The Chart Show: Decemberists' opening act Alvvays jump ahead of headliner
by Mark Wheat
February 26, 2015
Our #1 for the third week in a row (fourth in all), alt-J, are up for British Group of the Year and Album of the Year at the Brit Awards which take place tonight in London. Earlier this week the band premiered video for "Pusher," the fourth single off This Is All Yours.
Submit your Chart Show ballot this week for a chance to win tickets to Benjamin Booker at First Avenue on Thursday, March 26!
The highest new entry this week is from the slightly unlikely duo of Seth Avett (of the famous Brothers) and Jessica Lea Mayfield. Together they're releasing an Elliott Smith covers album—after four years in the making—on March 17. They're touring behind the record while their other projects are on hiatus, visiting the Fitzgerald Theater on March 22.
Hozier gets a nice bump up six places this week after playing his first sold out show in the Twin Cities. He talked with Jade about trying Jucy Lucys and his love of Morris Day and the Time!
At #17 you'll find Catfish and the Bottlemen, a young band from Wales. They came in to record a session while in town for a sold out show last week. Frontman Van McCan told us of the real Catfish who's an Australian busker!
If you're lucky enough to have tickets to the sold out Decemberists show at Northrop, don't be fashionably late as Alvvays are opening! They jumped above the headliner this week with their first big hit on The Current, "Archie, Marry Me." Frontwoman Molly Rankin told Pitchfork this week how Noel Gallagher taught her how to play guitar.
Father John Misty is the highest mover up the Chart this week. He's been busy recording some great covers including Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box" for Valentine's Day and "Bird on the Wire" by Leonard Cohen for Canada's The Strombo Show. He opened a recent World Cafe session with "Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)," which lands at #10 this week.
Sleater-Kinney slip a few places this week. Their latest No Cities to Love is The Current's Album of the Week, which Andrea Swensson describes lyrically as "a continued commitment to promoting female empowerment and confidence." She also got to chat with Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss of the band for an extended interview before they played a sold out Valentine's gig at First Avenue.
There are a couple of new entries for Chart Show regulars, too: The Black Keys are #1 on The Current's All-Time Chart Show Hall of Fame list with nine inductions while Jack White is chasing them hard at #7 with six entries. Brand new this week—and only inducted once, back in July of 2011—are Death Cab For Cutie. They're touring for the first time without multi-instrumentalist and producer Chris Walla, starting in Arizona in early April and making their way to Norhtrop for a sold out show May 2. They just issued another track from the new album Kintsugi which will be out on March 31.