Neko Case Scores A Hat Trick

Neko Case's Fox Confessor Brings The Flood sits at #1 on the Top 50 chart for the third straight week after compiling more than 1,500 cumulative points for a second week in a row. She's making a strong case for ending up in the top 10 at the end of 2006. Stick around for the next six-and-a-half months to find out.

Remaining at a very distant #2 for a second week is Pink Mountaintops' Axis Of Evol. Magneta Lane's Dancing With Daggers moves up one place to #3, replacing Belle And Sebastian's The Life Pursuit, which tumbles one spot to #4. Mogwai's Mr. Beast rises three positions to #5, paralleling Calexico's Garden Ruin's move from #9 to #6. Destroyer's Destroyer's Rubies drops to #7, while Cat Power's The Greatest slides three spots to #8. That gives Matador three entries in the top 10.  

The Chart Sizzler Award goes to NYC trio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Show Your Bones debuts at #9 with help from the #1 ranking by CFMU (McMaster). That's the second week in a row of major influence for "Hammer Radio," as their #1 album last week, Hank Williams III's Straight To Hell, was the previous Sizzler winner. There was a strong crop of debuts, as Islands' Return To The Sea enters at #17, Built To Spill's You In Reverse debuts at #22 and Band Of Horses' Everything All The Time arrives at #23. Other notable new entries include Quasi's When The Going Gets Dark at #32, The Essex Green's Cannibal Sea at #35, Buzzcocks' Flat-Pack Philosophy at #44 and Glen Kotche's Mobile at #50.

There was substantial turnover at the top of the specialty charts, as three leaders took a tumble. The Ghostly International label compilation, Idol Tryouts Two, jumps one place to grab top spot on the Electronic chart. Aceyalone's Magnificent City ascends two places to take #1 on the Hip-Hop chart. William Parker's Long Hidden: The Olmec Series enters the Jazz/Blues top 10 at #1, which isn't too unusual for the volatile chart. Kataklysm's In The Arms Of Devastation remained at #1 on the Metal/Punk chart, while the Congotronics 2 compilation appears to be growing roots at the top of the World/Folk top 10, as it stays there for a sixth consecutive week.