The Chart Show: #1 Alabama Shakes and #4 Jack White inducted to Hall of Fame
by Mark Wheat
May 07, 2015
Alabama Shakes hold on to the top spot! That makes five weeks in total at #1, but it's the first time they've managed to retain it for two weeks in a row. They're inducted to the Chart Show Hall of Fame for the third time! Brittany Howard and the band also went to the top of the Billboard 200 chart last week, selling 97,000 copies of Sound & Color.
Submit your Chart Show ballot this week for a chance to win tickets to Matt and Kim's sold out show at Mill City Nights on Friday, May 22!
Jack White is inducted to the Chart Show Hall of Fame, too, but for the seventh time, putting him at #3 on the All-Time Hall of Fame behind the Black Keys and Arcade Fire. He's also shrewdly showing the potential of the new Tidal music streaming service by archiving video of his final acoustic tour date in Fargo and giving his Vault fan club members a heavy discount on a new Tidal subscription.
Mumford and Sons third record Wilder Mind released this week and it will be interesting to see how it sells as "their debut album as a rock band" says David Safar in his Album of the Week review.
Wolf Alice are the highest new entry this week at #11, just after playing their first Twin Cities show on Tuesday for a sold out crowd at the Turf Club. Asked to describe themselves in seven words they said, "Distorted pop weirdos who should know better." Find out even more about the band by checking out the band's in-studio and interview they recorded at The Current back in March.
My Morning Jacket are back after a two-week break just as their new album The Waterfall is released to generally positive reviews. Pitchfork gave it a 7.9 and Consequence of Sound did a nice job of putting it into perspective by gauging it against their previous work and explaining that this album "harkens back to their alt country roots, creating a remarkable vision of the American countryside in the process, one as filled with solitude as it is with wonder."
Belle and Sebastian are back after just a week's hiatus. The Scottish band performed in Cardiff in Wales over the "Bank Holiday" weekend (for May Day) and delighted the locals by being "fun, friendly, funny, good to the fans," playing a mix a new and old songs in front of '70s public safety videos. It will be interesting to see if they play the same videos when they play Rock the Garden on Saturday, June 20, as some seem to have a distinctly British connection!
Speaking of Wales: Catfish and the Bottlemen, another new entry this week, is from Llandudno! They start their first big stateside tour June 1 in D.C., hitting the Varsity Theater on June 9 and playing the big Bonnaroo Festival June 13. They're part of the Communion record label based in London that curates shows in eight cities including the Twin Cities. The next showcase is on May 19 at The Turf Club.
George Ezra slips into the basement space this week. He had to cancel his Coachella performance in April due to viral laryngitis but has obviously recovered as this testament from a paper near his home in Bristol shows how he spent the Bank Holiday weekend.