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 few days.
Favorite Tracks of 2013:
01 Vampire Weekend: "Step"
02 Smith Westerns: "Varsity"
03 Phoenix: "Bourgeois"
04 Kanye West: "I’m In It"
05 Haim: "The Wire"
06 Marnie Stern: "Noonan"
07 The Knife: "Full of Fire"
08 Ariana Grande: "The Way"
09 Ducktails: "Ivy Covered House"
10 Lana Del Rey: "Young and Beautiful"
Favorite Albums of 2013:
01 Marnie Stern: The Chronicles of Marnia
02 Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of the City
03 Kanye West: Yeezus
04 Yo La Tengo: Fade
05 The Knife: Shaking the Habitual
06 Smith Westerns: Soft Will
07 Haim: Days Are Gone
08 Kacey Musgraves: Same Trailer Different Park
09 M.I.A.: Matangi
10 Caitlin Rose: The Stand-In
Most Played Song of 2013: Vampire Weekend's "Step" by a ratio of like 3:1 over everything else.
An Old Album I Discovered/Rediscovered This Year: 2013 was the year I really began to love washing dishes, and after much trial and error I discovered the best soundtrack for getting the grime out was Metallica's Kill 'Em All, which I'd crank to full volume (sorry neighbors) as I donned my rubber gloves and got to working through the day's queue. Every hand-melting riff was exactly what I needed to make sure every plate, pan and glass was left spotless.
Musical Highlights: Listening to Taylor Swift's "22" every time I left my apartment for three months; hearing "Bugatti" bring the house down at a Fader party and knowing that the zeitgeist was real; holding onto the opening seconds of fun.'s "Some Nights" as my text tone for an entire year without my roommates murdering me (thanks guys!); seeing the Replacements at Riot Fest and being too shocked to sob; convincing a friend to get inordinately close for Belle & Sebastian at Pitchfork Music Festival and wearing the world's most teenaged grin through every song; spontaneously getting tickets to the last NYC Yeezus show 24 hours beforehand and drunkenly basking in the light of His love; making plans with Jeremy Larson to karaoke Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" and thoroughly weird out all our friends; getting added as a source for Hit-Boy's Wikipedia entry; watching two passionate dudes slay Malo's "Suavecito" at a Pilsen karaoke bar; walking around Manhattan and Brooklyn while listening to Titus Andronicus's Local Business; being at a bar with Kyle Kramer when Beyoncé's newest album dropped and both of us exclaiming "Dude, Beyoncé" at the exact same time after checking our phones; attempting to play Nelly's "Hey Porsche" at a dozen parties this year and getting shut down halfway through every time; playing Nelly's "Hey Porsche".
Musical Lowlights: Arguing on Twitter, which had me immediately tapping out every time just to end every huffy, ill-reasoned, dick-swinging exchange before it ate up my afternoon.