Music Criticism in Video Form

i continue to wish saer would vote 40 times in the poll or at least post an essay long synesthetic take on each track but, as i am not responsible for his page rate, i live in hope

that those type of picks happen everywhere, and it's laughable to pretend otherwise

So is Fantano a thing for people who toss around the term "aspie" (at best a tawdry wee contraction of an outdated term, at worst a hateful slur)? Cus most people with an actual ASD diagnosis would know that is not acceptable

You're essentially gatekeeping me out of hip-hop fandom because I'm not as immersed in it as others and suggesting that it's pure tokenism on my part, which is a pretty fucking shitty thing to do.

xp

So is Fantano a thing for people who toss around the term "aspie" (at best a tawdry wee contraction of an outdated term, at worst a hateful slur)? Cus most people with an actual ASD diagnosis would know that is not acceptable

― Jonathan Hellion Mumble, Wednesday, 3 June 2020 20:19 (one minute ago) bookmarkflaglink

we all have our own way of dealing with being neuroatypical idk. if using the term makes you uncomfortable i won't. sorry.

Immersion is for people who remember the names of records

I'm essentially giving you shit because you made the absurd request to produce examples

GD, you are making some good points overall, but I have to agree that that's not really on.

xp to saer, also canning

Apologies for implying that you should back up your speculative claim.

xps

If I have a criticism of the taste of the ILM hivemind, it's that (much like every other generalist music site) it has a bias against the cheesy, the hardcore and the generic, sometimes the best music is one or even all three of these. It's great that people step out of their comfort zones to explore other music, I just wish they would steer away from the tasteful / respectable examples a bit more.

I did and you flipped out

it's totally speculative. I'm not trying to convince you of it. Feel free to ignore me. And my gatekeeping.

the thing about 'performative' or 'for show' voting is that anyone can vote for whatever they want for any reason, so like any aggregate of scores or opinions you're getting an 'average' of people who are all voting for things for different reasons, similar to how on RYM an album that scores a '3.5' can mean 'one of the best 100 albums ever' to those dudes who downrate everything & 'pretty decent' to a guy like me. my EOY ballots here aren't really a true reflection of my favorite albums ranked, it's really fuckin' difficult to do that, and yes I'll put stuff higher if I think it's got a chance of placing in lieu of some obscure Japanese thing that nobody else on this board likes

I also voted for two hip-hop albums in last year's poll, you can add those to your tally of ILM tokenism and use them as incontrovertible proof the next time this topic comes up.

xp

CaAL: this year's top ten included money machine and old town road! if you wanted to define "the cheesy, the hardcore and the generic" you'd be hard pressed for better 2019 examples!

sounds like a strike a nerve, yeesh. it's just a fucking music list, who cares

lol fuck you !!

ulysses - yes, I was thinking about Money Machine (which I still don't really get, and is certainly not generic) and perhaps Old Town Road kind of applies too (though it isn't that cheesy, certainly isn't hardcore, and is very far from generic), but these are big name things with their own dedicated threads, they are critical darlings which are not representative of anything else.

you quite literally asked for an example. I would never make specific accusations of tokenism/for show picks against individuals. Then you wanna cry boohooo when I throw your list at you as an example. Gimme a fucking break.

I would never make specific accusations of tokenism/for show picks against individuals.

lol an example of a 'calculated "for show" selection' that just so happens to be drawn from my own noms? Dude, give it a rest.

Yeah, that was an F to the P.

everyone should stop posting in this thread and listen to 'care for me' instead

otm

Sounds fair. I want to be able to rep for a hip-hop record after all.

J/k, I'm listening to Horse Lords. A real 10/10.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkUxFB6jbDc

Sund4r, is it true you voted for 'Mask Off' and 'T-Shirt' in the 2017 tracks poll? Seems suspicious to me.

(I really need to check out that Horse Lords album.)

Saba is great and all, but I'll usually end up listening to idk, let's say Danny Brown instead, forgive me.

Haha wow. I was this infamous event, I'll have you know!: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/200-treated-onsite-thursday-ottawa-bluesfest-1.4204873

My wife and I would often burst into "percocet, molly, percocet" at random moments that summer as well.
xp

Haha, that's awesome. I'm afraid the only Bluesfest I've been to was in Tremblant some 20-odd years ago with my dad. It was nowhere near as exciting, alas.

forgive me.

no

The ILX EOY list has also changed from "let's tabulate what people liked this year, half of which are particular to things we fixated on as a group over the year" to "let's curate a diverse list of genres so we can do a happy internet dance about how broad our tastes are"

This is just so weird to me. If so, when did it change into the latter? I haven't seen a happy internet dance about the broadness of taste on the ilx eoy polls. If there was dancing, it was because people liked that their fave came on top (🎈) which seems entirely justified. ILM is a bunch of randos merely connected by the fact they visit the same place sending in their ballot. Every individual has their own reasons and reasoning making a ballot (as frogbs explained). If that constitutes a concerted act of curation I certainly did not get the memo.

Granny Dainger I applaud you for never wanting to make specific accusations of tokenism against individuals, it's just a shame you did just that. Smdh.

personally I def curate my list to make it at least a little more balanced in terms o genre than my actual listening, which is maybe dishonest but 1. is still a pretty accurate picture of the breadth of what I listen to and 2. seems more likely to generate more interesting results. what's the point in listing 10 metal albums I loved a lot when there's a dedicated metal poll f'rinstance?

you can call it self fulfilling prophecy if you like but at this point I know what ILM is into as a whole, what can be made to fit in with what captures imaginations on here, and what can't or is very unlikely to

Oh I curate my own ballot, of course. Mostly the 'dishonesty' amounts to putting some ambient/drone records (underdogs here) a bit higher, to see them get some points or whatever. I just don't see it as a collective curating effort to create a diverse list; with all these individuals sending in a ballot based on their own particular reasoning, curating that seems nigh impossible.

Knowing what ILM is and what fits, that's another matter, and obv I agree. Even though loads of eyes were popping out of sockets when 'Jogging' and Gecs showed up as high as they did.

"Jogging" was a lock to me cause UK and lots of cachet with the avant cru

Think I curate in the opposite direction, if I know something has no chance of getting any other votes, I'll be a bit wary of putting it in my balot.

No I think the same way! Hence I tend to underrepresent rock music generally (at least in album ballots)

my ballots are pure

The Pains of Being Pure at Ballot

I am happier since I abandoned any efforts to curate or cram-listen for polls. I also had the second-loneliest ballot.

Ha, I have enough problems making a full ballot in the general ILM poll to curate anything. If it's from last year and I heard it, it's on my ballot.

complaints abt other ppl pretending to like stuff for cred reek of insecurity, & the notion of real/fake taste is a curious bit of authentocracy

The NY Times climbs aboard the Fantano bandwagon.

Another college student and musician, Ethan Fields, 20, has used his time at home during the pandemic to build a TikTok fan base, savvily interpreting popular songs in the style of other musicians. Fantano, Fields said, was an early influence on his knowing and silly insidery content.

“I don’t think there’s anyone else like him, who’s had that reach,” Fields said. “If you told somebody on the street, ‘Name a music critic right now,’ if they’re under the age of 25, they’ll say, ‘Anthony Fantano.’” (Asked if he could even name another music critic, Fields had to take a moment. “Ummmm, let’s see … honestly … I’m trying to think. There’s a guy from Rolling Stone who loves U2?” he said. “David Fricke?”)

The old guard has not exactly embraced Fantano. Robert Christgau, a rock critic for more than half a century, has called Fantano’s career an “achievement,” but sniffed, “I don’t ‘watch’ reviews. I read writing.” In an email, Christgau added, “I literally never think about Anthony Fantano and would probably have trouble recalling his name. This isn’t a dis — I don’t know his work well enough to dis it.”

...

Having spent a lot of time on the vulgar message board 4chan, Fantano infused his internet presence with winks, contrarian irreverence and attempts at humor, like a recurring “roommate” character that is just Fantano in a fake mustache. He became a favorite of the 4chan music forum known as /mu/, but Fantano’s flirtation with that world also led to controversy when he was accused in a 2017 article in The Fader of courting the alt-right with a spinoff channel that reviewed memes instead of music. The article was later deleted amid a settlement, and both sides are bound by a nondisclosure agreement.

Fantano said he started that channel to make more money from YouTube, and acknowledged that there were some “grubby, close-minded, young, aggressive male types hovering around the content.” (The Needle Drop’s audience on YouTube is only 6.5 percent female.) He said 4chan was “toxic and problematic,” yet also “where most internet humor draws back to — all of us are guilty of that original sin, in a way.”

In the years since, he has become more vocal on social justice issues, adding, “My politics have become, as a result of reading things online, more intersectional.”

lmao at choosing to ask robert christgau about anthony fantano, powerful journalism

solid use of "sniffed"

The old guard has not exactly embraced Fantano. Robert Christgau, a rock critic for more than half a century, has called Fantano’s career an “achievement,” but sniffed, “I don’t ‘watch’ reviews. I read writing.”

What is Writism?

He said 4chan was “toxic and problematic,” yet also “where most internet humor draws back to — all of us are guilty of that original sin, in a way.”

lol, this guy is so awful.

Robin Pecknold asks Fantano a few questions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05BEJCR-jaI&t