Quotes from Anthony Fantano

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.'

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Of Montreal's early releases were loaded with playful but confessional acoustic tunes, but the band soon embraced glam-rock's freakier side on albums like 'Hissing Fauna Are You the Destroyer?' and 'Skeletal Lamping.' It was a shift fans might not have tolerated if it weren't for frontman Kevin Barnes' catchy, personality-driven songs.

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