Converge at Royale Boston
photo by Ben Stas

Converge's Nate Newton's favorite albums of 2018

Converge released their first album in five years, The Dusk In Us, last year, and they haven’t slowed down since, surprise-releasing a new EP, Beautiful Ruin, in June, and touring with Neurosis. Converge bassist Nate Newton also released a new LP with Split Cranium, his project with members of Isis, Circle, Resleep and others. Nate took to Facebook today to share a list of his favorite albums (and movies) of 2018. It’s a huge, eclectic, genre-spanning list, with punk, metal, hip-hop, and indie rock picks, including War on Women, Daughters, Mazzy Star, Mitski, St. Vincent, Tomb Mold, Hot Snakes, Judas Priest, Cardi B, Deafheaven, Voivod, High On Fire, Boygenius, Author & Punisher, The Body and more. Read it in full below.

Hi everyone. This is Nate and it’s that time of year again where I punish you with all the stuff I liked. 2018 was FULL of good music. It was too much to keep up with but I tried to keep a list of what I was listening to. Most people do top ten lists but there’s no way I could do that. I’d look at it 5 minutes after I posted it and want to change the entire thing. So here’s my obscenely long list of things I found myself listening to a lot in 2018. If you aren’t already familiar with these then I hope you find some stuff you dig. As always, please share your favorites in the comments. I always want to hear something new.

We lost people we loved this year. Music helped pull us through.

Records:

Anna Von Hauswolf – Dead Magic
Yob – Our Raw Heart
Sumac – Love In Shadow
John Coltrane – Both Directions At Once
Idles – Joy As An Act Of Resistance
Giuda – Rock N Roll Music
Wrong – Feel Great
Maggot Heart – Dusk To Dusk
Split Cranium – I’m The Devil And I’m Ok (shameless self promotion I know)
War On Women – Capture The Flag
Ray Lamontagne – Part Of The Light
Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus – Boygenius
Tomb Mold – Manor Of Infinite Forms
David Eugene Edwards & Alexander Hacke – Risha
Haan – By The Grace Of Blood And Guts
Viagra Boys – Street Worms
Black Thought – Streams Of Thought Vol 1&2
Vanishing Kids – Heavy Dreamer
Corrosion Of Conformity – No Cross No Crown
Mandy – OST
Sunstroke – Second Floor/Seven
Terror – Total Retaliation
Marissa Nadler – For My Crimes
First Aid Kit – Ruins
Daughters – You Won’t Get What You Want
Emma Ruth Rundle – On Dark Horses
Part Chimp – Cheap Thriller
Tribulation – Down Below
Turbonegro – Rocknroll Machine
Autopsy – Puncturing the Grotesque
Hooded Menace – Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed
Kapital & Richard Pinhas – Flux
Brian Eno & Kevin Shields – The Weight Of History ep
Anna Burch – Quit The Curse
Fu Manchu – Clone Of The Universe
Holy Motors – Slow Sundown
Superchunk – What A Time To Be Alive
American Nightmare – American Nightmare
Painted Doll – Painted Doll
Keiji Haino and Sumac – American Dollar Bill
Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 – Black Times
Screaming Females – All At Once
Hot Snakes – Jericho Sirens
Judas Priest – Firepower
Teenage Wrist – Chrome Neon Jesus
Earthless – Black Heaven
The Messthetics – Messthetics
Courtney Marie Andrews – May Your Kindness Remain
Eagle Twin – The Thundering Heard
Will Haven – Muerte
Arms Race – The Beast
Septic Tank – Rotting Civilisation
The Damned – Evil Spirits
Sleep – The Sciences
Deafheaven – Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Graveyard – Peace
The Body – I Have Fought Against It….
At The Gates – To Drink From The Night Itself
Red Hare – Little Acts Of Destruction
Gouge Away – Burnt Sugar
Parquet Courts – Wide Awake
Svalbard – It’s Hard To Have Hope
Baptists – Beacon Of Faith
The Dead Tongues – Unsung Passage
Horse Feathers – Appreciation
Denim & Leather – Sacred Autism
Masta Ace & Marco Polo – A Breukelen Story
Lucifer – Lucifer II
Voivod – The Wake
Cardi B – Invasion Of Privacy
Heldon – Heldon II (reiussue)
Body/Head – The Switch
Chastity – Death Lust
Death Grips – Year Of The Snitch
Oh Sees – Smote Reverser
Fotocrime – Principle Of Pain
Austin Lucas – Immortal Americans
Nothing – Dance On The Blacktop
C Average – III
Soft Kill – Savior
Tragedy – Fury
High On Fire – Electeric Messiah
Windhand – Eternal Return
Author & Punisher – Beastland
St Vincent – MassEducation
Wiles – Both EP’s
Lesser Glow – Ruined
Prince – Piano & Microphone 1983
Gruesome – Twisted Prayers
Wournos – Wournos 1
Super Unison – Stella
Swizz Beats – Poison
Action Bronson – White Bronco
J Mascis – Elastic Days
Myrkur – Juniper
Earl Sweatshirt – Some Rap Songs
The Primals – All Love Is True Love
Mitski – Be The Cowboy
Jaye Jayle – No Trail And Other Unholy Paths
Mazzy Star – Still EP
Black Mare & Offret – Alone Among Mirrors

Movies:

Mandy
Solo (fuck the haters, that shit ruled)
Overlord
Mid 90’s

Records I rediscovered or became obsessed with in 2018:

Catherine Ribeiro + Alpes – Paix
Ron Wood – I’ve Got My Own Album To Do
Dave Edmunds – Tracks On Wax 4
Merry Clayton – ST
Alice Coltrane – Journey In Satchidananda
Heldon – Heldon II
Miles Davis – Live-Evil
(I could probably write a list of 100 so I’m just gonna stop with these)

Also… Starting Wisehouse Coffee with my good friend Walter. Go give us a follow and buy some beans!

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