Black Mountain Can't Climb Higher

02/20/08 6:00pm

by Chris Burland (CHARTattack)

After almost 14 years of compiling charts for Chart magazine and ChartAttack, I've noticed a few general yearly trends. The two periods when there are more radio stations contributing charts are September to October and February to March. As a result, the composite totals for #1 albums during these times are usually higher than at other times of the year. Back during The New Pornographers' record-breaking turn at the top of the top chart in September 2005, Twin Cinema broke the 2,000-point mark to set a benchmark for #1 albums.

This week, Black Mountain's In The Future racked up 1,791 points to top the top chart and outdistance Cat Power's Jukebox by more than 400 points. Coming a close third is Jason Collett's Here's To Being Here, while The Magnetic Fields' Distortion switches places with Vampire Weekend's self-titled release at #4 and #5. Luke Doucet And The White Falcon's Blood's Too Rich remains at #6, while Buck 65's Situation rises three places to #7. The Mountain Goats' Heretic Pride moves up a notch to #8, followed by the top debut and this week's Chart Sizzler winner, Hot Chip's Made In The Dark, at #9. The Evaporators' Gassy Jack And Other Tales slips two positions to #10.

Nine stations charted Made In The Dark, with CISM (Montreal) and CRAM (Ryerson) puting it at #2. CFRU (Guelph) had it at #3 and CJAM (Windsor) charted it at #5. The runner-up debut is Xiu Xiu's Women As Lovers at #13. Bob Mould's District Line enters at #16 and Cadence Weapon's much-anticipated Afterparty Babies arrives at #19. Other notable debuts include Mahjongg's Kontpab at #22, Laura Barrett's Earth Sciences EP at #26 and Kelley Stoltz's Circular Sounds at #32.

The Ocean's Precambrian rises a spot to grab honours on the Metal/Punk chart. Making an even more impressive rise to the top is Cheb I Sabbah's Devotion, which jumps eight positions on the World/Folk chart. Remaining in the #1 spots on the other three charts are Daft Punk's Alive 2007 on Electronic, Buck 65's Situation (for a record 12th straight week) on Hip-Hop and Out To Lunch's Excuse Me While I Do The Boogaloo on Jazz/Blues for a third week.