Top 55 Anthony Fantano Quotes

The musical era depicted in ‘Round and Round’ may not be pop’s brightest moment, but rather than abandon its ideas, Ariel Pink reclaims them for himself and holds on tight.

We’re muddying the waters when we are having a discussion about what’s going on on YouTube and Twitter and whether that’s a matter of free speech. These are private platforms and they’re allowed to decide what should and should not be on its platforms. It’s not an issue of free speech.

There are so many artists, so many songs, so many producers, that it’s hard to keep track of whose music is worthwhile.

Sounding like a toned-down Sufjan Stevens – or an even more toned-down Arcade Fire – Seabear’s quiet execution gives its music a breezy quality. It’s a sonically lush whisper, sharing secrets with anyone curious enough to listen.

At the end of the day, I would love for the artists that I give positive reviews to to continue coming out with music. That’s ultimately what I want as a fan.

If music ever needs FDA approval in the future, bands like this will be the reason why; Magic Kids’ sugar-coated songs paint a mental picture of smiling clouds and double rainbows, with a unicorn or two tossed in for good measure.

With heavy hitters like ‘Who’s in Control’ and ‘Stunde Null,’ it’s easy to imagine British Sea Power wailing on Flying Vs in front of a packed arena of screaming fans.

Since reuniting in 2002, Mission of Burma has become the triumphant story of a band that time forgot.

I’ve obsessed over a lot of bands in my time, and I’m sure I’ll become infatuated with a lot more in the future.

On their 20th album together, Melvins’ members still know how to throw their weight around.

Some art needs to be hung on the wall and stared at inquisitively, while other pieces require a more active approach.

Girls’ strength lies in its diversity, and its members have walked in a lot of borrowed shoes to make it that way. ‘Solitude’ is a bold and sweet example of inspiration trumping originality.

Seabear’s love of soft folk sounds is unquestionable, but that doesn’t stop the Icelandic band from infusing its music with layers of instrumentation.

The Internet has essentially democratized the music industry in terms of what is popular and it’s democratized the music journalism industry as well.

For more than 10 years, Daniel Snaith has been playing mad scientist with pop and psychedelic music. As Manitoba, and more recently as Caribou, he’s pushed the genres’ limits with electronics and studio trickery.

Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar sounds decades older than he is, and it’s not necessarily the wear and tear that comes from a rough life; instead, his world-weariness seems to result from years of soul-searching.

With its distinctly rural feel, the New York band Woods makes an ideal soundtrack for balmy walks amidst mammoth trees and crunchy beds of dead leaves.

Grooves are important to John Talabot – they’re pivotal. That’s the case with most dance-music producers, but there’s something especially sleek about the Spanish producer’s debut album, ‘fIN.’

Jesu’s walls of distortion are uplifting in comparison to those of its doom-driven contemporaries. The band’s 2009 album ‘Infinity’ has its bleak moments, but that album’s single 49-minute song resolves into something inspirational and grandiose by the time it’s over.

In music, trends are always rising and fading in popularity, but nostalgia never dies.

As soon as I was getting YouTube comments and hit 100 subscribers, I was thinking ‘maybe there’s something to this. I could keep going. I don’t know how far I can really push it just reviewing random indie bands on YouTube, but it seems to have more gas in the tank.’

Formerly known as The Muslims, The Soft Pack brings a lot of swagger to its garage-rock sound. There’s a load of gimmick-free confidence in the band’s hooks, as its distorted guitars and driving drums demonstrate that less can be more.

I just love a great groove.

If Death Grips isn’t the fourth horseman of a hip-hop apocalypse, its music at least tests the genre’s threshold of extremity: The trio’s abrasive, jittery style teeters on the edge of palatability, and plays toward a morbid curiosity to which many listeners won’t succumb.

There are a lot of songs that, you know, just get me excited because they create a certain, I guess, set of colors in my head.

The Soft Pack’s self-titled full-length debut is straighter than black coffee, and twice as bitter: Frontman Matt Lamkin isn’t afraid to fly his philosophical flag and face hard realities.

I don’t really think reviewing music is something you’re going to get famous doing overnight.

Naturally, underground music often gravitates toward experimentation and the abstract. That’s understandable, and more often than not, it feels great to dive into a difficult album and swim a few laps.

The Beach Boys set the bar for pop sunshine more than 40 years ago, and the genre hasn’t changed that much since. Surfer Blood’s ‘Floating Vibes’ rounds the usual bases with an upbeat attitude, and the string swells closing the track are a must, but the band manages to infuse all those old sounds with fresh energy.

Rock and ambient music might as well reside on opposite sides of the galaxy, so it’s almost shocking when a band like Deerhunter melds the two so effectively.

The Internet is the fastest way to get what you want and expose yourself to music you would never have heard otherwise.

There’s always going to be a moment where it’s out with the old, and in with the new. That’s probably going to happen to me one day.

Despite being an ocean apart, New York’s ESG and France’s Lizzy Mercier Descloux were shooting for roughly the same idea: disco beats with a rough and energetic presentation.

A lot of bands change, and a lot of bands break up, but only a few grow.

Every week, I’m faced with, and aware of, 10-14 different reviewable albums that, in a perfect world, I’d be able to pop a review out of. But I’m just one person who, while maintaining my sanity, can only do 5-6 reviews per week.

Tightly embracing guitar effects and tape loops, Mission of Burma made sound an important commodity in rock ‘n’ roll, and its members carried that tradition into their first album after a 19-year hiatus, 2004’s ‘ONoffON.’

Brian Eno is an iconic and omnipresent pioneer in the world of ambient music, but he’s gained real staying power while working behind the boards. He’s produced albums for some of modern music’s most influential artists, including Devo, David Bowie, U2, Coldplay, Peter Gabriel and Talking Heads.

Outside of Peruvian rap-rock, few genre tags raise eyebrows quite like the words ‘Nigerian disco.’

Tame Impala is more about impact than innovation, sure, but the music still stuns on contact.

The 11-minute ‘Colouring of Pigeons’ takes The Knife’s experimental, cerebral side to new heights.

After a casual listen, it might be easy to lump Rocky Votolato in with the downtrodden likes of Conor Oberst and Elliott Smith. But his songwriting is a bit more triumphant than theirs: Votolato would rather pull himself out of a gutter than wallow in it, focusing instead on the victory before the misery.

From ‘The Money Store,’ ‘I’ve Seen Footage’ seems to run the beats from Tone Loc’s ‘Wild Thing’ and Salt-n-Pepa’s ‘Push It’ through a rusty meat grinder.

Ab-Souls Outro’ serves as a jazzy, spoken summation of ‘Section.80’s themes. Guest cohort Ab-Soul opens the song with one urgent verse after another: Flowing freely like the saxophone behind him, his words advocate veering outside life’s most predictable pathways.

If you want to truly take in the subtleties and detail of your favorite records, then enjoy them the same way you would a movie. Make music an event, not a side dish.

Let’s Wrestle would rather poke fun than point fingers, even if there’s a problem that needs fixing.

For more than 15 years, Mogwai has built a reputation on its monstrous ambitions for rock music.

On ‘Kaputt,’ singer-songwriter Dan Bejar reevaluates his band’s sound and drifts away from the David Bowie comparisons that have plagued even his best albums.

Brand New Wayo: Funk, Fast Times and Nigerian Boogie Badness 1979-1983′ covers a short chunk of time in Nigeria’s musical culture – one that might have lasted longer had the label spearheading the movement at the time, Phonodisk, not been so financially mismanaged.

On its fifth full-length album, ‘Cervantine,’ A Hawk and a Hacksaw’s love of the Balkans continues unabated, but with new songs and collaborators. In ‘Uskudar,’ the music finds an equal balance of sweet, sour and earthy sounds with nimble string melodies and a grunting tuba.

Anybody could put their thoughts on a record out there. I think the world of reviews and opinions is now very much a meritocracy.

On its self-titled debut, Happy Birthday flirts with several flavors of love, and ‘Girls FM’ is where taste gets confusing.

Four Tet, a.k.a. Kieran Hebden, is a U.K. electronica artist whose diverse tastes have helped fuel a lengthy discography.

I always liked popping up in a place, inviting my fans out, and then having a discourse with them in person. That’s what I try to do with ‘The Needle Drop,’ even though it’s difficult to have a two-way conversation.