The Chart Show: Decemberists blaze to the top, Father John Misty inducted to Hall of Fame
by Mark Wheat
February 05, 2015
The Decemberists' new album What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World came out last week and garnered their highest ever position on the Billboard Top 200 at #7, and the first official single "Make You Better" is their first #1 on Billboard's Adult Alternative Songs. That song was inducted into our Hall of Fame last week and the second single "Lake Song" went straight to #1 on the Chart Show this week! The band has added more tour dates around the planet including a really good triple bill at Red Rocks in Colorado with Spoon and Courtney Barnett!
Submit your Chart Show ballot this week for a chance to win tickets to Tweedy's show at First Avenue on Sunday, March 8!
Modest Mouse are still blazing up the Chart with "Lampshades on Fire," the first track released off their forthcoming album Strangers to Ourselves. Following "Coyotes," they debuted the third single this week titled "The Best Room" and announced that they have pushed the record's release date back to Tuesday, March 17 — unless it gets leaked, of course.
St. Vincent solidifies her standing at #4 and has broken into the world of GQ magazine who compare her to David Bowie, saying she has "truly located a planet of her own".
Father John Misty is inducted to our Chart Show Hall of Fame for the fourth time, putting him at #18 on the all-time Hall of Fame, just ahead of alt-J — at least for another five weeks.
Punch Brothers are brand new at #11 this week. They're preparing a long national tour in support of Phosphorescent Blues including a stop at First Avenue on Sunday, March 1. But first Chris Thile of the band will host a couple of shows of A Prairie Home Companion in downtown St. Paul.
Hozier is back this week with the third song to make the Chart, an indication that he is so much more than the one big hit he's had globally. A nice review of one of his first London shows suggests that he'll keep proving that on the road. The Independent writes, "Hozier has no idea just quite how much of a delight it is to see him perform ... a mind-blowing talent."
Laura Marling is another new entry new entry this week at #16. She turned 25 years old last Sunday and celebrated by playing one of her first shows in support of her upcoming album Short Movies. She also got a rave review in London's The Telegraph which hinted that her sound is shifting in an interesting direction without quite revealing what that direction is.
Glass Animals creep quietly into the basement space of the Chart this week. It seems their music worms its way into our consciousness in a slow deliberate fashion, too. Listen to how they come to make it in one of my favorite in-studio sessions of last year.
Finally, a shout-out to all of you who made The Current's 10th Anniversary celebration so great. We're starting to sprinkle some of the performances from the ten days into our music mix, and I might have to play this song every night as Slug re-worked the lyrics to "Say Shh..." to include ... me!