This might come as a shock to you, but we here at Everything Is Noise are actually a group of diverse people with highly varied experiences and musical interests…well, maybe it’s not that shocking, but it is easy to forget when going through our various reviews and lists casually on the site. Needless to say, while we are confident in the content we promote, there are some items that get lost along the way. We wanted to supplement our year end content by giving each of our writers a voice to express this last year, along with their favourite records and content.
And what a year it was, too! Less than twelve months ago we were posting our Top 33 albums of the year under the It Djents moniker. While the seeds of a less genre-bound and more feature-rich direction were already planted, we have still gone quite a ways since then in implementing these ideas. The rebrand was larger than simply a new set of records to cover – months of planning and work in the background culminated in the gorgeous visual splendor that is our new site. Jokes in hyperbole aside, the improvements we made were the result of many people coming together. Along with a large number of great new features we’ve premiered, this marks the most significant part of the year for us as a collective.
Enough about that though, let’s get to the writers!
Landon Looks at the Last Year
The relationship between time and music is an odd and unpredictable. Where time seems to move in a linear fashion, music does not; it broadens, it revisits, it references, and it evolves. 2018 seems to be a great example of that. Almost every record that has wound up on our AOTY list seems to have taken influences from a wide spectrum of music and mediums, and fashioned them together in innovative and expressive ways. This observation, to me, demonstrates how futile the practice of classifying music is becoming, and assures me that our rebranding as Everything Is Noise was the right move for who we are and how we are experiencing music at this point in time.
This year has been one of the most transformative in my adult life, and that transformation has inadvertently been mirrored by our rebranding as a site and broadening of our coverage and content. In many ways, this year has been one of challenge and resultant maturation. We are bringing more new and diverse music to our readers than ever before, applying fresh lenses to our view of the community, and finding more ways to explore music and musicians in the coming year. Thank you for joining us.
Highlighted Content: Acute Shortage of Angles; Behind the TesseracT ‘Sonder’ Choir Recording Session with Randy Slaugh; Unforgiven: An Audience Response to the Actions of Artists
Favourite Albums of 2018
Coheed and Cambria – Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures
Janelle Monáe – Dirty Computer
Rivers of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name
Marlowe – Marlowe
Dom’s 2018 – A Retrospective
I’ll be frank – no amount of sugarcoating could possibly cover the horrendous year 2018 was for me. Over the past twelve months, the rug was pulled out from under me on multiple occasions by a near-endless barrage of disheartening news, events, and interactions, all stacked on top of my own pre-existing struggles. Feelings of loss, grief, hopelessness, and fear left me in a really dark place for a substantial portion of the year.
Luckily I still had things and people to turn to, friends and passions that kept me afloat and even somewhat excited for life through all of this. After months of hard and dedicated work It Djents became Everything Is Noise, which in turn brought us closer to making good on our hopes, plans, and visions for this blog. Some of the articles I wrote this year now rank among my favorite work (two of them can be found below). Not to mention that 2018 was yet another fantastic year for music across the board! I’m genuinely thankful to be a part of this wonderful environment.
The most important lesson 2018 taught me is that no matter how bleak and seemingly unbearable things can sometimes get, there’s always something beautiful and worthwhile to aspire to. On that note, I’d like to end this piece by quoting a couple of lines from my favorite poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost:
‘The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.’
Highlighted Content: Acute Shortage of Angles; Novo Amor – “Birthplace”
Favourite Albums of 2018
Low – Double Negative
Novo Amor – Birthplace
VLMV – Stranded, Not Lost
Maisha – There Is A Place
Son Lux – Brighter Wounds
‘What the Hell Was That?‘ – 2018 According to David
This year was wild. If you know, you know. Personally, it was very trying and burdensome. I haven’t had many deeper lows in life than I did this year. But there was a lot of good, too. I was approached by the editorial team to join them earlier in the year, completely fulfilling a desire I’ve wanted to do for years, before even joining this site. It’s something I’ve loved doing, and don’t ever take the opportunity for granted. I assisted a bit with our grand rebranding. I’ve helped develop tools and resources for our team to use in our daily operations which has been fun and rewarding. I even launched a couple cool ideas for features including our plethora of Coheed and Cambria content and the thing I’m most proud of, Sound Test.
And, naturally, I listened to a ton of great music.
More important than any new, life-changing music I have encountered this year is the community I’m a part of here with Everything Is Noise. It doesn’t mean as much if you don’t have anyone with whom to chat about music, gush about common likes, talk shit about things you dislike, and, of course, introduce each other to new things and vice versa. Not only do I thank my fellow editors for taking a chance on inviting me into their ranks, but I thank everyone on this team for being a great support system, allowing me to help them grow as writers, and for them helping me grow as well. Here’s to many more. 🙂
Highlighted Content: Sound Test, Heaven’s Fence Guided Tours – Part One and Two, WFA: Fucked and Bound, WFA: Shubh Saran
Favourite Albums of 2018
Grzegorz – 33
Rolo Tomassi – Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It
Kero Kero Bonito – Time ‘n’ Place
URSA – Abyss Between the Stars
Leon Bridges – Good Thing
Empress Of – Us
Sandrider – Armada
Janelle Monae – Dirty Computer
Vince Staples – FM!
Saba – CARE FOR ME
2018 or how Inter got more comfortable than ever with his musical obsession
My highlight of 2018 was easily our rebrand. To leave It Djents behind felt like the much needed release from old burdens. I will always keep It Djents in warm memory, but I felt unleashed and relieved like never before. This whole process was a time consuming one, but it motivated me to think about myself. What do I want from music and music journalism? Finally, I understood how annoyed and restricted I was from genre limitations and one-dimensional, superficial approaches when writing and experiencing music. My relationship with music is truly free, humble, and nurturing today.
My musical year itself was pretty quiet. Besides a handful of heavy stuff I really liked, I was mainly influenced by jazz, electronic, indie, folk and ambient. I’ve listened to a ton of music, and I was searching for new ways to share my discoveries with our team. It’s amazingly satisfying to see many of my recommendations on AOTY lists from team members, giving me and my ego a very nice form of gratification. This year was packed with powerful albums, big names and small names.
Rolo Tomassi‘s Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It was incredibly intense, and seeing this record live on stage performed in such a powerful way only made the whole experience a lot more meaningful. Yob won me over with one of the best shows I’ve ever seen in my life, and Delta Sleep made their wonderful album Ghost City just better with a charming and intimate show on a rainy Sunday evening.
I want to close this segment with an advice for every music enthusiast: Don’t stay in your comfort zone, challenge yourself, and you will never lose the childish joy and the inspiring wonder that your new favorite band can be found at unusual places. You may learn important things about yourself along the way. Give in to the constant flow.
Highlighted Content: ‘What’s The Sound Of…’ continues as ‘The Noise Of’ and it’s still fun as hell after all those years.
Favourite Albums of 2018
Rolo Tomassi – Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It
Delta Sleep – Ghost City
hellogoodbye – S’Only Natural
Avantdale Bowling Club – Avantdale Bowling Club
Trevor Powers – Mulberry Violence
Henry Green – Shift
Kraus – Path
Abraham – Look, Here Comes The Dark
Jamie Saft Quartet – Blue Dream
Tohru Aizawa Quartet – Tachibana
Molly Burch – First Flower
Pardans – Spit And Image
Rodney Fuchs on 2018
I might say this every year in December, but I think that this year has been the busiest one so far! 2018 was a year of change. Not only did we finally change our name and rebrand from It Djents to Everything Is Noise, but it also changed a lot personally.
This year I finally wrote my Bachelor’s thesis in musicology. Since I started studying, I wanted to work with my journalistic resources on a theme that really inspired me. I ended up writing the thesis about concept albums in progressive metal, using the example of Between The Buried And Me. I got to interview them twice and really found out a lot more about them, which was one of my best feelings from the last year! Afterwards I finally moved to the city, which took me a long time due to financial reasons and the impossibility to find a good and cheap flat in the city. Afterwards, I finally had the time to do some vacationing, but then I immediately got a job at a local venue and started being responsible for the booking, promotion, and press work.
I visited Complexity Fest the very first time and used it for my birthday party, which was one of the best weekends of the year. 2019’s lineup already is incredible! Euroblast had ended a day earlier due to a cold. Best performances in 2018 might have been The Hirsch Effekt at Complexity or Arcane Roots at Kesselhaus, Wiesbaden.
I’m already sure that 2019 will get even busier and I have so many things planned that I’m really excited about.
Favourite Albums of 2018
Ancestors – Suspended In Reflections
Birds In Row – We Already Lost The World
Conjurer – Mire
Deafheaven – Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Mountaineer – Passages
Night Verses – From The Gallery Of Sleep
Rivers Of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name
Rolo Tomassi – Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It
The Intersphere – The Grand Delusion
The Ocean – Pahanerozoic: Palaezoic I
Tim Fleskes on 2018
The year 2018 has almost passed, and looking back at all the things we have done, time seems to have gone by awfully fast. To be honest, the best thing about 2018 was our rebrand and the birth of Everything Is Noise, which has risen from the ashes like a phoenix. I joined It Djents almost three years ago, and what was initially a realization of a hobby of mine, has blown up into a part of my life I could not actively imagine not being a part of. As our team grew and our tastes diversified I felt like this part of my life has grown beyond what It Djents could do. Gladly, others also felt that it was time to move on to something different, something that would make everyone happy. And thus Everything Is Noise was devised – although there were quite some nice ideas for a name, y’all.
I have to thank It Djents for giving me the opportunity to turn a passion, into a shared project of a capacity I would’ve never imagined. And I thank Everything Is Noise for providing a family to all the genres the writers have cherished, and the music that has nursed us. Thank you for reading.
Favourite Albums of 2018
Holy Fawn – DEATHSPELLS
Rolo Tomassi – Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It
Travis Powers – Mulberry Violence
Jyocho – 美しい終末サイクル
Avantdale Bowling Club – Avantdale Bowling Club
Kraus – Path
Jake Walters on 2018
What a year! I have had some of the most positive musical experience in my life in the last twelve months. While I didn’t get to as many shows this year as I have in previous years, I did experience some of the most memorable concerts I have ever attended, with YOB and Amigo The Devil being the two standouts. My tastes also shifted again this year finding a deeper love and connection to R&B and soul, with post-metal coming on strong as well. I am incredibly proud that we as a team decided to take the plunge and rebrand to be a more inclusive site and free ourselves of genre constraints. One of my favorite parts of this change in branding is the diversity of music that we are premiering on our site. Our team is perhaps stronger than it has ever been, and the never-ending stream of music suggestions and shares is something that I value greatly. I am incredibly excited to see what the next year hold for our site, thanks for taking this ride with us! If you have ever read any of my words or clicked on one of my articles, consider this a massive thanks from me!
Highlighted Content: Amigo The Devil – “Everything is Fine”; WFA: Abstract Void
Favourite Albums of 2018
Leon Bridges – Good Thing
Jorja Smith – Lost & Found
Rivers of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name
Rolo Tomassi – Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It
Holy Fawn – Death Spells
Amigo The Devil – Everything is Fine
Ancestors – Suspended In Reflections
Riverside – Wasteland
GUNSHIP – Dark All Day
Svalbard – It’s Hard to Have Hope
2018 – The year Valentin spent more time with music than studying and working out combined
As always, the past twelve months passed way too fast, with a lot of good things going on in both my private life and my life at Everything Is Noise (with the best part definitely being the long-overdue rebrand back in July). And as always in late December, I’m sitting at home thinking about the past twelve months while trying to find out what albums had the greatest impact on me. And even though I almost kept my new-year-resolution of listening to at least one new album per day, I still feel like I missed so much.
Apart from this inevitable feeling of missing out on the endless amounts of great music that is released on a daily basis, I’m still very positive about the past year in music. I fell in love with many new genres (especially all things synthpop and blackgaze), discovered new favorite bands, and found time to go back to already beloved older favorites of mine. Unfortunately, I went to less concerts than ever before, but the ones I went to were all pretty damn cool with the highlights definitely being Metallica and a packed Tiny Moving Parts show I saw with my dad.
The shout-out for the best label of the year goes out to Holy Roar Records, who released some of the most amazing albums this year and are doing great things for good underground music. Another shout-out is going out to Gunship, who managed to turn Cindy Lauper’s “Time After Time” into one of my favorite songs of the year.
Obviously, there were some bands that disappointed me pretty badly, but all in all, 2018 was a great year full of incredibly good music and I’m already stoked what 2019 will have to offer!
Favourite Albums of 2018
Rivers Of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name
Tiny Moving Parts – Swell
Gunship – Dark All Day
Svalbard – It’s Hard To Have Hope
Ancst – Ghosts Of The Timeless Void
Wet Leather – Present Lives
Autumn Creatures – Funeral Garden
If Only The Trees – Drop In The Air
Pete reflects on 2018
At the turn of 2018, I was fully into doom, sludge, and stoner rock. There was no pulling me away from it, but as winter dragged on into late February, I began focusing more on darker, grittier metal. I ended up falling heavily into post-metal, compounded by the announcement of The Ocean‘s latest record, and great albums from artists like Subnoir. With summer came a real jazz push. On top of that feel-good factor, I, for the first time in who only knows how long, migrated into the pop-realm. Combining great pop-records with the best prog album of the year – Piniol’s Bran Coucou, made for a very fun summer.
Arctangent came next – my second time at the festival. I was hyped for bands like Boss Keloid and to see Conjurer again, who continued Holy Roars incredible year. The festival was mind-blowing, with bands like Zeal & Ardour, Leprous, and Mouse On The Keys giving eclectic performances. As the leaves descended from the trees, I descended into metal once again. The Ocean’s Phanerozoic, turned out to be every bit as wonderful as expected, along with Toska’s record – a post-metal masterpiece.
As the glut of metal ended, I’ve taken a sharp shift back to electronic music, a genre I’ve neglected because I lacked a source of inspirational new artists. EIN has that covered. I’ve ended the year with an Eastern focus too, covering Chinese & Japanese post-rock bands, something I want to continue into 2019. 2018 certainly marks for me a change in the way I approach EIN and music. My love and respect for the team has only grown, especially as the rebrand allows us to shake the shackles of djent and focus on delivering great tunes to our readers. Along with expanding my horizons further, I want to finally pick up that DAW & microphone I’ve been talking about!
Highlighted Content: The Arusha Accord Talk About Their Future Plans and New EP Juracan; The Ocean – “Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic”
Favourite Albums of 2018
The Ocean – Phanerozoic I
Conjurer – Mire
Koan Sound – Polychrome
Maisha – There is a place
Toska – Fire In The Silos
Piniol – Bran Coucou
Rivers Of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name
Opiuo x Syzygy Orchestra – Live at Red Rocks
Weedpecker – III
Boss Keloid – Melted On The Inch
Rolo Tomassi – Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It
Zhaoze – Birds Contending
Olten – Ambiance
Skullcave – Fear
Ancestors – Suspended In Reflections
Night Verses – From The Gallery Of Sleep
2018: How I Learned to Love the Unknown (Spencer)
To say that the end of 2018 would showcase myself writing articles for an esteemed music site would be a shock to say the least. I always considered myself a decent writer and a fiend for new music. Back in the day, I used to challenge myself every Tuesday to scour iTunes and find new music I could add to my collection. Now that I am a bit older and none-the-wiser, I have tried to refine my tastes. So when I saw that EIN was recruiting writers, I decided to give it a shot. What I didn’t expect from this, however, was just how far my music tastes would grow.
Being more focused on the metalcore and similar genres, I wanted to get away from what I was used to, and there was no better place for that than EIN. During my short tenure with them so far, I have gained two things for myself. The first is that there is so much more out there in terms of great music than the small corner I had previously placed myself in. The second was to be honest with myself. What I mean by that can be found in my Monuments review. They are a band I have previously enjoyed, but their newest outing proved itself to falter heavily from what I expect from them. Instead of trying to find ways to defend it, I was honest with myself and wrote what I thought. In doing so, I feel as though I have been able to grow my own meaning of what good and well thought-out music should be like and not settle for anything less.
My goal for 2019 is to expand on what I have learned and never again place myself squarely in any one genre, but find the beauty that is out there.
Highlighted Content: Monuments: “Phronesis“; Martin Baltser – “The Wasteland Incident“; Moonface – “This One’s For The Dancer & This One’s For The Dancer’s Bouquet”
Favourite Albums of 2018
Patient, Patient – Chasma
Silent Planet – When The End Began
Ascariasis – Kintsukuroi
Moonface – This One’s For The Dancer & This One’s For The Dancer’s Bouquet
The Year Ash Discovered Everything
‘Wow… There’s a lot of stuff that isn’t even djent!’
Cut back to a month earlier in 2017, where I was striving to find the enthusiasm to fan the embers of my self-made music blog, ‘Chimp Tones’! By the middle of December, I firmly regarded it as a failed experiment. Then in January of 2018, I found my foot in the door of It Djents. I was initially happy to delve deep into the whatever the hell was happening with djent at that point, if it only meant I could write about music on a more professional level. Turns out It Djents was more me than I could possibly have imagined.
‘Wow… There’s a lot of stuff that isn’t even djent!’ From Tribulation to Kronos Quartet, I was reviewing black metal, jazz, indie pop, electronic and classical in rapid succession. And this was before the Everything Is Noise rebrand. Hell, this was even before I passed probation. I was soaking up new music in rapid fashion, discovering bands and genres I could never have even known existed. It was everything I dreamed of in 2017 but could never obtain single handedly, or with my limited knowledge.
But during 2018, reaching out to musicians was my favourite Everything Is Noise hobby. I made sure that contacting favourable artists and finding out what inspired them to make all that great music was a regular occurance. I struck pleasant rapports and had some great conversations. Unearthing the artistry behind the music felt deeply rewarding.
Fitting also then, that in the penultimate month of 2018, and as a proud representative of Everything Is Noise, I was conversing face-to-face with the mighty Beyond Creation, including bassist Hugo Doyon-Karout, who was my first point of contact during the beginning of my ‘Chimp Tones’ project almost two years back. I guess it all paid off in the long run then. Onwards and upwards. I love writing for EIN.
Highlighted Content: Oubliette – “The Passage”; WFA: Grzegorz; Beyond Creation Talk Music and Life on the Road During Their “Algorythm” Tour; Emotional Overtones: Mauerbauertraurigkeit; Buy Its Cover: What Album Did You Pick Up Because of Its Artwork?
Favourite Albums of 2018
Kronos Quartet (feat Laurie Anderson) – Landfall
Lucinate – Big Noise
Grzegorz – 33
Four Stroke Baron – Planet Silver Screen
Prag 83 – Fragments of Silence
Beyond Creation – Algorythm
Statiqbloom – Infinite Spectre
Insect Ark – Marrow Hymms
The Dreebs – Forest of a Crew
The Beast of Nod – Vampira-Disciple of Chaos
PinioL – Bran Coucou
Andrew Bernstein on 2018: The year I tried, oh so hard, to be positive and almost succeeded
I started 2018 with a resolution: to try to make my writing here reflect something other than an absolute garbage fire in my soul. This proved to be hard. I carefully avoided albums that I knew would be bad, focusing on more obscure fare at the expense of the opportunity to, for example, emit a cheap momentary catharsis. Our transition to the Everything Is Noise brand was accompanied by an invitation to look into musical idioms not covered under our old name. This let me rekindle my love for avante-garde “modern” classical music. I reveled in it, along with the post-rock and post-metal I discovered in my first year at It Djents and the techdeath that I’ve loved since the 90s. This went well until I saw Holy Hell by Architects un-reviewed in the week leading up to its release. Writing that review felt like one of the more unpleasant things one must do while toilet-training an adorable, loving puppy who made a mess of things; sad, soul-draining, but necessary.
On the live front, I had a few memorable delights unique to 2018. Seeing Godflesh live culminated 29 years of fandom. Their mesmerizing set eclipsed the brilliant performance by Oceans Of Slumber earlier in the year. Rivers of Nihil played a set far bigger in stature than the tiny venue we saw them in. But 2018’s crowning performances ended up being by two bands who released albums in 2017: Dying Fetus, and a week later, Leprous. They entered the halls of concert magnitude alongside TesseracT and Psycroptic, both of whom I got to see for the third time.
The obligatory year end lists follow.
Highlighted Content: Too Beautiful For Grindcore? – J.R. Hayes of Pig Destroyer Speaks; Randall Dunn – “Beloved”; Toby Driver – “They Are the Shield”; Architects – “Holy Hell”; The Eye Of Time – “MYTH II: A Need To Survive”
Favourite Albums of 2018
Pig Destroyer – Head Cage
Randall Dunn – Beloved
ERYN NON DAE – Abandon of the Self
Psycroptic – As the Kingdom Drowns
Rivers of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name
Oceans of Slumber – The Banished Heart
TesseracT – Sonder
Rolo Tomossi – Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It
Coheed & Cambria – Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures
The Arusha Accord – Juracan
Distances – Diableries
LLNN – Deads
Lindhun – Disclosure
Copenague – Laguna
Mire – Shed
Toby Driver – They are the Shield
A Secret Revealed – Sacrifices
KEN Mode – Loved
Voivod – The Wake
Obscura – Diluvium
The Year Holocene Ended for Vidur Paliwal
In a purely geological sense of speaking, epochs are separated by significant changes in the rock layers to which they correspond. The Holocene Epoch began 12,000 years ago and continues through today. The idea that Holocene has ended and that we are now living in the Anthropocene – a new epoch characterised by humanity’s influence on the planet – has gained popularity in recent years.
But that is not what I wish to communicate. What I’m trying to get across is that 2018 was a year of big changes for me: I left a well reputed job, moved 7000 km into a different country and started my way journey into to transition into a new role and new industry. The fact that it coincided with our transition here from It Djents to Everything Is Noise makes the overall change feel even more significant.
What helped in all this transition was the plethora of quality musical records we got all year long in 2018. Right from the early January movers in Ty Segall to Sons of Kemet in March, with the summer being crowded by John Hopkins, Children of Zeus and many others. Even the last few months have given us great albums from Low, boygenius, The Ocean and many more. I have often found myself saying 2018 the year of Holy Roar Records, as we got some of the best music of the year from the likes of Conjurer, Rolo Tomassi, Svalbard, and MØL.
With the rebrand of EIN, we have opened doors to an even wider plethora of music, and I’m sure this will not only increase our coverage collectively, but widen our musical tastes and preferences as individuals. I look forward to 2019, which is already seems to be shaping up really well, with releases from Deftones and Astronoid high on my anticipation list.
Favourite Albums of 2018
Rolo Tomassi – Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It
Amigo The Devil – Everything is Fine
Altars of Grief – Iris
Delta Sleep – Ghost City
Messa – Feast for Water
Westbay and the Road
2018 has been an incredible year for many reasons, but it all seems to be connected to music. I joined It Djents in the middle of January, so with the new year came new opportunities, and also new music. The amount of music I discovered through It Djents (and later Everything Is Noise) is actually overwhelming, but in the best way. I live in beautiful South Florida, so paradise is in every direction. One other thing about Florida, is that it is a massive state. If you want to go somewhere, you better be prepared to drive. And what is essential for every road trip? Tunes!! The amount of road trips that I went on just in Florida this year is staggering.
I am a huge baseball fan, and every March, half of the teams go to Arizona, and the other half go to Florida to participate in Spring Training (pre-season exhibition games). So for five weekends between February and March, I went to nine different cities. And with me came new music that I had for upcoming reviews and also recommendations from It Djents. Along with my many Florida trips, I also had some road trips that took me out of state to see some shows off of my favorite band Minus the Bear‘s farewell tour. Trips that took me to Nashville in TN, Ybor City in Florida, and the pinnacle: New Orleans, LA. The trip to New Orleans and back took over 1,800 miles and six days. Along with the miles, came endless hours of uninterrupted music.
There is nothing like hearing a new album on the open road. One of my favorite moments of the year was unwrapping The Unheavenly Creatures by Coheed and Cambria and driving through the Appalachians from Nashville to Atlanta. Such a beautiful drive with incredible music to accompany it!
I don’t know what 2019 is going to bring, but I know it’s going to be amazing!
Highlighted Content: Superfjord – “All Will Be Golden”
Favourite Albums of 2018
Coheed and Cambria – Vaxis – Act I: The Unheavenly Creatures
Submotion Orchestra – Kites
Kindo – Happy However After
Árstíðir – Nivalis
The Pineapple Thief – Dissolution
TesseracT – Sonder
Michael Martin on 2018
2018 was personally a whirlwind year. Life and responsibility kept knocking on the door and I didn’t get as much of a chance to focus on music as I usually do. However, I still have quite a few highlights to remember. My top moment of the year was finally getting to see Converge live for the first time. They’ve been on my ‘must see bands’ list ever since I first heard Jane Doe in 2001, and it was well worth the wait. Although their music is harsh and cold (and perfectly executed live), Jacob Bannon and co. were very warm and engaging with the crowd, leading to a picture perfect concert experience. 2018 also led to a few changes in my musical preferences. This year I noticed that I completely fell away from rap and hip-hop, and simply don’t enjoy it anymore.
Although I kept a steady rotation of bands and styles I love, I also forced myself to sit down with music that usually lies just outside my personal tastes. Primarily that would be metal with clean or grungy vocals. This paid off well for me, as I really enjoyed the new albums from Sleep, Haken, Tesseract, and Windhand. Contrary to this, I have been a lifelong fan of Thrice but was disappointed by Palms. One major advantage of the transition from It Djents to Everything Is Noise was the expanse in scope of music covered.
I explored a lot of electronic and world music this year, and really enjoyed offerings from Blackfilm, Park Jiha, and Pymlico. I really look forward to heading into 2019 with a more expansive musical palate.
Highlighted Content: Hago – “Hago”
Favourite Albums of 2018
Hago – Hago
Vile Ones – Teeth
Alterbeast – Feast
Gazpacho – Soyuz
Tides of Man – Every Nothing
Polyphia – New Levels, New Devils
The Pineapple Thief – Dissolution
Cortez – No More Conquerors
Windhand – Eternal Return
Kamasi Washington – Heaven and Earth
2018: The Year of the Little Guy (Vigs)
Well, here we are, at the end of 2018 already. It was a whirlwind year for new music, with quality pouring forth seemingly like never before.
My summation of the year would be ‘2018: The Year of the Little Guy’. What do I mean by that? I finally felt that this was the first year where smaller, even unsigned acts, were finally giving me more interesting, and in some cases, better recorded music than anyone on the majors. Sure, Ghost, Kamelot, Haken, and Coheed knocked it out of the park, but the real winners for me were Terminus, Ween’do, Hypophora, and, especially Mile Marker Zero.
Those bands produced albums of near-perfect quality and originality that the bigger boys couldn’t quite match. Everything from the ‘live’ feel of the recording (drummers, please stop editing your performances!) to the song writing, lyrics and soundscapes, they all provided me with new sound of a new generation.
Are we finally at a point in history where the world of DIY bands surpassing high profile acts is a real possibility? We’ve all been talking about the democratising internet and leaps and bounds in technology for about 20 years now, but I’ve never felt that it was ringing true. This might have finally changed.
These bands can now record, release, promote and tour, just like anyone else. Sure, they are not doing it on the same scale, and finding out about these bands is harder (but worth the effort). That’s where Everything Is Noise comes in. We’re committed, more than ever before, to surfacing the coolest new music out there, without prejudice or agendas. We judge it solely on the quality and how it tastes, just like you. If it sounds good and feels good, it’s probably good. Here’s to another whirlwind year, so let’s strap in and explore together.
Highlighted Content: InsideOutMusic: 25 Years of Progression, WFA: Lillake, WFA: Hypophora
Favourite Albums of 2018
Mile Marker Zero – The Fifth Row
Hypophora – Douse
Weend’ô – Time of Awakening
Seventh Wonder – Tiara
Spock’s Beard – Noise Floor
Billie Helton on 2018
2018 has been a year of evolution for me. I have had what I’d consider an eclectic taste for quite a few years now, after my high school days of metal elitism waned. But this year my listening habits have really exploded. At this point, a lot of metal is just plain boring for me. There are a lot of metal albums this year that were absolutely stellar that I loved, but this year a lot of non-metal stuff made my top 10-20. A lot more than ever has before. And as the year draws to a close, I find myself more regularly going back to more and more this year that wasn’t heavy.
I will always love metal and have a fondness for it, but I am happy that my tastes are expanding. There were just too many good albums this year that three years ago even I would have never given a proper chance. I think that’s the big thing for me. I have become much more willing to give just about anything a fair listen, and I have discovered a personal love for way more music from it.
I started this year off with one goal in mind- to track my music listening habits and favorites better than I have before. I feel like in reaching this goal, it also helped me to broaden my horizons. I definitely succeeded and found some of my favorite albums. Gunship, Leon Bridges, and even Avantdale Bowling Club are artists I would have blindly overlooked that have all cemented themselves in my top ten favorites for the year. Change is good. Don’t ever limit your tastes or paint yourself into a creative corner. There is too much beautiful art to look at it with a narrow view.
Highlighted Content: Emotional Overtones: Mauerbauertraurigkeit
Favourite Albums of 2018
Rivers of Nihil – Where Owls Know My Name
Delta Sleep – Ghost City
Leon Bridges – Good Thing
Gunship – Dark All Day
MOL – Jord
Svalbard – It’s Hard To Have Hope
Coheed and Cambria – Vaxis I: The Unheavenly Creatures
Deafheaven – Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Avantdale Bowling Club – Avantdale Bowling Club
Rolo Tomassi – Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It
The entire staff here at Everything Is Noise wants to thank all of you who have stuck with us over this last year and welcome any new readers who have joined our ranks. We have some great new ideas and plenty still ahead, so look forward to the months to come. Happy holidays once more, and we will see you in the new year!
