The logjam at the top of the NACC 200 continues as Courtney Barnett fends off all comers and plants her flag at #1 for a third straight week with her Mom + Pop release, Tell Me How You Really Feel. We know we’ve mentioned it before, but we’re frankly just really proud of College and Community radio for the love affair they’ve been having with solo women and female-fronted bands lately. Going back 17 weeks, 16 of them have featured women (either solo or fronting a band) at #1. To put that into perspective, Commercial Specialty radio in that same period has had one week each (on their album and singles charts) when that happened. AAA radio fares better with 5 of the last 17 weeks. And Alternative radio has had exactly zero weeks with a female or female-fronted band on top over the last 17. Barnett has no shortage of competition for the top with Father John Misty, Parquet Courts and Neko Case stacked up behind her at 2, 3, & 4. Expect a battle when charts resume in two
weeks.
Only one album cracks the NACC Top 10 this week. It comes from Lindsay Jordan aka Snail Mail. Jordan grew up in the Baltimore suburbs, learning classical guitar from the age of 5 and forming Snail Mail at just 15. Mary Timony of the band Helium was actually her guitar teacher. Snail Mail’s first EP, Habit, was released when she was 16. And now, just having graduated from high school, Jordan is signed to Matador Records and has released her debut LP, Lush. It hops 16-9 this week, giving her her first NACC Top 10.
As if a 19-year-old landing in the NACC Top 10 didn’t perhaps make you feel old, the NACC 200’s highest debut this week comes from 17-year-old Hana Vu. Born in San Francisco and raised in LA, Vu has been self-releasing music for the last several years on Bandcamp and SoundCloud. Recently signed to Fat Possum label Luminelle Recordings, Vu has now released her first official music with her debut EP, How Many Times Have You Driven By. It opens at #35 on the NACC 200 this week.
The chart’s biggest jumper this week comes from Cut Worms, the stage name for Cleveland-born, Brooklyn-based singer and songwriter Max Clarke. The moniker comes from the William Blake poem, Proverbs of Hell. Clarke went to school for illustration with aspirations of being a graphic designer but music was the only thing that didn’t feel like work to him. Clarke released his debut EP, Alien Sunset, last fall on Jagjaguwar Records and with Hollow Ground, has now released his first LP. It climbs 172-96 this week, tying it for the second lowest biggest climb the chart has seen, but the biggest climb is a noteworthy feat regardless of where it takes place.
Collecting the most Top 10 adds this week are Australian five-piece Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. The quintet formed in Melbourne in 2013 and includes a pair of brothers (Tom & Joe Russo), cousins Fran Keaney & Joe White, and odd-man-out hereditarily speaking, Marcel Tussie. After releasing two well-received EPs in 2016 and 2017, the band has now put out their debut LP, Hope Downs, on Sub Pop. Their album, in addition to most-added honors, rises from 62-39 on the NACC 200 this week.
Please note: Due to the Canada Day and Independence Day holidays across Canada and the US over this next reporting period, there will be no NACC Charts the week of July 3. Charts will resume, as usual, July 10. In addition, two new NACC genre charts will begin: Latin & Blues. And the NACC New Age Chart will be re-branded as the NACC Chill Chart.