Alvvays fend off fierce competition and hoard a fourth straight week at #1 on the NACC 200 this week. By doing so they match Ty Segall and Broken Social Scene for the longest run atop the chart in 2017. Also, we give up trying to find something new and interesting to tell you about the band. We’ve featured them in every chart recap for the last six weeks. We get it. You’re all obsessed with them! But seriously, congrats to Polyvinyl and the band. Definitely shaping up to be one of 2017’s very top NACC-charting releases.
The lone new entry into the NACC Top 10 this week comes from Wolf Parade. We featured the Montreal quartet two weeks ago when they were our #1 most-added record. Now they rise not just into the Top 10 but also the Top 5 (12-5) with their first release since 2010. A long hiatus didn’t mean the members were not busy. Various albums from side projects such as Handsome Furs, Divine Fits and Sunset Rubdown were released. But Wolf Parade have returned, with heady material about death (including songs about the passing of Leonard Cohen and David Bowie) and politics and the result is one of the best reviewed albums of 2017.
Leaping from 182-46 this week are Mister Heavenly, a supergroup that includes Honus Honus of Man Man, Nicholas Thorburn from Islands and The Unicorns and Joe Plummer of Modest Mouse and The Shins. When the trio recorded their first album, 2011’s Out Of Love, Michael Cera toured with the band as their bassist. Their sophomore release is this week’s biggest climber.
Taking two of our weekly feature honors this week is College/Community-favorite, Beck. He simultaneously takes top add honors and scores the week’s highest debut, at #17, with his 13th LP, Colors. Beck joins LCD Soundsystem as the only act this year to land the NACC 200’s highest debut with advance tracks from an album and then again with the full album. “Dear Life” and “Up All Night” preceded Colors and debuted together back in September. “Up All Night” recently became Beck’s 8th Alternative Top 10 dating back to his #1 smash “Loser” in 1994. Beck’s 120 Top 10 Adds this week give him just the fourth album to collect 120+ ‘add week’ adds this year.
We have room to feature one other band this week, given Beck’s double-feature. And we’d be hard-pressed not to make it the new album from Bully. They put on a battle-royale with Beck for the #1 add this week and came up one excruciating add short. Almost any other week 119 adds would easily give you #1 add honors. So we’re happy we were able to feature them anyway. Bully was founded by Minnesota native Alicia Bognanno. An internship at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio Studios in Chicago is where she first began recording demos. Now living in Nashville, Bognanno and her band have released their sophomore LP, Losing, out on Sub Pop.
NACC 200 Chart: Top 5 ADDS
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# | ARTIST | TITLE | LABEL | # OF ADDS
1] BECK Colors [Capitol] //120//
2] BULLY Losing [Sub Pop] //119//
3] THE RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE The WIld [Saddle Creek/Paper Bag] //79//
4] MAKTHAVERSKAN III [Run For Cover] //77//
5] STARS There Is No Love In Florescent Light [Last Gang] //67//
#1 On NACC Genre Charts:
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GENRE | ARTIST | TITLE | LABEL
NON-COMM: THE NATIONAL Sleep Well Beast [4AD]
NACC NEXT: LCD SOUNDSYSTEM American Dream [DFA/Columbia]
ELECTRONIC: ODESZA A Moment Apart [Counter]
HEAVY: AUGUST BURNS RED Phantom Anthem [Fearless]
HIP HOP: OPEN MIKE EAGLE Brick Body Kids Still Daydream [Mello]
JAZZ: BLUE NOTE ALL STARS Our Point Of View [Blue Note]
FOLK: JOLIE HOLLAND AND SAMANTHA PARTON Wildflower Blues [Cinquefoil]
WORLD: ANTIBALAS Where the Gods Are in Peace [Daptone]