NACC 200 NOTABLES:
1] With the NBA playoffs in full swing, we can’t help but force some sort of awkard analogy when we note that Arlo Parks’ third album, Ambigious Desire, is also her third to earn the #1 slot on the NACC 200 and has now spent a third week there. She nails the 3-pointer all the way from downtown! Or maybe that’s a hat-trick, with the NHL playoffs also going on. What do we know? We’re all mostly indie radio kids in the end. All we know is she’s having quite a run and it doesn’t seem to be ending just yet.
2] After hitting #1 and #2 most-added last week, the new records from Friko and Metric follow up their healthy debuts with equally healthy leaps into the Top 10, coming in at #4 and #7, respectively. While the records seemingly have nothing in common, you have one veteran band consciously returning to their roots while a younger band is reaching toward something bigger. Metric’s Romanticize The Dive is explicitly a look back at the early years of the band. Friko’s record is their bold sophomore step-up, coming along with much more ambition than their debut. One band is confident in who they are, one is still figuring that out to great effect. Both are taking big leaps into the top 10 this week. Also rounding out that trio is the new album from Weird Nightmare, who should also garner a mention as they jump from 22-10
3] The highest debut on the NACC 200 this week comes from the newest record from Akron heroes, the Black Keys. Peaches is a covers album, featuring Carney and Auerbach’s takes on blues cuts from R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Jessie Mae Hemphill, Arthur Crudup, Ike Turner, Wilko Johnson, and more. The tracklist grew out of Auerbach and Carney’s shared obsession with digging for old 45s, which has turned into a whole side project. The two throw DJ-set dance parties called Record Hangs, where they spin vintage vinyl.
4] The greatest gainer on the NACC 200 this week is the debut album by Seattle/Tacoma five-piece TV STAR. The band formed in 2020 over a shared love of psych, shoegaze, and alt-country. The story seems to go that they named themselves after a Butthole Surfers track off a cassette copy of Electriclarryland, which tells you something about where their heads are at.
5] Get ready for one last uninformed sports analogies because the most-added record at college, community, and non-commercial radio this week was American Football (LP4), by you guessed it, American Football. While they’ve never made clear which side of the soccer/futbol debate they come down on, their newest record is the first in 7 years and helps to process a lot of trauma within the band and their personal lives as we all grow older.
GENRE CHART HIGHLIGHTS:
1] After overtaking The Strokes, it seems that Jack White is the only one daring to challenge Death Cab For Cutie for the #1 spot on NACC Singles. While the Third Man honcho comes in at #2, the real story is DCFC’s “Riptides,” has now spent a 6th week at #1, with this week being the closest race since they took over the top slot back in March. Will their own new single, “Punching the Flowers” usurp the throne after scoring the most-added single this week? Only time will tell.
2] The only album to top two genre charts this week comes from Thundercat. Released 6 years to the day after his 2020 Grammy-winning It Is What It Is. The new album, Distracted, is #1 on both Hip-Hop and R&B/Soul and features A$AP Rocky, WILLOW, Tame Impala, Lil Yachty, and a notable posthumous feature from Mac Miller.
3] The year-end battle for the NACC World chart is already a heated battle, despite the year not even being half over. Coming in at #1 this week, we see Tinariwen tying Altin Gun for the most weeks spent atop NACC World this year, with five weeks apiece. In a way, both records honor what came before while still working to imbue the genre with new life. Tinariwen’s Hoggar finds the band going back to their earliest campfire roots of acoustic instrumentation and communal vocals. The band also made a point of featuring younger Tuareg musicians as a way of passing the torch. Altin Gün’s Garip pays tribute to Neşet Ertaş, an icon of Anatolian music, reimagining ten of his compositions with new string arrangements, saxophone, and synths.
