In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well—some inspired by a weekly theme and some not, but always songs worth hearing. This week: What’s one of your favorite tracks so far this year?
I’m pretty sure that something off the new Travis record has the potential to become my favorite song of the year, but that hasn’t come out yet, so I’m faced with kind of a tough decision here. While I’d normally go with something like Kanye West’s “Black Skinhead,” I’ve already written about how great that song is. Same thing goes for Vampire Weekend’s “Unbelievers,” which I really love. Thus, barring the inclusion of those other two songs, I think (one of) my favorite song(s) of 2013 so far is Parquet Courts’ “Borrowed Time.” While I’m not as big a fan of the whole record, Light Up Gold, as other critics are, “Borrowed Time” is a total jam, all rollicking and Lou Reed-influenced. It’s the ’10s garage revival at its best, and the way it just absolutely falls into silence at about one minute and two minutes in just kills me. There are a couple of other good songs on Light Up Gold—“Yr No Stoner” and “Stoned And Starving” come to mind—but nothing comes close to the greatness of “Borrowed Time.”