Posted on Thursday, September 17th, 2015 by Will Hagle
Every Noise At Once visualizes every musical genre, with examples.
Every Noise At Once is a cool web project that should be visited by fans of all music genres. The site was created by Glenn McDonald, a talented music writer and data analyst. McDonald has a knack for both writing about music intelligently and using tech skills to gain deeper insights about the topic, and Every Noise At Once is yet another example of his unparalleled abilities. The site attempts to map every genre of music that’s ever existed. You can click on genres like “hardcore punk” or “albuquerque indie” in order to listen to examples from bands or artists that play that style.
The design on Every Noise At Once isn’t exactly pretty, but that’s also the point. Browsing the site is an experiment in musical discovery — you’re meant to click on random genre names that interest you in order to hear what that sounds like. The site description also claims that “in general down is more organic, up is more mechanical and electric; left is denser and more atmospheric, right is spikier and bouncier.” That’s all the direction you need. The site was made possible through The Echo Nest, which contains some additional articles about genres that are worth checking out. Otherwise, start exploring Every Noise At Once and educate yourself in the history of musical classification.
