This article was published in the 2009 Year in Review issue of The Daily Tar Heel.
I’m a big fan of the music to come out of North Carolina this year. If you follow my writing at all, this is no secret.
I counted it up, and I’ve given 10 records from the Tar Heel state scores of 4 or 4.5 stars out of 5 this year. And frankly, if I weren’t looking at my own writing, a pattern like this would scream bias.
Seriously, how many great records can one state produce? What kind of fanboy yahoo am I that I have the audacity to claim that so much mind-blowing music came out of one area in one year?
Well, I admit that I, like any person who cares about music enough to write about it, do display a lot of fanboy tendencies. It’s an unavoidably natural by-product of running a locally focused entertainment publication that I would become more than a little obsessed with the music that happens around me.
But the moments in which I decided to give those high-star reviews weren’t the moments when I showed bias. No, those would be the times in the writing process when I tried to talk myself out of them.
Each of those records deserved its high rating, and the only sin I might be guilty of is toning back my praise to make myself look less like a fan and more like a critic.
Because when you look at the quantity and quality of N.C.-produced music this year, especially from the Triangle, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better year since the late ’90s.
Not since the indie-rock revolution of Merge and Superchunk took hold has this area boasted this much talent. And it’s not just a Chapel Hill thing anymore.
Behind the strength of bands such as excellent indie rock act Hammer No More The Fingers and genre-bending folk trio Megafaun, Durham is now home to a diverse and interactive music community every bit as good as the Brooklyns and Seattles.
Raleigh lays claim to a large share of the state’s national success as the lazily melodic folk of Bowerbirds has made a splash on the indie rock scene at large.
And Orange County has been no slouch with big-band pop act The Love Language poised to be the area’s next big star.
But sales figures and radio play aren’t what stand out to me about the unstoppable flood of sensational sound that has inundated the state this year.
It’s the diversity. We’ve got great metal bands, and we’ve got great pop bands. We can serve you up hip-hop one minute and avant garde the next. This year the musicians of our state have done it all, and they’ve done it better than almost anywhere else.
Renaissance? Revival? Golden Age? Call it what you will. I just can’t wait to hear what’s next.
Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.
