This week, we’re celebrating our amazing local music scene — still as vibrant as ever, even amidst a pandemic — by counting down the top 20 local songs from the first six months of 2021.
Reminder of the ground rules: we’re only looking at artists from Orange, Durham, and Chatham Counties – and since we’re also playing these songs on 97.9 The Hill, only radio-friendly songs are allowed. (Even with those limitations, it’s tough to pick just 20 songs! The Mountain Goats put out a terrific album earlier this year, for instance, but none of their songs made this list.)
We’ve already made it halfway through the list: go back and revisit numbers 20-11.
Ready for the top ten? Here we go!
10. Blue Cactus, Come Clean
“I’ve been becoming everybody I never wanted to be…”
Steph Stewart and Mario Arnez have been together for about a decade now, but they’re still getting better and better. A classic throwback to the days before country went pop, “Come Clean” anchors an incredible album of songs about heartbreak – or rather that teetering-on-the-edge moment just before heartbreak, when there’s still a chance to pull back from the brink.
Listen to Blue Cactus’ appearance on 97.9 The Hill earlier this year.
9. State of Uncertainty, Chain Engine
“Scream for your girl tonight!”
This four-piece of UNC alums already had one album under their belts, but they hit the gas in 2021 with their sophomore effort “Excess Party.” “Chain Engine,” the highlight, has everything a great metal song should: relentless rhythm, stratospheric solos, quirky signatures, lots of sex, and even more kink. Good luck getting through this one without banging your head.
8. The Pinkerton Raid, Au Cheval
“Tick tock goes the cosmic clock…”
The Pinkerton Raid haven’t yet released their new album “The Highway Moves The World,” but judging from the five (!) singles they’ve already put out, it’s going to be huge when it drops next year. Different folks will have different favorites, but mine is this quick, upbeat bop about taking chances and living life to the fullest.
(With a title reference to a restaurant in Chicago I happen to know: apparently they’ve got the best burger in the nation, if you’re willing to wait eight hours for a table. Brad and I passed and found another burger place two doors down – and that was the best burger I’ve ever had, so Au Cheval must be something really special. Maybe I’ll find out one of these days.)
7. James Plunkett, Two Weeks (Breathing)
“Two devils on my shoulders, breathing, breathing…”
Slipped in at the end of his latest album, this quiet, DIY title track features Plunkett, AJ Verkouw, two guitars, a harmonica, and not much else. But it’s all James Plunkett needs to capture that hallucinogenic, half-awake feeling of nights on the road – not to mention the draggy days of anticipation before them. Not sure what it is about this song that blows me away like it does, but I’ll take it.
6. Tre. Charles, Stressin
“I need to find my way…”
Some of the artists on this list have been making great music for literally decades – and then there’s Tre. Charles, coming out of nowhere with a debut single that just about tops them all. With dreamlike vocals, a soft melody, a steady, confident beat, and a powerful, timely message, “Stressin” might be the calmest, chillest song you’ll hear all year about the struggles of getting by.
Listen to Tre. Charles’ appearance on 97.9 The Hill earlier this year, debuting this song.
5. Hiss Golden Messenger, Sanctuary
“Feeling bad, feeling blue…”
With more than ten albums now under his belt, MC Taylor has been the area’s most consistently solid songwriter for the last decade. I’ve said I don’t think he’s ever written a bad song, and he kept that streak going with 2021’s “Quietly Blowing It,” capped by this instant classic (just one of several fine singles off the album) that’s quickly become one of HGM’s most popular songs.
Is this the biggest hit the Triangle has produced this year? I’m not sure, but I heard “Sanctuary” playing at a restaurant in Michigan when I was up there last month, so it’s a pretty good bet.
4. Loamlands, Hear Me Now
“Yes, it has been some time/since I was fine…”
Like a local version of “Silver Springs”: this wonderful, sad, visceral, hypnotic song was initially recorded back in 2016 for Loamlands’ seminal album “Sweet High Rise,” only to be left off the final product – but finally saw the light of day this year, when Kym Register and crew released some of the outtakes from Sweet High Rise for a charity EP to support Down Home NC. (Though there are videos of live performances of the song, dating back to 2014.) And thank goodness, because “Hear Me Now” is a keeper: backed by the great Will Hackney, with Megafaun’s Brad Cook producing, Register’s quiet, powerful, aching voice soars – as much as their melancholy will allow.
3. Blue Cactus, Stranger Again
“Don’t it feel like the first time with you holding my heart?”
Blue Cactus again, the only band to make a repeat appearance on this top 20 list. I’ve already written about Steph and Mario’s terrific new album “Stranger Again,” of which this knockout single is the title track, but let’s pause and reflect on just what they’ve accomplished. There’s no shortage of great male-female duo acts in the Triangle — think Watchhouse, Sylvan Esso, Wye Oak, Violet Bell, Mad Crush, and A Different Thread, just to name the first ones I can rattle off the top of my head – and to stand out among that list of giants is a huge achievement. Blue Cactus not only does it, they make it look easy.
Is “Stranger Again” the best song off the album, or is it “Come Clean”? Both tracks are great, so feel free to swap them around in your own personal list if you like. I’ll go with this one, though: not only is it a fantastic song, it also captures a unique feeling, wanting to rekindle a dimming relationship by going back and recapturing that initial spark of possibility and wonder and desire.
2. Iron & Wine, Why Hate Winter
“Don’t offer your love, ‘cause I’m not the one who should take it…”
Sam Beam has a heck of a resume already, but “Why Hate Winter” might be his best song yet. Beginning with a deeply intimate picture of a couple in a private moment, Iron & Wine over six minutes slowly unveils a most Beam-like story of a man who’s drawn to his partner but fears he’s too damaged to love, or to deserve being loved in return.
The only problem with this one is that it’s so very seasonal: quiet and introspective – so much so that you can hear a music page turning in the recording – it’s hard to hear it without imagining a snowscape outside and a crackling fireplace nearby. As Beam himself says, it’s the sort of song “that just wouldn’t fit in the summer.” But the heck with it: “Why Hate Winter” is so good, I’ll play it anytime.
And finally:
1. Southern Culture on the Skids, Run Baby Run
“I gotta move before I lose my mind…”
Lots of great music in 2021, but you can’t top the OGs. Southern Culture on the Skids have been Chapel Hill music icons since the mid-80s, and with their pandemic project “At Home” they delivered not only their best album in nearly two decades, but also some of the best, catchiest, funnest individual songs they’ve ever recorded. The inimitable Mary Huff takes the lead on “Run Baby Run,” a simple, straightforward, fast-paced, engine-revved, retro ode to that feeling we’ve all been experiencing during this whole Covid nightmare: an urge to break free and break away, hop on a bike and take off, flying at high speeds, nowhere in particular into the night. Nobody captures that better than SCOTS – for that matter, nobody captures much of anything better than SCOTS. They’re still on top, after all these years.
Listen to Aaron’s conversation with Rick Miller and Mary Huff, earlier this year on 97.9 The Hill.
What’s your favorite local song of 2021 so far? Comment back and let us know!
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