A record we did not anticipate being matched so soon was the one Courtney Barnett set this summer by spending an unprecedented seven weeks at #1 with Tell Me How You Really Feel, especially now, the busiest time of the year for new music being released. But it’s happened! Mitski has fended off the competition again to match Barnett’s NACC 200-best seven weeks on top with her Be The Cowboy release. Congrats to Dead Oceans and Co-Sign for the accomplishment. And Mitski just announced Monday via Twitter that every single show on her upcoming North American tour is now sold out. We believe that all of your college and non-comm airplay contributed to that amazing feat in one way or another. Be The Cowboy has successfully fended off Oh Sees, Death Cab For Cutie & Blood Orange. Now a number of other releases are lined up to challenge for next week including Low (6-2) and Lala Lala (9-5).
Two other records are lining themselves up for potential runs at #1 with powerful climbs into the Top 10 this week. Hippo Campus move 37-6, but the biggest climb into the Top 10 comes from indie stalwarts, Metric. Led by Emily Haines (also a member of Broken Social Scene), the band’s seventh album, Art Of Doubt (MMI/Crystal Math), races 50-9. Metric is celebrating 20 years as a band. They formed as a duo in Toronto in 1998 and filled out to a quartet in 2002. Their lineup has remained unchanged since then. Art Of Doubt marks the first time Metric has used an outside producer for one of their albums. The band only had one person in mind and credits Justin Meldal-Johnsen (M83, Beck, Wolf Alice, Yacht) for helping them reconnect with their identity while continuing to move forward.
Molly Burch grew up in LA, the daughter of a writer/producer father and a mother who was a casting director. Growing up painfully shy and fearing even the slightest bit of attention, Burch had to overcome that anxiety when she discovered at age 11 that she could and wanted to sing. Burch attended college in Asheville, NC to study jazz vocal performance. She and her romantic and musical partner, Dailey Toliver, moved to Austin, TX a couple years back. Burch got signed the old-fashioned way, sending a demo to Captured Tracks, and to her surprise, was signed almost immediately. Please Be Mine was released to critical acclaim in 2017. Her sophomore release, First Flower, has scored this week’s highest debut on the NACC 200 at #28.
Our parade of ‘M’ musicians continues with Mountain Man. You may think upon hearing their name that they are breaking up our all-female line-up of artists making the biggest waves on the NACC 200 this week. But you would be mistaken. Mountain Man is a trio of women : Molly Erin Sarle, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig and Amelia Randall Meath who met while attending Bennington College in Vermont. They released their debut, Made The Harbor, in 2010 and toured behind the record for two years. A short creative break was drawn out when Meath ended up seeing another project she started, Sylvan Esso, take off. After an appearance at Justin Vernon’s Eaux Claires festival last year, the trio decided the time was right to record their sophomore LP. The result is their Nonesuch release, Magic Ship, which is the NACC 200’s biggest climber this week, up 193-74.
The week’s most-added record comes from indie darling Chan Marshall, better known as Cat Power. Marshall began making music in 1992 and over her 25+ year career has released 10 LPs including her latest, Wanderer. The six-year gap between this and her ninth record, Sun, is her longest between albums. Wanderer is her first effort for Domino Records after leaving her previous label, who she had been with for over 20 years. Marshall claims the label outright rejected her album saying it wasn’t good enough or strong enough to release and told her to do it over. She did not. In addition to collecting the most Top 10 adds of any release this week, Wanderer has already debuted at #42 on the NACC 200.
Rostam, who in addition to his own music has produced & composed music with a who’s who of indie artists (Vampire Weekend, Santigold, Hamilton Leithauser, Lykke Li, Frank Ocean, Solange, Tokyo Police Club, Angelique Kidjo & more) holds down the #1 spot at NACC Singles for a second week with “In A River.” There is a tie for most-added single. Singer and actress Sharon Van Etten has released the first single, “Comeback Kid,” from her next album Remind Me Tomorrow (due out in January) and Longwave have returned after a decade in hibernation. “Stay With Me” is the first taste of the band’s comeback album due out next year.
You can find the Top 20 of the NACC 200, the Top 5 of the NACC Adds Chart, and all of this week’s #1 genre releases and most-added genre records below. This week there are new #1s at World, Jazz, Folk, and Latin.
We’re pleased to report that we’re now (on average) processing more than 1,000 station-generated charts per week in order to build the Top 200 and all the breakout charts. Thank you for all the support and keep it coming!
Your eyes don’t have to be the only way you experience NACC’s musical highlights. Follow the ‘College Radio Weekly Highlights’ playlist on Spotify here and let your ears in on the action too.
NACC 200 Chart: Top 5 ADDS
# | ARTIST | TITLE | LABEL | # OF ADDS
1) CAT POWER Wanderer [Domino] //94//
2) SWEARIN’ Fall Into The Sun [Merge] //90//
3*) JERRY PAPER Like A Baby [Stones Throw] //66//
3*) PHOSPHORESCENT C’est La Vie [Dead Oceans] //66//
5) DEATH VALLEY GIRLS Darkness Reigns [Suicide Squeeze] //63//
* denotes tie
#1 On NACC Genre Charts:
GENRE: ARTIST Title [Label]
NON-COMM: DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE Thank You For Today [Atlantic]
NACC NEXT: DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE Thank You For Today [Atlantic]
HEAVY: PIG DESTROYER Head Cage [Relapse]
ELECTRONIC: APHEX TWIN Collapse (EP) [Warp]
HIP HOP: DENZEL CURRY TA1300 [Loma Vista/Concord]
JAZZ: CHRISTIAN SANDS Facing Dragons [Mack Avenue]
FOLK: IRON AND WINE Weed Garden (EP) [Sub Pop]
WORLD: RIO MIRA Marimba Del Pacifico [AYA]
CHILL: DARRELL KELLEY “Unity” [Self-Released]
BLUES: SHAMEKIA COPELAND America’s Child [Alligator]
LATIN: MELBREEZE Animazonia [Blue Canoe]
Most-Added @ NACC Genre:
GENRE: ARTIST Title [Label]
ELECTRONIC: ROBOT KOCH Sphere [Trees And Cyborgs]
FOLK: GREGORY ALAN ISAKOV Evening Machines [Dualtone]
HEAVY: HIGH ON FIRE Electric Messiah [Entertainment One]
HIP HOP: RAZ SIMONE Drive Theory [Black Umbrella]
JAZZ: ORRIN EVANS & THE CAPTAIN BLACK BIG BAND Presence [Smoke Sessions]
WORLD: ANIMANZ AND JUANITA EUKA Exotic Other [Tru Thoughts]
NACC Singles:
GENRE: ARTIST Title [Label]
#1 SINGLE: ROSTAM “In A River” [Matsor Projects]
#1 MOST-ADDED SINGLE: SHARON VAN ETTEN “Comeback Kid” [Jagjaguwar]