassette, and according to my record player (which I think is most reliable for me in terms of compulsive listening habits) it would be Side A of Gun Outfit's Hard Coming Down LP or the Merchandise Live at BBC bootleg 12".
An Old Album I Discovered/Rediscovered This Year: Digable Planets, Blowout Comb. I first heard about this record from Mark Richardson during my first few months working at Pitchfork, about two years ago. My favorite genre can be loosely defined as Radical New York Music, so I was immediately intrigued. I felt a stronger connection this year after I picked up the very well-contextualized reissue from Light in the Attic and realized what a masterpiece this record is. Speaking of jazz, I heard Alice Coltrane's Journey in Satchidananda for the first time this year, which was another mind-blowing experience in music discovery (thanks Jon!) and stands out. Also, the 1986 Dežuje EP from Yugoslavian hardcore band Tožibabe.
Musical Highlights: Watching Priests play "Personal Planes" at Silent Barn; watching Merchandise and Destruction Unit play the foot bridge in Austin; watching Radiator Hospital play a basement show in Bushwick; sitting on the floor watching Majical Cloudz for the first time inside of a hotel room; watching Deafheaven at 285 Kent on my 24th birthday. Listening to World of Echo in the woods by myself for a week while sitting next to a lake re-reading the Pussy Riot book from Feminist Press; listening to Nothing Was the Same on the subway; playing Ground Zero in full on-air several times while hosting Crucial Chaos late-night on WNYU 89.1 FM. Seeing the Gun Outfit film Where's Anton at Spectacle Theater. Watching The Punk Singer for the first time and freaking the fuck out, then seeing it with my parents eight months later.
In general, the visibility of Kathleen Hanna and Kim Gordon, and getting to do a show for both their bands and being nervous about it. Going to the opening of Kim Gordon's art show at White Columns with my sister and realizing, at the same time, that the crumpled banner on the floor of the gallery was "Sonic Youth Band Name Sculpture". Watching Kim Gordon play Issue Project Room and realizing Carrie Brownstein was seated across from me taking pics with her iPhone. Sitting literally six feet in front of Drake at NYU while he explained his thinking behind "Worst Behaviour". Watching kids freak out to Polish rap and coldwave in Katowice; watching some of the realest desert-punk bands I've ever seen in Monterrey, Mexico. Also, anytime I got to spin Huggy Bear, Nancy Sinatra, the Nerves, Occult Chemistry, or the Ronettes at 285.
Musical Lowlight: I still haven't gotten a Fiona Apple tattoo.