Chad VanGaalen Tops Chart

Hey y'all, I’m back. After a short vacation amongst the pines of southwestern Ontario, and a short work week afterward, it's time to jump back into the fray and take a cursory glance at the newly minted chart for the week beginning Sept. 14.

Following in the footsteps of his last release, Skelliconnection, back in September 2006, Chad VanGaalen finds himself once again "king of the hill, top of the heap, A #1" with his new release, Soft Airplane. VanGaalen’s new album only took three weeks to get to #1.

Stereolab's Chemical Chords moves up five positions to #2. Last week’s top dog, Human Highway's Moody Motorcycle, drops to #3. The self-titled ping-ponging former #1 from Women rises six spots to #4. Brendan Canning's Something For All Of Us... rises three places to #5 and is followed by The Pack A.D.'s Funeral Mixtape paralleling Canning's jump to #6.

With all this upward movement among the top five of six positions, somebody has to be suffering in the airplay department. The Stills' Oceans Will Rise falls five places to #7, while another former #1, Wolf Parade's At Mount Zoomer, drops two spots to #8. Elliott Brood's Mountain Meadows slides four places to #9. Rallying for another charge into the top 10 (after a month’s absence) is Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir's Ten Thousand, which improves by 13 positions.

With all this major movement at the top of the chart, it's a bit surprising that the highest debut of the week is down in the middle third of the top 50. This week's Chart Sizzler Award belongs to Montreal duo Hexes & Ohs. Their new Bedroom Madness arrives at #20 due mainly to reaching #1 at both CHUO (Ottawa) and CJAM (Windsor). The runner-up for top debut is Steve Dawson's Telescope at #26, followed immediately by Slim Twig's Vernacular Violence EP at #27. The other notable arrival is The Stolen Minks' High Kicks at #43. This album will surely be knocking on the #1 door quite soon. It'll be up to radio programmers across the nation to let it in.

Over in the land of specialty charts, only two albums remain at #1 from last week: Moka Only's Clap Trap on Hip-Hop and Chiwoniso's Rebel Woman on World/Folk. After more than a month of playing second fiddle to Fuck The Facts' Disgorge Mexico, Neuraxis' The Thin Line Between finally ascends to #1 in its seventh week on the Metal/Punk chart. Dandi Wind's Yolk Of The Golden Egg moves up a place to capture #1 on the Electronic chart in its second week in the top 10. Corey Wilkes' Drop It jumps three spots to hit #1 on the Jazz/Blues chart.