Top 95 Quotes & Sayings by Anthony Fantano

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.

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.

Cryptic messages and abstract statements are littered throughout the music of Happy Birthday, but it hasn't made the band's sun-baked pop-rock any less infectious.

The only thing I get more than Anthony Fantano hate is Anthony Fantano memes.

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.

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

Amon Tobin has been producing electronic music since the mid-'90s, and was a key figure in the rise of drum-and-bass. He's also written some of the genre's most compelling tracks, in the process delving into jazzy breakbeats and bass lines.

Garage-rock eccentric King Khan may be from Montreal, but his heart is almost a thousand miles away, throbbing from Atlanta to Castle City, Mont., until it hits cardiac arrest in Kalamazoo. Khan and His Shrines warn that this so-called 'Land of the Freak' is where only the strong survive, but it's a strength that can't be measured in muscle.

In terms of sound, it's nothing huge, but when it comes to passion, The Tallest Man on Earth can be spotted from miles away.

Less is more' may be a cliche, but that doesn't mean musicians often heed that advice. Swedish singer-songwriter Kristian Matsson, who performs and records as The Tallest Man on Earth, follows it religiously.

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.

King Khan and the Shrines may look and sound bizarre, but don't feel left out; it's not an exclusive club.

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.

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.

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

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.

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 all its reverb and defiant noise, the sound of Black Tambourine barely reached past the borders of Washington, D.C., in the early '90s.

Gonjasufi may sound at first like a rambling hip-hop crackpot, but there's more to the California rapper and singer than mere eccentricity: What appears messy and thrown together is anything but.

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.

Occasionally, I'll want to cover something that's outside of my audiences' tastes or interests. Every week or so I have to try and cover at least one or two of those things to keep my sanity. If you're only reviewing what is in the top album spots on Apple Music every week, you can get kind of jaded.

Tame Impala's music revisits a time when guitar effects and studio tricks were music's newest frontiers; when rock was barely old enough to drive and violently threw conventional ideas out the window.

I've never spent any money on advertising.

The TV show 'How It's Made' brings the intricate details of assembly lines to numerous North American living rooms. But if the series were to ever branch into exposing the secrets of music production, Colin Stetson's 'New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges' would make for a mind-bending episode.

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.

The Italian duo Dumbo Gets Mad specializes in psychedelics for the sober, bringing experimentation together with detailed pop songwriting.

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.'

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.

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.

For artists, looking back in time for ideas is commonplace, but there's an overwhelming sense of '70s and '80s nostalgia in California musician Ariel Pink's music. It's impossible to separate 'Round and Round' from the anachronism, and there's no loving one without loving the other.

The group disbanded prematurely in 1983, but its records made a sizable mark: Mission of Burma became a band's band; leaving noticeable impressions on the likes of Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo.

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.

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

I'm not that famous.

Holy Ghost! wears its influences proudly: Look no further than the duo's video for 'I Will Come Back,' a shot-for-shot remake of the music video for New Order's 1983 single, 'Confusion.'

Music can provide a much-needed break from life's harsh moments, but Eddy Current Suppression Ring has no interest in creating a sonic fire escape for the distraught. Instead, the band embraces the real world, wrapping its arms around the beautiful and the ugly alike.

I'm not trying to rub shoulders with any record executives. If rubbing shoulders in the industry is what I wanted to do then I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing.

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.

A formidable game of 'Name That Influence' could be based on the music of the seductive rock duo Girls: The band's first single, 'Hellhole Ratrace,' would barely reach its opening words before screams of 'Elvis Costello!' and 'Wreckless Eric!' drown out the music.

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

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.

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.

Rather than highlighting music's differences, Kids & Explosions' Josh Raskin mixes songs together based on their surprising common ground, making them blend rhythmically and melodically.

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

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.

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

I don't know if TV is where I see my format working.

Holiday Shores' ambition far exceeds its members' recording budget. The band's boyish vocal harmonies wash in and out with the tide, and reverb radiates from the guitars like heat off a sun-baked parking lot.

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.

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

The U.K. trio Let's Wrestle doesn't make music for its art, but for its attitude.

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

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.

The personality and songwriting of Holy Ghost! trumps the originality card any day.

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

Memes just show that people are engaged about something. A meme is just a little inside joke for a group of people that care about a certain thing.

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

Justin Broadrick's career isn't widely celebrated, but it's still shockingly uncompromising. From his place at the beginning of grindcore with Napalm Death to his role in Godflesh's expansion of industrial metal, the U.K. musician specializes in artistic hairpin turns.

Mash-ups have gained a lot of credibility between the fall of Danger Mouse's infamous 'Grey Album' and the rise of Girl Talk's overwhelming mega-mixes. There's just something marvelous about hearing seemingly mismatched ideas work together, as two worlds collide to a heavy beat.

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.'