Islands Hold Back Charge From Flaming Lips

As the late great Foster Hewitt used to say at the beginning of his radio broadcasts, "Hello Canada, and hockey fans in the United States and Newfoundland." We're firmly into the second round of the NHL playoffs and, boy, are those serious prognosticators wrong about almost all of the current four series', especially in the east where Ottawa and New Jersey were going to battle to enter the Stanley Cup finals. I guess people continued to underestimate both the Sabres and the Toilet Bowls... I mean the Hurricanes. Of course, my pre-playoff prediction was San Jose beating New Jersey. Go Sharks, go!

Speaking of sharks, and the bodies of land they swim around, Islands' Return To The Sea remains at #1 on the top 50 chart for the week ending May 5. It fended off The Flaming Lips' At War With The Mystics, which charged up three positions to capture #2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Show Your Bones and The Lovely Feathers' Hind Hind Legs traded the #3 and #4 spots. Pink Mountaintops' Axis Of Evol moves up to #5. Neko Case's former #1, Fox Confessor Brings The Flood, tumbles down four places to #6. Run Chico Run's Slow Action moves up five spots to #7, followed by Sunset Rubdown's Shut Up I Am Dreaming at #8, The Stills' Without Feathers at #9 and Built To Spill's You In Reverse at #10.

Sunset Rubdown's album wins the Chart Sizzler sweepstakes and breaks a two-week streak where the winner could place no higher than the lower half of the chart. Shut Up I Am Dreaming garnered some major support, with five top 10 appearances on contributing stations' charts: #1 on CKXU (Lethbridge); #2 on CFUR (Northern BC); #3 at both CFRU (Guelph) and CITR (UBC); and #5 at CJSW (Calgary).

The Chart Sizzler runner-up is Final Fantasy's He Poos Clouds, which enters at a very respectable #14. Spank Rock's YoYoYoYoYo hits the chart at #18. There were a number of other debuts on the chart, including Jeff Healey And The Jazz Wizards' It's Tight Like That at #21, Moneen's The Red Tree at #23, The Streets' The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living at #29 and Tokyo Police Club's A Lesson In Crime at #37.

There were almost wholesale changes at the top of the specialty charts, with only Cannibal Corpse's Kill on the Metal/Punk chart holding onto its lofty position. Birdy Nam Nam's self-titled release returns to #1 on the Electronic chart. Soul Position's Things Go Better With RJ & Al moves up two positions to #1 on the Hip-Hop top 10. Black Ox Orkestar's Nisht Azoy ascends four places to grab top honours on the World/Folk chart. Medeski, Martin & Wood's Note Bleu: The Best Of The Blue Note Years 1998-2005 takes the #1 spot on the Jazz/Blues top 10 by jumping three places.