The internet is full of stuff of every kind; therefore, it gets difficult to find something of your choice, or something that stands out from the rest. And today we are bringing a site that opens your eyes to the various genres from around the world at www.everynoise.com — a visual map of all the world’s musical genres, algorithmically using Spotify’s data.

Designed by Glenn McDonald, the site literally feels like magic as once you open it, your screen will become full of word clouds — that is the names of hundreds of music genres from around the world.

If you zoom in, you will notice that all the rock genres clutter in the centre, the bottom section is more organic, the top is more mechanical and electric; left is denser and more atmospheric, right is spikier and bouncier.

According to the site creator, Every Noise at Once is an ongoing attempt at an algorithmically-generated, readability-adjusted scatter-plot of the musical genre-space, based on data tracked and analysed for 5,989 genre-shaped distinctions by Spotify.

In addition to the default map view, there is a list view that arranges genres neatly in a list, and there are various filters that give you freedom for further exploration. And in the list view, you are given an embedded Spotify player that queues up a playlist that allows you to listen to full tracks — no subscription required.

You can switch between map and list view by clicking the links at the top of the page. There is also a search bar at the top of the page that lets you enter artists to see which genre, or genres they fall into.

Exploring the site is really a fun when you scroll around the map, looking for genres you’ve never heard of, and taking a moment to try to figure out what it is, where it’s from and what it sounds like. For instance, among the genres are baroque, brostep, forest psy, funky breaks, acid trance, bossbeat, funana, aggrotech, zouglou, and much, much more.

The good thing about the site is that you can literally find all the names of artists from around the world from varied cultures. I was delighted to listen to the ghazals of Mehdi Hassan and Ahmed Hussain and songs by many famous Pakistani bands on the site.

Every noise at once is a real example that music doesn’t have borders; everybody listens to everybody else. The site has so much information, and so much music, instantly available to so many people.

Visit:www.everynoise.com

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 17th, 2022