Quotes from Anthony Fantano

Lion Face Boy' is the first single from Seabear's sophomore album, 'We Built a Fire,' and it's a perfect display of the band's knack for constructing mountains of instrumentation on a simple idea.

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.

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.'

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

Being a hotbed of international travel, of course Panama's music is as diverse as its population. Throughout the '60s and '70s, it wasn't uncommon to hear intricate mixtures of calypso, jazz and cumbia throughout the isthmus.

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.

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.

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

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.

A Hawk and a Hacksaw may be from America, but the band's music sure isn't: Since the beginning, Eastern Europe has been an unwavering source of musical inspiration, not to mention fertile touring ground, for the group.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Stay adventurous with that musical taste.

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