Meet Anthony Fantano, the (self-professed) ‘internet’s busiest music nerd’, who since launching his website and vlog The Needle Drop in 2007 has fast become one of the most respected and talked about music critics of today. The Connecticut born Fantano’s incredible cult following includes over 325,000 Youtube subscribers and 50 million views, pretty impressive stats for a guy whole channel is built on him sitting at home and spouting his musical opinions to camera.
His musical knowledge and opinions have gained Fantano the respect from musicians, fans and professionals alike, with his positive reviews resulting in the signing of a number of acts including recently Clipping and Young Fathers (Inertia/ Sub Pop).
Scheduled to speak at this year’s BIGSOUND music conference, Fantano will also be appearing at a series of intimate shows in Sydney and Melbourne. Ahead of his Australian visit, we chatted with the internet’s muost watched music nerd about the politics and future of music criticism.
How important do you believe it is to give albums a number rating? Why do we readily give music a ‘score out of 10’ when we’d never consider doing the same to say a sculpture or painting?
“I think the reason we hesitate doing that with a painting or sculpture is because sculpture culture doesn’t move at the same pace as music culture. In the music world, there’s a lot of saturation, and the general public is constantly trying to navigate it, organise it.
Technology has allowed us to create and carry more music than previous generations ever could. As far as sculpture goes, yeah, you could look at a picture, but that’s as close as you’re gonna’ get to the real thing.
If you know anything about sculpture, seeing it in-person is really the best and only way to truly experience the art-form. If sculpture were as convenient to create and share as music, then we might just be giving them 10s, 6s, and 2s.”
Not only do you review big name acts (the obvious stuff) but in the same vein you’ll review much smaller but equally impressive acts eg. Cakes Da Killa and closer to home, the Brisbane metal band IDYLLS. How do you source/discover new music?
“Various music blogs I follow, reading up on the activity of music labels, keeping up with various artists on Twitter and via the emails people send my way. Nothing too spectacular. It’s just a matter of sifting through all of it and picking out whatever appeals to me.”
At the end of the day, reviews are just a form of promotion. If you don’t want it, well, that’s your decision…Many music fans have that album they didn’t like on the first listen but grew to love, with that in mind have you ever given a record a rating that later down the track you now would reconsider? Why?
“I regret nothing! Opinions change over time, however, there’s nothing I blatantly disagree with thus far, and that’s because I don’t really do reviews immediately after the first listen.
There are a few albums I like a bit more or a bit less than what I’ve initially said, but not so much that I’m ashamed of anything I said. If any of these opinion changes ever happen, they usually show up in my year-end lists where I talk about where some albums have grown on me or have waned on me.”
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Did you see the controversy over Pitchfork giving Mobb Deep’s reissue of The Infamous a perfect score? Do you think there’s a danger for reviewers being ‘too outside’ a time, culture, or scene to give an effective review?
“I heard about it, but didn’t follow the drama too closely. From what I was able to gather, [Mobb Deep MC] Prodigy was mad that this kid didn’t come from a similar background, race, or lifestyle. He seemed to believe the reviewer was somehow overstepping by commenting. I’m not sure if there was some grave misrepresentation or anything like that, because I didn’t read the review, honestly.
If Prodigy truly doesn’t want a white music writer talking about his art, that’s his wish. This actually informed my decision to not review the new Mobb Deep album. I mean, it’s no skin off my ass if I don’t review their new record; I could review other things. At the end of the day, reviews are just a form of promotion. If you don’t want it, well, that’s your decision. Obviously, you can’t stop people from talking about you, but that’s a request I’m happy to hear out.
However, I still think the mentality is silly. Where do you draw the line with that sort of thought process? You could get so aggressive with it that nobody but you is allowed to speak about your music because you’re the only one who has truly walked your life path. Not only that, but Prodigy could have easily assumed the writers of other music websites were just as clueless as this guy at Pitchfork, but I didn’t see him speaking out against any other reviewers.
For someone who is acting so unknowable and peerless, he’s certainly made some colossal efforts to put his life out there for all to see, including a lengthy memoir where he goes into his past in bed-wetting, health problems, and violence.
It’s sort of counter-intuitive to humanize yourself so greatly, but then push your art, which you see as a representation of you, into this corner where only some are allowed to comment. But it’s your chess piece, I guess. You make the moves you want with it.”
In another case of critics being critiqued, earlier this year Lorde backed Iggy Azalea after Complex gave The New Classic a harsh review, because “they will profile interesting artists in order to sell copies/get clicks and then shit on their records.” What are your thoughts on this?
“Iggy and Lorde are right in their annoyance, but they’re kind of lying via omission by not admitting they benefit from this model just as much as the magazines do.
The media is helping them earn fans, and not just fans of their music, but fans of their image. By the time the album review drops, you’ve got people so invested in Lorde or Iggy as a brand, there’s going to be a considerable amount of newly formed fans that don’t follow suit with the opinion of the review. There are plenty who don’t even bother to read the review, I’m sure.
In their defence, Complex did state in a response that the review and news departments operate separately from one another, which is how it should be anyway. However, this isn’t really a model I feel I could or should operate under. If I have zero interest in your music, I’m not going to cover you with a load of promotional editorials before the release of your album.
When I first laid ears on Iggy Azalea’s music, I knew it wasn’t something that I was going to review or review positively – at least when it came to an album. As a result, my coverage of her stuff has been pretty minimal. Yeah, I like ‘Fancy’ as much as the next guy, but the radio waves aren’t really the beat I’m trying to follow.”
When it comes to reviewing music, do you come from the school of thought that all publicity is good publicity? Do you think it’s better for a band to get a ‘harsh’ review than no review at all?
“I do, but I still can’t see how getting awful reviews across the board could be a good thing for an artist.
However, in that case, you have to wonder if there’s actually some truth to the reviews, ya know? Maybe there’s something inherently wrong with the album that even the fans feel without even reading a critique of it.
Assuming that’s not the scenario, I think reviews – positive or negative – are just another gear in the promotional machine. You don’t need it to be functioning at 100% capacity for success, but it helps.”
Because of the immediacy of internet culture today allowing people to form their own opinions quicker, do you think music criticism is an important evolutionary stage? Is music criticism becoming redundant?
“I think music criticism is going through the same growing pain of saturation that music itself is. I think we’re handling it pretty well, though. The reviews or albums that actually connect with the greater public are going to rise to the top.
Redundant? I can’t really say. I’m concentrating mostly on what I’m doing and keeping that relevant right now. I haven’t had the time lately to analyse if the writing or style of my peers is going stale. Maybe it is, for now I don’t know.”
Is there a still need for ‘cultural gatekeepers’ like music critics, anymore? Do you believe music reviews will always exist, why?
“Yeah, I think it’ll always exist, but not in the ‘gatekeeper’ sense. I don’t even think it exists now because of that role. To me, reviewing is all about curating, and turning people on to things they wouldn’t have heard of otherwise.”
Do you consume other opinions on a record before reviewing it?
“I really try not to. I might be hearing about opinions of the album here and there, especially since I’m so easily reached via social media by my viewers, but I do completely avoid reading 5,000- word reviews, or anything like that.”
You’ve said before that you make video reviews because you’re a better at speaking than writing, have you always been so articulate with your musical opinions? How have you developed as time has gone on?
“No, absolutely not. My early videos, in my opinion, were terrible. When I started reviewing, I didn’t even know much about reviewing music, generally. It’s been a learning process. It continues to be a learning process, too.”
Anthony Fantano Australian Tour Dates
September 10 – 12 – BIGSOUND, Brisbane
Sunday, September 14 – The Northcote Town Hall, Melbourne (afternoon under 18)
Sunday, September 14 – The Toff in Town, Melbourne (18+)
Tuesday, September 16 – Paddington United Church, Sydney (all-ages)
Wednesday, September 17 – APRA AMCOS HQ, Sydney (all-ages) *SOLD OUT*
Visit here for tickets and more info.
