The Chart Is Kind To Caribou

In one of the biggest surprises in recent chart history, a real dark horse has come outta left field and driven the ball out of the ball park for a grand slam. Last week's Chart Sizzler, Caribou's The Milk Of Human Kindness, leapfrogs 12 places to capture #1 on the campus chart this week, out-stepping Spoon's Gimme Fiction, which jumps two spots to #2. This is notable for two reasons: the double digit jump to #1 has been accomplished by only a handful of bands, most recently six months ago by Stars' Set Yourself On Fire. Also, Caribou currently holds down two #1 spots on the six charts (the top 50 and Electronic top 10), a feat only accomplished by Beastie Boys' To The 5 Boroughs and Blackalicious' Blazing Arrow since the weekly specialty charts began in May 2002.

Last week's #1, Hot Hot Heat's Elevator, drops two places to #3, as does Bloc Party's Silent Alarm at #4. P:ano's Brigadoon slides up one place to #5 while Beck's Guero experiences a resurgence in popularity, jumping back up the chart four places to #6. The big 'loser' at the top of the charts is Of Montreal's The Sunlandic Twins. Last week they were knocking on the champion's door. This week, they are also-rans as their album drops four spots to #7.

The Chart Sizzler of the week goes to The Mountain Goats' The Sunset Tree, which debuts this week at #8 with some key top ten support from CFRU (Guelph), CJSR (Alberta), CJSW (Calgary), CKMS (Waterloo) and CKUT (McGill), easily winning the race among new entries. As The Friendly Giant might've said, "You have to look way down" to find the runner-up debut. Lyrics Born's Same Shit, Different Day arrives at #27, followed by Old Reliable's The Burning Truth at #32 and Morrissey's Live At Earls Court at #36.

Quickly looking at a few other chart oddities, Prefuse 73's Surrounded By Silence EP returns to the charts after a week's absence at #20. Three of last week's top charting albums experienced the Big El Foldo. Great Lake Swimmers' Bodies And Minds dropped 15 places to #24. Joel Plaskett's La De Da nose-dived 20 spots to #25. The band with the big "L" on their forehead are Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band. Their LP, Horses In The Sky, plummets 35 places to #42.

The most interesting development on the specialty charts concerns Roots Manuva. The British rapper's latest album, Awfully Deep (which also sits at #10 on the top 50 chart), enters the Hip-Hop top 10 at #1. The only other new #1 is the Luaka Bop compilation, World Psychedelic Classics 3: Love's A Real Thing, The Funky Fuzzy Sounds Of West Africa which rises two places to capture the top spot on the World/Folk charts. Strapping Young Lad's Alien remains #1 on the Metal/Punk chart and William Parker Quartet's Sound Unity continues to dominate the Jazz/Blues top 10.