We have a new #1! That’s something we have not been able to say in since August. As we mentioned last week, Mitski just barely held on to #1, but it was the biggest and most important week of her record-breaking eight-week run on top. This week she steps down 1-3. This has allowed Cat Power to jump 5-1 with her Domino Records release, Wanderer. It’s an impressive feat given her previous label rejected the album when she completed and turned it in. And it’s a wonderful lesson to always remain true to yourself. Chan Marshall also keeps an incredible run of female dominance at the top of the chart going. Solo female and female-fronted bands have now spent 45 of the last 53 weeks at #1 on the NACC 200.
Three albums make their climb into the NACC Top 10 this week. The biggest mover of the trio is Kurt Vile. His new Bottle It In LP (out on Matador Records) is his seventh solo studio album. Vile grew up with nine siblings in the Philadelphia suburb of Lansdowne. He began writing songs at 14 and recorded his first song on a friend of his brother’s four-track at 16. He released his first cassette tape at 17. His dedication over the next 20+ years has made him what many consider the Tom Petty of his generation, paralleling Petty’s rise in the age of disco and punk by writing and performing blue-collar rock-songs in an age dominated by hip-hop. Vile races 25-7 this week on the NACC 200. Also joining him in the Top 10 are Swearin’ (up 11-9) and Boy Pablo (rising 12-10).
The chart’s highest debut this week, at #34, comes from English quintet Basement. They formed in Ipswich, Suffolk, England in 2009 and have released four LPs, including their latest, Beside Myself. Basement’s first three albums were put out on Run For Cover. Their latest is their first major label release for Warner imprint Fueled by Ramen. NME recently hailed the band as “one of Britain’s next great guitar hopes” and called Beside Myself, “brilliant.”
The NACC 200’s biggest climber this week is from Matthew Dear. The producer, DJ and electronic avant-pop artist was born in Kingsville, Texas but moved to Detroit as a teenager where he became inspired by Detroit Techno. While attending the University Of Michigan, he and a friend, Sam Valenti IV, started the label Ghostly International. Dear has released seven LPs since his debut in 2003 including his latest, Bunny. He’s also released music under the monikers Audion, Jabberjaw & False over the years as well as remixing music for the likes of Spoon, the XX, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and Kylie Minogue. Bunny races 178-50 on the NACC 200 this week.
Cleveland, OH indie band Cloud Nothings score the week’s most-added record with their fifth LP, Last Building Burning. The band began in 2009 as a solo project for lead-singer Dylan Baldi. He recorded music and created fake bands on Myspace to showcase it. One of those made up bands was called Cloud Nothings. When an underground music promoter in Brooklyn invited the band to play a show opening for Real Estate, Baldi quickly got a band together for the performance. It was with that success that Baldi dropped out of college and dedicated his full time to Cloud Nothings. Last Building Burning (released on Carpark Records) is the first album to collect more than 100 Top 10 adds since Father John Misty’s God’s Favorite Customer did so back in June. Cloud Nothings’ previous effort, Life Without Sound, topped the NACC 200 in February of 2017.
Sharon Van Etten holds down the #1 spot @ NACC Singles again this week with “Comeback Kid” (which also becomes one of the highest charting singles on the NACC 200 this year, rising 78-67). The week’s most-added single comes from newcomer Chloe Lilac with her “Summer” b/w “Stolen Liquor” release. “Stolen Liquor” recently reached #1 on Hype Machine.
You can find 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 NACC NEXT, Heavy, Folk & Latin.
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) CLOUD NOTHINGS Last Building Burning [Carpark] //105//
2) ELVIS COSTELLO & THE IMPOSTERS Look Now [Concord] //83//
3) KERO KERO BONITO Time N’ Place [Polyvinyl] //75//
4) PETER BJORN & JOHN Darker Days [INGRID] //67//
5) FARAO Pure-O [Western Vinyl] //44//
#1 On NACC Genre Charts:
GENRE: ARTIST Title [Label]
NON-COMM: CAT POWER Wanderer [Domino]
NACC NEXT: CAT POWER Wanderer [Domino]
HEAVY: HIGH ON FIRE Electric Messiah [Entertainment One]
ELECTRONIC: MARIBOU STATE Kingdoms Of Colour [Counter]
HIP HOP: DENZEL CURRY TA1300 [Loma Vista/Concord]
JAZZ: CECILE MCLORIN SALVANT The Window [Mack Avenue]
FOLK: MOUNTAIN MAN Magic Ship [Nonesuch]
WORLD: AFRO-CUBAN ALL STARS A Toda Cuba Le Gusta [World Circuit]
CHILL: DARRELL KELLEY “Unity” [Self-Released]
BLUES: LINDSAY BEAVER Tough As Love [Alligator]
LATIN: ORLANDO CACHAITO LOPEZ Cachaito [World Circuit]
Most-Added @ NACC Genre:
GENRE: ARTIST Title [Label]
ELECTRONIC: HARRISON Apricity [Last Gang]
FOLK: WILLIE NELSON “Vote ‘Em Out” (Single) [Legacy]
HEAVY: GREENLEAF Hear The River [Napalm]
HIP HOP: DEM ATLAS Bad Actress [Rhymesayers]
JAZZ: JAMES FRANCIES Flight [Blue Note]
WORLD: TE’AMIR Abysinnia Rise [Tru Thoughts]
NACC Singles:
GENRE: ARTIST Title [Label]
#1 SINGLE: SHARON VAN ETTEN “Comeback Kid” [Jagjaguwar]
#1 MOST-ADDED SINGLE: CHLOE LILAC “Summer” b/w “Stolen Liquor” [Slumbo Labs]