Songs We Love is a series and a podcast that looks at the stories behind some of the songs we're playing on our new music discovery station, WUNC Music.
On Part Two of our 18 for '18 special we continue to discuss some of our favorite albums of the year. This time around you'll hear discussion about and music from Sarah Shook & The Disarmers, H.C. McEntire, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Janelle Monae, Mountain Man, Mt. Joy, Death Cab For Cutie, Courtney Barnett, and The Dead Tongues.
On Sarah Shook & The Disarmers
“It used to be that we were the only ones behind Sarah Shook and the Disarmers and now everyone is behind them. Her blend of punk rock attitude and outlaw country, it can sound primitive, but they recorded it in this beautiful studio and got this big, whomping sound. This (‘Years’) is the ultimate breakup record. What you come out of after listening to it is that you know that Sarah Shook remains unbreakable and she will always persevere.” – Eric Hodge
On HC McEntire
“You might know HC McEntire from Mt Moriah. They put out three fantastic records between 2011 and 2016. She’s doing the solo thing now. Her music has always felt very personal and that’s especially true on this solo record called ‘Lionheart’ “ -- Brian Burns
On St Paul and the Broken Bones
“Well besides the fact that they’re great, they formed back in 2012 in Birmingham Alabama and then kinda blew up shortly thereafter. They made friends with John Paul White from the Civil Wars. He put out their first couple records. They’ve been on Morning Edition. They even toured with the Rolling Stones.” -- David Brower
On Janelle Monae
“You’d have to be crazy not to love Janelle Monae. All of her records have been great, but I think she really stepped it up with this one (‘Dirty Computer’). It’s just filled with anthems and I think it’s cool that people are still making concept albums.” -- Brian Burns
On Mountain Man
“This (‘Magic Ship’)is their first record in 8 years and it’s refreshingly quiet. I think when I talked to them I said it sounds like lulabyes for grown-ups. You can hear crickets and frogs in the background and that’s intentional. They gathered around one microphone, not in a recording studio, but rather in a living room. They opened up the windows and this music came out. When you see them it is absolutely magic.” -- Eric Hodge
On Mt Joy
“Mt Joy is a Philadelphia band that recently relocated to Los Angeles. They are one of NPR’s Slingshot artists which means that NPR stations across the country like WUNC Music think that that’s a band that needs to be listened to.” -- Brian Burns
On Death Cab for Cutie
“Somehow they combine their hooky pop roots with their punk sensibility – there’s also this incredibly infectious backbeat which sounds like he’s channeling some sample based music.” -- David Brower
On Courtney Barnett
“This album is just full of songs we played a whole lot this year. She’s just such a unique songwriter, her lyrics are fantastic and fun and original. Of all the songs we played ‘Nameless, Faces’ was definitely my favorite.” - Brian Burns
On The Dead Tongues
“Dead Tongues is the project of singer/songwriter Ryan Gustafson. He used to live in the Triangle but moved to Asheville a few years back. ‘Unsung Passages’ is his third album. He had a bunch of friends play on the record including Molly from Mountain Man.” -- Brian Burns
Listen to the episode here:
You can find all the albums on WUNC Music's 18 for '18 at Schoolkids Records in Raleigh and Chapel Hill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZZSYDhx0FI
