We have a new leader on the NACC 200 this week. It comes from Frankie Cosmos, who dethrones Soccer Mommy, ending her #1 run at four weeks. The Sub Pop release wastes no time racing to the top (66-5-1). Vessel is the third release from Greta Kline, daughter of actors Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates. The last six months have certainly been a great period for female artists. This week marks the 21st of the last 26 that a solo woman or a female-fronted band has been #1 on the NACC 200.
Making the biggest climb into the NACC Top 10 this week is Jack White. White has been a staple at college and community radio dating back to the 1999 self-titled debut release for The White Stripes, his breakthrough project with fellow Detroit native Meg White. There have been six White Stripes, two Ranconteurs, three Dead Weather and three solo releases since then, including this new LP, Boarding House Reach. His new record is a joint release on his own Third Man imprint with partner Columbia Records, who have co-released all his solo work. The album just reached #1 on our NACC Next Chart and jumps 17-9 on the NACC 200 this week (one of three new records to move into the Top 10). Also reaching the Top 10 is Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats (up 11-7), who are back at #1 on the NACC Non-Comm Chart as well.
Another one of those three Top 10 debuts comes from Young Fathers. Formed in Edinburgh, Scotland in 2008 by Alloysious Massaquoi, Kayus Bankole and Graham ‘G’ Hastings, the trio won the Mercury Prize for their debut release, Dead, in 2014. Cocoa Sugar is the band’s third album and first for Ninja Tune and rises 13-6 on the NACC 200 this week. It’s one of the Top 10 best-reviewed albums of 2018 so far based on cumulative reviews aggregated by Metacritic.
Leaping 177-53 this week on the NACC 200 is the simultaneously ominous and exuberantly named Nihilist Cheerleader. The Athens, Georgia-based four-piece are an up-and-coming band whose members are mostly just out of high school. Their debut release, Riot. Right? is out on Athens’ own DIY label Perfect Attendance Records.
We were able to feature two of our new Top 10 records this week because one album took our most-added and highest debut honors this week. That album comes from Philadelphia four-piece Hop Along. They released their debut LP in 2005. Their Saddle Creek debut followed in 2012 and their two releases since then, including Bark Your Head Off, Dog, have been put out on Saddle Creek as well. The album is most-added in a very competitive add week and blasts onto the NACC 200 at #32 this week. That impressive add-week debut, coupled with the number of Top 10 adds it accumulated certainly portends a big (possibly Top 10) jump next week.