Top 30 Chart Update, 6/24/13: Vampire Weekend at #1!
by Samuel Tolzmann on June 25, 2013
Posted in: Music
Our first official CMJ Radio 200 Top 30 chart since the summer programming commenced has just been published. Vampire Weekend’s Modern Vampires Of The City, which received a rare grade of A here at the station, claimed the #1 spot easily — how could it not, since every single track on it is appealing, interesting, fun, and high-quality? But the self-titled debut from Wye Oak side project Dungeonesse, which was also received very positively here at WRMC, upset the natural order by sailing to #2 over much-anticipated records by the heavyweight likes of Daft Punk, Boards of Canada, Portugal. The Man, and Queens Of The Stone Age. Other Top 10 spots went to Personal Record, the second solo album from Fiery Furnaces member Eleanor Friedberger, and three regular WRMC favorites: Braids (with the four-song In Kind/Amends EP), Gold Panda (with sophomore effort Half Of Where You Live), and recent Sepomana act Baths (with Obsidian).
The rest of our Top 30 was filled with new records from some old favorites — Small Black, Kurt Vile, Laura Marling, Mount Kimbie, Empire Of The Sun, Sam Amidon, Surfer Blood, CSS, Club 8, Sonny & The Sunsets, and the first new album from The Pastels in 16 years! — as well as a host of exciting newcomers. There’s a new EP, Haunt, from U.K. rising stars Bastille, which will please fans of widescreen Britpop; an insanely fun dance LP courtesy of DFA associates Classixx and insanely fun rock LPs from GRMLN and The Front Bottoms; the long-gestating first full-length release from gloomy psych-rockers Big Black Delta; and Long Enough To Leave, a new release from The Mantles on the legendary noise-pop label Slumberland, among other great new albums.
One of the best and most deserving new additions this week is Susanne Sundfor’s The Silicone Veil. Released in Scandinavia last year as an import and finally arriving stateside this summer, this is a magnificent, genre-shifting art-pop record that explores challenging themes. Sundfor’s voice is hauntingly gorgeous and her arrangements, which bridge rock, pop, electronic, and classical music, are never short of exquisite. It’s on Rotation here in the station and comes highly recommended from WRMC. Recommended for fans of Kate Bush, The Knife, PJ Harvey, and Bat For Lashes.
Check back next week for our latest charts!
