Our first list comes from the hands and mind of Lachlan R. Dale label manager of Art As Catharsis and Worlds Within Worlds, and strummer of strings in Hashshashin.

The best of 2018, according to Lachlan Dale (Art As Catharsis, Hashshashin)

I’ve had a hard time with this list, partly because I’ve spent most of the year diving into older music from across the Middle East, and partly because these days my tastes seem ephemeral. I’m finding it hard to connect with new music, thus no rankings to the below music, simply my favourites.

Tangents — New Bodies

On New Bodies, Tangents have moved away from pure improvisation. While the core of each of these songs come from improvised jams, band members were free to add layers and contributions in their own time, thanks to the audio session being available to access in the cloud. I like the idea of music as an ever-blooming fractal, slowly unfolding, at times progressing so slowly that you can barely register movement.

Aside from The Necks, Tangents are one of the groups that really do this concept justice, fusing jazz, post-rock, ambience and electronica in a wonderfully pure expression. They are an absolute joy to watch live.

Dylan Carlson — Conquistador

This year I’ve gravitated towards simple, stripped back sounds. On Conquistador, Earth’s Dylan Carlson reminds us how powerful a simple, repetitive guitar pattern can be. Long live drone.

Nostrum Grocers — Nostrum Grocers

The debut album from this duo project of Milo and Elucid. This is intelligent “art/rap” which often borders on poetry. While I don’t connect with this quite as much as I did with Milo’s who told you to think??!!?!?!?! (my favourite record of 2017), there are some truly wonderful moments here.

Bonus round: Convulsing — Grievous

Brendan Sloan continues to push the boundaries of death metal in the most wonderful way. I’d love to see the polyrhythmic, progressive and instrumental aspects of Brendan’s music continue to develop – but this is purely a selfish perspective.

And thank you everyone, for everything

I need to give a shoutout to all the amazing bands Art As Catharsis worked with this year. To me, this feels like our best year yet. I’m consistently blown away by the level of quality coming out of the Australian underground. (Check out our 2018 sampler if you haven’t already.)

There are a few other albums which may belong to the list above, but, because these artists have decided to make it exceedingly difficult to listen to their music – by not using streaming platforms, and even rejecting Bandcamp – I was unable to spend enough time with their records.

 

The best of 2018, according to Daniel Nesci (Art As Catharsis)

Our second list has been prepared by Daniel Nesci, digital worker for Art As Catharsis.

1. TesseracT – Sonder

TesseracT have absolutely blown it out of the park this time around with their latest album ‘Sonder’, this is without any doubt my favourite release of 2018. The singing, playing, writing and arrangement of the entire album was masterfully done, personally, the bass was my favourite part of the album as a whole. Seven tracks in total and all of them bring something interesting and fresh to the table – particular favourite ‘Juno’ the use of textures and just how deep it felt which I believe is a testament to the band collectively, they have put a great amount of detail, effort and personal influence into this album and the end product is an emotive, technical masterpiece in which TesseracT should be very proud of.

2. Owane – Yeah Whatever

Once again Owane hits us with a new album ‘Yeah Whatever’, the Norwegian approaches his audience in a very nonchalant way by adding a certain level of causality to his music which makes it more enjoyable in all honesty haha. In all seriousness, Owane has created layerings and arrangements that put some of our most highly acclaimed musicians to shame. With the use of instruments like guitar, bass, saxophone, keyboards/synth and many more he has created a masterpiece which has shifted the way instrumental musicians incorporate the use of layering in their writing and due to this ‘Yeah Whatever’ is #2 on my 2018 list.

3. Polyphia – New Levels New Devils

Polyphia have dropped ‘New Levels New Devils’ as the latest addition to their plethora of musical releases and rightfully so have received a huge response from fans all around. From a more EDM focused EP ‘The Most Hated’ which they dropped in 2017, Polyphia have come back to their roots of guitar, incorporating EDM and other sub-genres in their writing. I particularly enjoyed this album because of the element of darkness that was brought forward by the band especially in the re-introduction of real drums and a higher emphasis on the bass and guitar/bass/drum intertwinement. ‘New Levels New Devils’ is #3 on my 2018 list.

 

Bonus round: Plini – Sunhead

Plini is prominent figure in the guitar community as one of the best creative writers out their, with his debut album ‘Handmade Cities’ dropping in 2016 in which Steve Vai stated ”His new record is one of the finest, forward thinking, melodic, rhythmically and harmonically instrumental guitar records I have ever heard” a follow up would be hard, but Plini has taken a turn in his creative process and produced a more Jazz influenced EP. Plini stated that “The goal to make a very big, small EP – aiming to put as much detail and refinement into the composition and playing as possible”. Which I believe he has achieved, in four tracks Plini has created a masterpiece in which he should be very proud of.