Marco Benevento’s The Story Of Fred Short is our number one this week! This sixth solo album was released on Royal Potato Family, a label co-founded by Benevento that hosts a beautiful array of artists, from other projects Benevento is involved in like Garage A Trois to fantastic acid jazz groups like Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey. The Story Of Fred Short relives the debauchery of a man named Fred Short, who at one time lived on the same patch of land in Woodstock, NY that Bevenento currently inhabits. It’s a funky album that showcases Benevento’s long, successful career as a pianist and his new (quite successful) attempts at being a lead vocalist. At times experimental and upbeat psych rock with more synthesizers and giddy feeling than you’d expect, the album is versatile and hard hitting.
Number two this week is Animal Collective with Painting With. This eleventh release from the Baltimore group sees a continuation of their well known fondness for experimentation, and much of the album is reminiscent of Panda Bear. Following that up is Eerie Wanda, with Hum. KJHK Music Staff writer Zach Hill describes the album as versatile and comforting; he says “Hum often has a psychedelic folk feel that moseys along,” while other tracks “bring to mind ’90s bands like The Cranberries” or “bedroom rock” similar to Frankie Cosmos.
Number four on the chart is another new release, Tacocat with Lost Time. This release is standard groovy surf rock, fem-fronted and perfect for the warming days of April. Closing out the top 5 is Kendrick Lamar. His surprise release untitled. unmastered. has been a number one for us in the past weeks, and although it’s only an eight track album of b-sides and unreleased material from the To Pimp A Butterfly sessions, it’s gorgeous and fleshed out, funky and hard hitting in the way that Kendrick always has been.
New to the chart this week: Marco Benevento with The Story Of Fred Short, Tacocat with Lost Time, Frankie Cosmos with Next Thing, Florist with The Birds Outside Sang, RJD2 with Dame Fortune, Com Truise with Silicon Tears, Explosions in the Sky with The Wilderness, Ray Lamontagne with Ouroboros, and Bob Mould with Patch The Sky.
| 1 | MARCO BENEVENTO | The Story Of Fred Short | Royal Potato Family | |
| 2 | ANIMAL COLLECTIVE | Painting With | Domino | |
| 3 | EERIE WANDA | Hum | BBIB | |
| 4 | TACOCAT | Lost Time | Hardly Art | |
| 5 | KENDRICK LAMAR | Untitled Unmastered. | Interscope | |
| 6 | HOP ALONG | Get Disowned (Reissue) | ||
| 7 | FRANKIE COSMOS | Next Thing | Bayonet | |
| 8 | BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW | SeeFu Lilac | Self-Released | |
| 9 | CHARLES BRADLEY | Changes | Daptone | |
| 10 | MOTHERS | When You Walk A Long Distance You Are Tired | Grand Jury | |
| 11 | OPUS ORANGE | Anatomic | Emoto | |
| 12 | BIBIO | A Mineral Love | Warp | |
| 13 | FLORIST | The Birds Outside Sang | Double Double Whammy | |
| 14 | WILD NOTHING | Life Of Pause | Captured Tracks | |
| 15 | SANTIGOLD | 99cents | Atlantic | |
| 16 | RJD2 | Dame Fortune | RJ’s Electrical Connection | |
| 17 | NAP EYES | Thought Rock Fish Scale | Paradise of Bachelors | |
| 18 | YUCK | Stranger Things | Mame | |
| 19 | COM TRUISE | Silicon Tears | Ghostly | |
| 20 | EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY | The Wilderness | Temporary Residence Ltd. | |
| 21 | CRATER | Talk To Me So I Can Fall Asleep | Help Yourself | |
| 22 | MOUNT MORIAH | How To Dance | Merge | |
| 23 | RAY LAMONTAGNE | Ouroboros | RCA | |
| 24 | ESPERANZA SPALDING | Emily’s D+Evolution | Concord | |
| 25 | M. WARD | More Rain | Merge | |
| 26 | BOB MOULD | Patch The Sky | Merge | |
| 27 | INTO IT. OVER IT. | Standards | Triple Crown | |
| 28 | BUR GUR | Have You Lost Your Faith In God? | New Los Angeles | |
| 29 | THAO AND THE GET DOWN STAY DOWN | A Man Alive | Ribbon | |
| 30 | FULLBLOODS | Mild West | High Dive |
Top 5 Adds this week:
| 1 | RJD2 | Dame Fortune | RJ’s Electrical Connection | |
| 2 | RADICAL FACE | The Family Tree: The Leaves | Nettwerk | |
| 3 | FRANKIE COSMOS | Next Thing | Bayonet | |
| 4 | PARQUET COURTS | Human Performance | Rough Trade | |
| 5 | KIRAN LEONARD | Grapefruit | Pias-Moshi Moshi |