COLLEGE RADIO RECAP WEEK 17 CMJ ISSUE 1438

For whatever reason I feel like I need to get these out early every week but I am thinking about pushing it to late Wednesday or Thursday. If anyone has an opinion on that let me know.

This week Parquet Courts EASILY took #1 on the top 200. Only 100 stations did not chart Parquet Courts. So 62% of all stations reporting had them on there. I expect this to grow as well. Making the top 5 for the next few weeks a bit messy/ stressful if you are any other record.

1	2	5	1	4	PARQUET COURTS	Human Performance	Rough Trade
2	3	2	2	5	TACOCAT	Lost Time	Hardly Art
3	1	1	1	5	ANDREW BIRD	Are You Serious	Loma Vista
4	6	158	4	3	M83	Junk	Mute
5	5	8	5	4	YEASAYER	Amen And Goodbye	Mute

Obviously it will be interesting to watch M83 vs Parquet Courts over the next few weeks. Even more interesting is the timing of this weeks #1 add King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.  So many factors will go into these next few weeks. One of the biggest ones is final exams. They can make a mess of the charts. That plus MD's graduating and or stations going off air. Could be harder for some records to have traction. 

With Parquet Courts going #1 this week they have had a #1 record in each of the last 3 years. 

Pretty crazy. 

The first one was Issue 1350 

TW	LW	2W	PK	WKS	Artist	Recording	Label
1	3	8	1	4	PARQUET COURTS	Sunbathing Animal	What’s Your Rupture?
2	1	1	1	6	BLACK KEYS	Turn Blue	Nonesuch
3	2	2	2	6	CONOR OBERST	Upside Down Mountain	Nonesuch
4	5	71	4	4	JACK WHITE	Lazaretto	Third Man
5	10	14	5	3	ORWELLS	Disgraceland	Canvasback

They would stay #1 for 2 weeks drop to #2 and then regain the #1 spot for a third week.  Later that year (2014) they would go for adds on another record and get #1 early in 2015 for one week on issue 1375. 

TW	LW	2W	PK	WKS	Artist	Recording	Label
1	2	5	1	5	PARQUET COURTS	Content Nausea	What's Your Rupture?
2	1	1	1	7	TV ON THE RADIO	Seeds	Harvest
3	3	3	3	6	ARIEL PINK	Pom Pom	4AD
4	4	11	4	4	TY SEGALL	Singles 2	Drag City
5	5	2	2	7	DEERHOOF	La Isla Bonita	Polyvinyl

It will be interesting to see what kind of strides M83 makes this next week towards #1. 

The last record was 2011 and that can be a lifetime at college radio. Some stations forget artists if they don't have a record every 2 years. Of course artists like M83 or Modest Mouse or Black Keys or TV on the Radio can take some time and not have to worry about being forgotten. But some stations do forget.  Some station I talked to had no idea who Tegan and Sara was so they were new to them.  

I can't go back to the last time M83 was #1 on the CMJ charts but I can get pretty close. Issue 1229 was the last issue with M83 at #1 and the website currently goes back to 1239 so we miss it by 10. 

But we should take a look at that chart. 

M83 is still on there 

112	-	-	112	1	CARAVAN OF THIEVES	The Funhouse	United For Opportunity
113	71	74	23	13	CLOUD CONTROL	Bliss Release	Turnout
114	69	46	1	18	M83	Hurry Up, We're Dreaming	Mute
115	115	130	115	3	PUNCH BROTHERS	Who's Feeling Young Now	Nonesuch
116	103	100	100	4	ARCHERS OF LOAF	Vee Vee	Merge
117	86	55	55	5	JEALOUS SOUND	A Gentle Reminder	Music Is Subjective

Intersting for me to see Archers of Loaf on there since Pirate! is currently working his solo record. 

M83 would stay on the charts for 26 weeks! until issue 1247 and it may of stayed on longer had there not been the winter break. 

173	120	134	117	9	CHUCK PROPHET	Temple Beautiful	Yep Roc
174	117	177	117	5	YANN TIERSEN	Skyline	Anti
175	169	184	169	4	KASPER BJORKE	Fool	HFN
176	148	162	1	26	M83	Hurry Up, We're Dreaming	Mute
177	-	-	165	2	ANDRE WILLIAMS	Hoods And Shades	Bloodshot
178	-	-	6	15	PORCELAIN RAFT	Strange Weekend	Secretly Canadian
179	147	-	147	2	OUTER MINDS	Outer Minds	SouthPaw

But I wanted to also take a look at the top of the last charts we can go back to on CMJ 

1	3	1	6	TENNIS	Young And Old	Fat Possum
2	2	1	1	6	DR. DOG	Be The Void	Anti
3	4	70	3	4	SLEIGH BELLS	Reign Of Terror	Mom And Pop
4	8	17	4	4	GRIMES	Visions	4AD
5	3	2	1	12	BLACK KEYS	El Camino	Nonesuch
6	5	9	5	5	FRANKIE ROSE	Interstellar	Slumberland
7	16	18	7	4	MEMORYHOUSE	The Slideshow Effect	Sub Pop
8	18	-	8	2	HUNX	Hairdresser Blues	Hardly Art
9	13	13	9	3	FUN	Some Nights	Fueled By Ramen
10	6	6	6	6	SHARON VAN ETTEN	Tramp	Jagjaguwar
11	11	22	11	4	YELLOW OSTRICH	Strange Land	Barsuk
12	110	-	12	2	MAGNETIC FIELDS	Love At The Bottom Of The Sea	Merge
13	15	11	11	6	HEARTLESS BASTARDS	Arrow	Partisan
14	10	5	3	7	OF MONTREAL	Paralytic Stalks	Polyvinyl
15	17	12	12	4	ISLANDS	A Sleep And A Forgetting	Anti

How many of these records would have the chance at going #1 today? 

I think its just really neat to look back at how much can change in a year, 2 years longer... 

The longer the gap between records the harder it gets for them to keep that fan base. The Black Keys had a record a year for many years, Ty Segall has one every year pretty much now. 

However a counter to that is Sleater Kinney. The break between albums was longer than M83 by far but how they returned was part of the story. It was largely a surprise.  Is Pitchfork the major driver in what is still relevant. Looking at Sleater Kinney they came back and scored best new music 8.7 and were once again darlings. But also every record listed on Pitchfork from Sleater Kinney has at least an 8.3.  Perhaps that is the key. 

Thanks for reading. Lets talk more on the internet. 

CMJ ISSUE 1437 WEEK 16 COLLEGE RADIO RECAP

Well I was not expecting this thats for sure. I thought we would see a one and done with Andrew Bird this week but he not only held strong in the #1 spot on the charts his lead grew from 57% of stations to 61% of stations!  This of course leads to the most exciting outcome if you enjoy watching what is going on at the top of the charts like I do.  

Parquet courts does move to #2 from #5 while last weeks #1 most added M83 jumps all the way to #6. This does remind me a lot of last year at this very same time.  Lets take a look back.


It all started with a big record, Modest Mouse going for adds and taking the #1 spot pretty easily but... not destroying it like we thought they might.

1	137	MODEST MOUSE	Strangers To Ourselves	Epic
2	97	COURTNEY BARNETT	Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit	Mom And Pop

A few weeks later we had this : 

1	1	2	1	7	DAN DEACON	Gliss Riffer	Domino
2	9	94	2	3	COURTNEY BARNETT	Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit	Mom And Pop
3	5	35	3	9	MODEST MOUSE	Strangers To Ourselves	Epic
4	3	4	3	9	PURITY RING	Another Eternity	4AD
5	32	-	5	2	SUFJAN STEVENS	Carrie And Lowell	Asthmatic Kitty

I thought for sure at this time that Modest Mouse would jump into the #1 spot the next week and easily ride it out for a few weeks. 

The next week though Courtney Barnett took the #1 spot and stayed there for 4 weeks 

TW	LW	2W	PK	WKS	Artist	Recording	Label
1	2	9	1	4	COURTNEY BARNETT	Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit	Mom And Pop
2	3	5	2	10	MODEST MOUSE	Strangers To Ourselves	Epic
3	5	32	3	3	SUFJAN STEVENS	Carrie And Lowell	Asthmatic Kitty
4	1	1	1	8	DAN DEACON	Gliss Riffer	Domino
5	11	72	5	8	DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE	Kintsugi	Atlantic

Week 2

1	1	2	1	5	COURTNEY BARNETT	Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit	Mom And Pop
2	2	3	2	11	MODEST MOUSE	Strangers To Ourselves	Epic
3	3	5	3	4	SUFJAN STEVENS	Carrie And Lowell	Asthmatic Kitty
4	6	10	4	4	CHASTITY BELT	Time To Go Home	Hardly Art
5	9	124	5	3	TORO Y MOI	What For?	Carpark

week 3

TW	LW	2W	PK	WKS	Artist	Recording	Label
1	1	1	1	6	COURTNEY BARNETT	Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit	Mom And Pop
2	2	2	2	12	MODEST MOUSE	Strangers To Ourselves	Epic
3	3	3	3	5	SUFJAN STEVENS	Carrie And Lowell	Asthmatic Kitty
4	6	10	4	4	WAXAHATCHEE	Ivy Tripp	Merge
5	5	9	5	4	TORO Y MOI	What For?	Carpark

week 4

TW	LW	2W	PK	WKS	Artist	Recording	Label
1	1	1	1	7	COURTNEY BARNETT	Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit	Mom And Pop
2	4	6	2	5	WAXAHATCHEE	Ivy Tripp	Merge
3	34	-	3	2	ALABAMA SHAKES	Sound And Color	ATO
4	3	3	3	6	SUFJAN STEVENS	Carrie And Lowell	Asthmatic Kitty
5	5	5	5	5	TORO Y MOI	What For?	Carpark

And the week after

1	3	34	1	3	ALABAMA SHAKES	Sound And Color	ATO
2	1	1	1	8	COURTNEY BARNETT	Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit	Mom And Pop
3	2	4	2	6	WAXAHATCHEE	Ivy Tripp	Merge
4	9	12	4	3	MIKAL CRONIN	MCIII	Merge
5	5	5	5	6	TORO Y MOI	What For?	Carpark

Timing is really everything sometimes. Looking back at last year Courtney Barnett blocked Modest Mouse and because Modest Mouse was pushing for #1 that had an impact on Sufjan Stevens, Waxahatchee, perhaps even Toro Y Moi. All of those record could of been #1 records at different times of the year. 

So back to this week 

TW	LW	2W	PK	WKS	Artist	Recording	Label
1	1	5	1	4	ANDREW BIRD	Are You Serious	Loma Vista
2	5	131	2	3	PARQUET COURTS	Human Performance	Rough Trade
3	2	7	2	4	TACOCAT	Lost Time	Hardly Art
4	3	4	3	6	IGGY POP	Post Pop Depression	Concord-Loma Vista
5	8	85	5	3	YEASAYER	Amen And Goodbye	Mute
6	158	-	6	2	M83	Junk	Mute

2 weeks at #1 so far for Andrew Bird ( and growing this past week ) Can they stay there another week. It really does throw a lot of plans into chaos.  This should of been the week for Tacocat if they were going to do it and for a while it did look close but Parquet Courts had more Core to put them on top. Do you give up if you are Tacocat?  I think its going to come down to M83 vs Parquet Courts over the next few weeks. The question is who will be this years Modest Mouse? 

ADDs this week were kind of interesting in that almost all 20 records on the ADDS list got at least 20 adds. Thats pretty good. The top 2 records each got over 100 adds each but I doubt either of them really challenge for #1 

1	106	FRIGHTENED RABBIT	Painting Of A Panic Attack	Canvasback
2	104	COATHANGERS	Nosebleed Weekend	Suicide Squeeze

It is interesting to note that last year week 16 was the 2nd  peak week in terms of reporters for the spring. The first peak comes early on around week 6 or 7 right before all the spring breaks. In March we get a big downturn and then it slowly works its way back up to this week. Then we start to lose stations to final exams, graduation, summer hours.  Thats why it can be a little tricky on the charts because some supporters are going away and others are harder to get in touch. 

Well thank you for reading. If you want to talk lets do it on twitter. 

CMJ ISSUE 1436 WEEK 15 COLLEGE RADIO RECAP

I was looking online at an old CMJ magazine like the kind I used to get when I was an MD the other day and I just found it so fascinating to see what was charting at that time. How it was presented. The stories, the advertisements.  I think looking back on those charts can be a lot of fun so I will try and do that more often.  So we will do that in a bit but first lets look at this week a little bit.

This week Andrew Bird took the number one spot in a VERY tight race with Tacocat. I think it really came down to a few stations or a few spots on a few  charts. It was what I thought would happen as Andrew Bird most likely has a larger following with the AAA stations. It becomes interesting now with Tacocat at #2 and Parquet courts coming in at #5 the week after ADDS.  Parquet courts looks like a formality next week though but with 2 indies on Tacocat maybe they can sneak in. Also The last Andrew Bird record was #1 for a solid month so who knows if they will be dethroned so easily.

THEN you add in this weeks top ADD M83, you are looking at a 4 record race. I would guess M83 would jump to where Parquet Courts is this week.  What makes all of this even more interesting is we have a wide variety of people working each record.   The 2 indies that are working Andrew Bird are not working any of the other records so perhaps that gives them the advantage to keep it there?  One of the 2 indies working Tacocat is not working any of the other records. Parquet Courts and M83 have a lot of crossover though and its always interesting to see how that is handled.  Regardless should be fun to watch. If I had to bet I would bet on Parquet Courts taking it next week then M83 the week after. ( although Parquet looks really strong and we could see some flip flopping between m83 and them)

So the last time Andrew Bird went to #1 was in 2012 so lets take a look at the top 10 that week.

Showing Radio 200 Chart For Issue #1241

TW	LW	2W	PK	WKS	Artist	Recording	Label
1	4	43	1	3	ANDREW BIRD	Break It Yourself	Mom And Pop
2	2	3	2	6	SLEIGH BELLS	Reign Of Terror	Mom And Pop
3	1	1	1	8	TENNIS	Young And Old	Fat Possum
4	6	8	4	4	HUNX	Hairdresser Blues	Hardly Art
5	14	24	5	3	THE MEN	Open Your Heart	Sacred Bones
6	5	4	4	6	GRIMES	Visions	4AD
7	7	12	7	4	MAGNETIC FIELDS	Love At The Bottom Of The Sea	Merge
8	9	17	8	5	DELTA SPIRIT	Delta Spirit	Rounder
9	159	-	9	2	SHINS	Port Of Morrow	Columbia
10	3	2	1	8	DR. DOG	Be The Void	Anti

Pretty interesting. I doubt Delta Spirit would make it that high now nor would Sleigh Bells. What do you think. 

The last Andrew Bird record was the first one that went to #1 at radio but he has a long history starting back with the Squirrel Nut Zippers. The record before this one would get #1 most added and peak at #7. I looked for the CMJ report where this happened but the closest I could find was from the CMJ Monthly retail magazine. 

You can check out the whole magazine online here 

I find it so fun to see what records were on the chart at different times. Looks like the big guns would still do well today. 

Lastly I want to tell the story of one of the weirdest reported records ever from WDBX 

Yesterday a promoter sent me a link to their chart... and I saw this. 

1. LICK MY BUTT AND BALLS Lick My Butt And Balls

2. WILLIE NELSON AND MERLE HAGGARD Django And Jimmie

3. MIRACLE BOY Happy Convention

4. LES COPELAND To Be In Your Company

5. REVEREND PEYTON'S BIG DAMN BAND So Delicious

Obviously I was blown away someone would not only make up a band but chart them at #1. So immediately I contacted CMJ to let them know... what we discovered though was pretty bizarre. 

The band is real. Or was real. Check out the first story here. 

That could of been the end of it but it was not.  Turns out the drummer for that band had died at a party while saving 2 other people. Check that out here 

If that wasn't enough it turns out he leaves behind a five year old with autism, read about that here 

For me this story is remarkable on a few levels. One that we should get all the facts before we react on things more often than not and two that one of the beauties of college radio is being able to pay tribute to this band, this man by charting him at #1 and while sometimes that can be pretty insignificant it can also lead to half of the college radio music industry talking about your station or band for a day or 2.  Pretty crazy really. 

Ok lets continue the conversation on twitter! 

COLLEGE RADIO RECAP WEEK 14. CMJ ISSUE 1435

Happy April everyone.

March is such a bore every year. So many breaks at different times from stations. It can be hard to get any momentum going with a record. April though we should have 4-6 solid weeks of everyone reporting together. To coincide with that we have some of the best records of the year. Well biggest.

Last week we saw 2 huge adds with Andrew Bird and Tacocat both getting over 100 adds.

Sure enough those 2 records immediately found a spot in the top 10.

This week we again had 2 big records duke it out with Parquet Courts and Yeasayer both also getting over 120 adds and while never really in the mix for #1 most added Frankie Cosmos also scored over 100 adds.  I would guess all will make big jumps into the top 10 next week.

This makes the next few weeks pretty interesting as we will have a large group of records with legit #1 aspirations.   Speaking of we did have a new #1 this week with Thao and the get down stay down finally dethroning Animal Collective after a month at #1. I think Thao will be a one a done though with either Tacocat or Andrew Bird taking #1.

It is kind of exciting to see so many big records all pushing for #1. All of the forthcoming contenders have at least 2 indies on them as well, the big one though will be M83, it comes out this week so I imagine it goes for adds next week, with THREE indies. The last M83 was parked at #1 for 6 weeks!!!!

So lets take a look at the contenders over the next few weeks

Parquet Courts
Andrew Bird
Tacocat
M83
Yeasayer

Long shots would be Charles Bradley and Iggy Pop but I would fly to vegas and bet money those have both reached their peak.

So out of those 7 records how many will get to #1? I bet we see 3. I would not be surprised to see Andrew Bird or Tacocat take it next week. Then Parquet Courts the week after followed by M83.

Lets talk about your predictions. Am I missing anyone?

Lets talk on twitter. 

COLLEGE RADIO RECAP WEEK 13 CMJ ISSUE 1434

Happy Spring everyone! I was really looking forward to this week because of April fools day. I had so many good jokes planed out but I was told by my lawyers that they were not "funny" and were just "hurtful" So maybe next year?

Seems like we still are waiting for everyone to come back from Spring breaks and Easter vacations as we hover around the same number of reporting stations from the past few weeks. I hope we see an increase next week and I expect we will. Despite the number of reporters being lowish we had a great ADD battle this week between Andrew Bird and Tacocat!   BIRDS VS CATS!!!! I mean how can you not love that.  What made this a lot of fun for someone on the outside looking in is that we had 2 big records. Andrew Bird dominated last time around ( 2012 with 4 weeks at #1) and Tacocat had a great run their first time out.  So not only do both records have a track record and expectation that they might be #1 records. They both have 2 indies on them! So a pretty even playing field. I don't know but I assume both records got sent to a lot of people as well.
Throughout Monday and Tuesday it went back and forth. In the end though Andrew Bird came out on top with 131 ADDS to Tacocats 124 ADDS. I have a feeling we will see this battle play out over the next several weeks.  I will also note that Andrew Bird is already around 100 spots ahead of Tacocat on the charts. Something to pay attention to to see if it means anything.

Animal Collective continues to hold at #1. There really isn't anything on the level of Animal Collective out there right now we are seeing them hold rather than dominate. Early on they for sure were dominating at radio but now its just nothing else can knock it out.  We did see a switch in the #2 and #3 records with Thao and the Get down Stay down positioning itself to take the top spot next week. Santigold, last weeks #2 could still have a shot, as I mentioned before Animal Collective is no longer dominate so really it could be anyones game next week.

Of those three. There is a clear tier of the top 3 and then 4-11 are pretty much all grouped together. Dr. Dog could of easily been #6 as it was #11.  The contenders for #1 in the future ( this weeks ADDS) are a few weeks away but they might be able to crash the top 10. Should be fun to also watch that.

Thanks for reading lets talk more about April fools day jokes on twitter. 

CMJ ISSUE 1433 WEEK 12 COLLEGE RADIO RECAP

A lot of you took last week off, so I decided to as well. It seemed to be the peak spring break week with reporters dropping by over 30. This week we rebounded a bit up 18 in what hopefully will be a continued trend. April is always a crazy month. On the promoter side  there are a lot of big records that get pushed out before summertime. On the radio side its a month until graduation so some people stop working and some are too busy with exams or are  overwhelmed with school work.  It can make for a stressful time of year. Also a lot of fun as well. 

The last 2 weeks have seen Animal Collective hold strong at #1. We have also had 2 relatively weak add weeks with both #1 added records taking in under 100 adds.  There are some records getting closer to Animal Collective. Santigold and Thao and the Get Down Stay Down both are within striking distance. I think Animal Collective has a good chance of staying at #1 though. 

Right behind Santigold and Thao and the Get Down Stay Down is the new Charles Bradley record coming in hot at #4. I think he would need a lot to jump those two to get #1 but it is a very impressive showing. The one record I am having a hard time figuring out right now is the new M. Ward record. While it did get a less than impressive review on Pitchfork he has done very well in the past. I know the last record was a top 5 record and really just thought it would build off of that.  Of course it is hard to know when you are not working the record. Could be a lack of hard copies. Could a ton of other factors we don't know about.  I know the week it went for ADDS I really thought it would run away with #1 most added. It came in a strong second though and that perhaps should of been a sign. 

1	104	THAO AND THE GET DOWN STAY DOWN	A Man Alive	Ribbon
2	96	M. WARD	More Rain	Merge
3	65	LA SERA	Music For Listening To Music To	Polyvinyl
4	51	DAMIEN JURADO	Visions Of Us On The Land	Secretly Canadian
5	47	PRINCE RAMA	Xtreme Now	Carpark

There is still time of course for M. Ward to have a great run at radio just very interesting to see it sluggish out of the gate. 

I wanted to also take a quick look at the singles on the chart. I have seen a lot more singles charting lately and I am not sure if it is a real shift in station programing as college radio has always been an album based format or just people getting really excited about a select few records. So let's take a look. 

55

63

90

55

4

LAKE STREET DIVE

"Call Of Your Dogs" [Single]

Nonesuch

84

85

-

84

2

M83

"Do It, Try It" [Single]

Mute

139

-

-

139

1

YEASAYER

"Silly Me" B/w "I Am Chemistry" [Single]

Mute

161

-

-

161

1

SHEL

"You Could Be My Baby" [Single]

Moraine

176

-

-

176

1

THEE OH SEES

"Fortress" [Single]

Castle Face

90

182

162

162

5

ANDREW BIRD

"Capsized" [Single]

Loma Vista

So currently 6 singles charting at college radio. Looks like a preview of a few #1 records, or potential #1 records out there. Any single in the top 100 is pretty serious. What do we think of singles charting or what if there was a singles chart? I am not sure enough stations chart singles to warrant such a thing but interesting to think about. 

Thank you for reading! 

find me on Twitter. 

CMJ ISSUE 1431 WEEK 10 COLLEGE RADIO RECAP

Oh hey there Spring Breakers. I see you. 

Spring breaks started this week and while there were no CMJ crashes the number of stations was down from the peak of two weeks ago. I imagine it will continue to stay in the 240-260 range throughout March.   Spring break +SXSW next week should give us a rather low reporting week. 

As expected Animal Collective ran away with the #1 spot this week.  Seeing as I was tracking Dr. Dog rather frequently I can tell you every time I checked the 2 records the gap grew. Early on it was 10-11 then it was 22-26  then it was 25-32.  It was a fun run but in the end we missed our window last week.  I will note we did beat Wild Nothing, the record that beat us on the ADDS.  You have to wonder if there was a missed opportunity with Wild Nothing and 2 indies but I can't pretend to know every indies motives for working a record.  

Animal Collective will be #1 for..... what do you think? 

lets talk about the ADDS this week. I thought going in that M. Ward would take #1 but Thao and the Get down stay down pulled off the upset. I think we may be seeing what happens when you have a lot of big records for adds and you split your focus. I would bet a dollar that M. Ward ends up being the higher charted record. 

Will either of those push for #1 or is Animal Collective a new David Bowie? 

What about Santigold? 

Could be exciting or it could just be really boring for the next 5 weeks until a real contender emerges. 

Now, its going to be 77 outside here in NYC today so get out side and lets talk about this on twitter when its cold again ..

www.twitter.com/theanimalarrg