Best of 2018 #4: Freak Dream - Into the Sun (Artoffact)

Vancouver's Freak Dream are just a few years old, but have already established hefty credentials in the experimental rock world. Frontman Elliot Langford has already clocked time with many great Vancouver bands, including The SSRIs, The Rebel Spell, Spring and Big Evil. Into the Sun is their first for Artoffact Records, another Canadian label that has been filling their roster with Canadian and international talent. The album is a indescribable mess of post-punk, electro-punk, synth-pop, disco and noise. Some songs verge into almost melodic 80s pop fare, some are straight up electro-noise. "8 Billion" especially is a good display of their range, starting from a brutal hardcore punk riff, into a death metal scream fest, then ending with pummeling break-beats. This is one of the most innovative bands I heard in 2018.

Top 10 Albums of 2018

1) Idles - Joy As an Act of Resistance (Partisan)
2) Actors* - It Will Come to You (Artoffact)
3) Low - Double Negative (Sub Pop)
4) Freak Dream* - Into the Sun (Artoffact)
5) Peach Kelli Pop* - Gentle Leader (Mint)
6) Alpha Strategy* - The Gurgler (Antena Kryzku)
7) Superorganism - Superorganism (Domino)
8) Plains Apparition* - Adrift (Independent)
9) Confidence Man - Confident Music for Confident People (Heavenly)
10) Dumb* - Seeing Green (Mint)

Honourable Mentions:

Single Mothers* - Through a Door (Dine Alone), Kaelan Mikla - Manadans (Artoffact), Dilly Dally* - Heaven (Dine Alone), US Girls* - In a Poem Unlimited (4AD), Beak> - >>> (Temporary Residence)