Christmas arrived early for our clients Spotted Peccary Music! The new group, Dark Sky Alliance, and the label's electronic maestro Hollan Holmes topped the radio-focused NACC Chill Chart at #1 and #2 for the year 2024, with their albums Interdwell and Sacred Places, respectively.
The freshly published year-end Chill Chart came as a surprise to many, who expected the top spot to go to the hugely popular 2x Grammy-nominated (Album of the Year/Best Alternative Jazz) album New Blue Sun by Andre 3000. Also in the Top 10 are Eric Hilton, Moby, Cigarettes After Sex, Beth Gibbons, Hermanos Guttierez, Jeff Johnson and Phil Keaggy, with The Smile coming in at #10.
Interdwell is the debut album from the group Dark Sky Alliance, comprised of music industry veterans percussionist Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel, Indigo Girls), keyboardist Rupert Greenall (The Fixx), soundscaping synthesist Eric “the” Taylor, and cinematic sound-maestro guitarist David Helpling. This visionary premiere is a feat of sonic storytelling, each composition a different scene. Hidden in Interdwell’s kaleidoscopic sound are shades of all their past work: new wave guitar flourishes, tribal ambient percussion, richly layered synth-beds, Hans Zimmer-esque cinematic crescendos—but here, they coalesce into something uniquely vivid and bracingly original, something the members of Dark Sky Alliance could only make together. Watch the video.
Sacred Places, the third release by Hollan Holmes on Spotted Peccary Music, is comprised of eleven geographic vignettes, with each composition inspired from Holmes’s travels to different locales of deep personal significance. Here, Holmes blends ornate sequencer passages with tribal ambient flourishes that are intricate yet intimate, all to transcribe amazing landscapes in the listener’s mind. On each piece, Holmes invites the listener into his inner world, reconstructing these sacred places with meticulous sound design and powerful thematic sensitivities. Enjoy the video.
The NACC is a leader in breakout charts that focus on the following genres: Non-Comm (a more targeted chart that highlights the community stations on our panel), NACC Next (a sort of ‘heatseeker’ chart of old that aims to predict what will move on to success at the Commercial Alternative formats), Canadian (only stations north of the border, including CBC3), Electronic, Heavy (our Loud Rock/Metal Chart), Hip Hop, R&B/Soul, Chill, Jazz, Latin, Blues, Folk & World. More at NACCChart.com