In one of the more notable occurrences of recent times, three Australian acts - Hilltop Hoods, Eskimo Joe and The Temper Trap - occupy positions in the top ten of the ARIA album chart.

Sitting pretty at number one for two weeks in a row are skip-hop luminaries Hilltop Hoods, with their fifth record State of the Art. The record is their second number one album following The Hard Road in 2006. State of the Art debuted at number one, selling 27,455 copies. Before you start sniffing huffily just consider the facts (ma’am) : Skip-hop group. Selling 27,455 copies in a week. Originally from Adelaide. Is this the tipping point for skip-hop, the moment which will see it accepted by a generally indifferent critical community? Time will tell.

Perth’s Eskimo Joe are at six with their Gil Norton-manhandled monolith, Inshallah. It’s business as usual for one of Australia’s most (inexplicably) popular groups. We look forward to the forthcoming campaign from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, using the success of Inshallah as further evidence that Australians are a tolerant, easy-going bunch of larrikins ready to give anyone a fair go.

Melbourne’s The Temper Trap round out the list, slipping in at a most respectable nine for their debut Conditions. They’re the band that has it all, buzz, their own beer a punishingly large marketing budget and now actual success to back up all the hype. Reviews might be mixed, but there’s no denying the achievement of a top ten on debut – particularly when peers from their class, most notably Children Collide, barely scraped in the top 100, let alone top 10.

Some credit for The Temper Trap’s success must go to the marketing department at Liberation Music, who stopped just short of employing the Old Testament style marketing technique of getting people to mark their doors with lamb’s blood as a sign of impending purchase lest the A+R Angel of Death kill their first born. Instead, they opted for the just-as-offensive tactic of stencil-bombing every street corner between Melbourne and Hackney.

We here at Mess + Noise fervently hope this success also means less chance of Temper Trap singer Dougie parading his cojones around in promo shoots and more of the band rocking the latest store-bought Zegna and Armani. That’s what a top ten debut in the ARIA chart gets you, right ? Right ??

Congratulations to all, but we recommend partying while the going is good. Next week will surely see the Michael Jackson reissue/tribute/memorial juggernaught slam-dunk each of these releases back down the list.

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