Charts n’ Adds: 9/6 – 9/13

revised-avalanches-general-use-image-june-2016As summer comes to a close, the charts ramp up with some of the largest competition of the year. It is fitting that KJHK’s top 30 is championed still by The Avalanches’ Wildflower. Filled with flowery, warm beats that float out of car stereos in the most vulgar way, this album was up until recently complete legend. The Australian group of music producers and plunder-phonic gods made a monumental debut with 2000’s Since I Left You and then sunk back into the shadows. If the debut was a disco-filled night, hopping from dance party to nightclub to dance club through a vibrant city; Wildflower is a warm and colorful waltz through golden fields and sunny coasts. The trademarks of the group remain true – a quilt of sound and genre that spans decades and notoriety. The sampling on this record remains some of the best and continuous in the game as the album launches you through star-studded tracks like “If I Was A Folk Star” and “The Wozard of Iz.”

The second album on our top 30 is Angel Olsen’s My Woman. The folk/americana queen seeks to break the cycle of genre-expectation with what is by all accounts, a rock album. St. Louis born and North Carolina-based, Olsen is often whispered to be the successor to Bonnie “Prince” Billie’s folk throne – but drop the premonitions at the door. The guitars are heavy and and the gain is cranked up. On this album, Olsen matches her poetics and ghostly voice with faux lo-fi instrumentation and delivers something more reminiscent of the Pretenders, Alex G, or Mitski than the Julia Holter that may be expected. This album is best represented by “Shut Up Kiss Me,” a song to sing when nobody is watching.

Coming in at number three is Whitney’s Light Upon The Lake, a somber and clopping indie classic. Whitney – half of the Smith Westerns (RIP) – is a duo of Chicago-based rockers who seek to refine a more western sound. Falsetto and americana electric guitars pull the beat through heartbreak in the best of ways. See “Golden Days.” Spot number four is dedicated to Susan’s Never Enough, a femme-rock dream. This album masterfully blends crunchy guitar with surfy chord progression. Everything is simultaneously rough and tight. See “I’ve Been Known.” Finally, coming in at number five is Western Medication’s The Entertainer’s Secret. This poppy Nashville-based post-punk quartet packs anything but the ultra-clean church drum production trademarked to the Nashville sound. This album is vaguely New Order meets Drowners. See “Chins.”

Some of the Top Adds this week include Preoccupations’ (FKA Viet Cong) Preoccupations, and Wilco’s Shmilco.

1 AVALANCHES Wildflower Astralwerks
2 ANGEL OLSEN MY WOMAN Jagjaguwar
3 WHITNEY Light Upon The Lake Secretly Canadian
4 SUSAN Never Enough Volar
5 WESTERN MEDICATION The Entertainers’ Secret Self-Released
6 GRAPE ROOM Heart Of Gum
7 DROWNERS On Desire Frenchkiss
8 MOON HOOCH Red Sky Hornblow
9 BADBADNOTGOOD IV Innovative Leisure
10 SUPERMOON Playland Mint
11 JERRY PAPER Toon Time Raw! Bayonet
12 DJ SHADOW The Mountain Will Fall Mass Appeal
13 JC FLOWERS Driving Excitement And The Pleasure Of Ownership ATP
14 DANIEL ROMANO Mosey
15 ANTHONY D’AMATO Cold Snap New West
16 MITSKI Puberty 2 Dead Oceans
17 CCR HEADCLEANER Tear Down The Wall In The Red
18 YOUNG MAGIC Still Life Carpark
19 BAT FOR LASHES The Bride Warner Bros
20 COUNTERCULTURE Not For Pressure [EP]
21 TOMEMITSU Loaf Eye Chill Mega Chill
22 SWANS The Glowing Man Young God
23 PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING The Race For Space Remixes Test Card
24 APHEX TWIN Cheetah [EP] Warp
25 PREOCCUPATIONS Preoccupations Jagjaguwar
26 DAVID NANCE More Than Enough Ba Da Bing
27 PARQUET COURTS Human Performance Rough Trade
28 CELLARS Phases Manifesto
29 WILD NOTHING Life Of Pause Captured Tracks
30 BIBIO A Mineral Love Warp