Music Criticism in Video Form

We've talked about this guy in other threads, but he and those who follow a similar path of doing music crit video-style deserve their own thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OElyc_yZU54

Dude's awesome.

this is the worst idea ever

^^^^^

tim's tv show was really good, but that had 3 people incl tim

the problem w/ this is that it takes me like... 6 mins to read two or three reviews on my own -- i don't really want to watch a 6 min video of a dude in front of a camera talking about something

i barely can find time to listen to the albums themselves

Unless his name is Scott Seward or Ned Raggett, I have no desire to watch a critic read his reviews.

You all will remember this day when this dude takes over the world.

Tbh I shut it off when he referred to Xasthur as "eight albums tall".

Why do you hate poetry?

No, I hate unfortunate references to Smurfs.

John D did an amazing flash animation review on Last Plane years ago (was just text but it sorta counts as video), was it for Radiohead?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4HW7jmRXeE

There's a pretty good Brokencyde reference in his Sleigh Bells review (1:30 or so):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aJXrwCX20U

would be so bummed to come across this kinda shit irl anymore (bar? house show?). cannot imagine why anyone would seek it out online.

which, i mean, i'll read a record review from time to time, but i don't need the dude or lady gesturing at me and getting all nasal with it

I did this once. I intended to approximate Jay Smooth but I couldn't edit it down from 11 minutes. So.

I thought it was okay at the time but I am certain it's not worth watching now. Unless you like to see someone describing '70s Beach Boys records and all the while trying to talk through his bad haircut.

This guy's changing lives and none of you even appreciate it:

"However, if you were to take relentless breathy female vocals and put them over a Sunn 0))) track, it would ruin that too."

ppl at the twitter conf kept telling me to do a daily album review vlog like g4ry v4ynerchuck and his dumb wine because it will eventually = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Do Pitchfork writers still review stuff for ABC News?

Can't find anything re: Pfork/ABC lately, but I did come across Renee Fleming's take on pop and indie rock (I honestly don't dare watch this myself, just wanted to share the link... view at yr own risk!):

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/video?catId=2898870&autostart=false

The Best of Beavis & Butthead

I actually really liked the Woebot.tv thing. This guy on the other hand just seems annoying.

Some of prindle's ones have been really great...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdNhxSDBV9Y

and

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

but then also, recently, very depressing if you've been reading him for a while.

prindle's are at least kind of fascinating/horrifying for fans of his writing, but this other dude...why the hell would anyone watch this?

unless they themselves have considered talking about an album for five minutes into a camera in front of a black backdrop

Because The Needle Drop dude rules.

is this who you want to be when you grow up or something?

i mean unless you can't find a guy in glasses to talk to you about albums in person, i can't see what purpose this guy serves.

he's got people to pay attention to music criticism -- that's something. also, dude's entertaining

dude has less than than 10,000 views on any video. Not bad for a vlog of a dude talking about albums for five minutes with no sound samples (wtf is up with that, btw?) but dunno if he "got people to pay attention to music criticism."

insofar as (1) he has some viewers and (2) you consider what he's doing music criticism -- and i do -- then "he's got people to pay attention to music criticism," at least momentarily

i mean, his is a small fuckin operation, but i'm all for some dude who obviously loves music doing a half-decent job turning other music fans onto good stuff

judging from the comments these people were already paying attention to music criticism when they got to him

sure, you're probably right -- all or even most of the ppl watching his videos probably already have some sort of interest in consuming music criticism, but at the same time he's at least furthering their engagement with it, which is neat. and i think he succeeds pretty well in doing pretty good reviews in this format. i'm all for people trying out projects like this. i also just like his stuff

*most or even all

the title of this thread made me think of something else entirely!

besides the derogatis show, are there any people doing criticism in audio form (which would seem like a more natural fit)?

there's a fantastic deconstruction of "hyper enough" on the laughter guns EP by some college DJs that I wish people would do more of, even if they're not joking.

one day someone will do this well

who wants to look at a music critic?

i was hoping da croupier was planning on launching a competing vlog

xpost

I was thinking this would be about critics tearing music videos apart beavis & butthead/MST3K style, where all you would see is a silhouette maybe.

video is a more forgiving and flexible medium than prose, i.e. allows a lot of more divisive stylistic chops to be sidestepped completely and a lot of observations are simpler to express in realtime. it's quicker&less effort also. reading a tool fan trying to spot instances of the fibonacci sequence in lateralus wld be awful, but youtube is like an anaesthetic. vlogs are shit. all you guys are fools for even imagining them imo.

irl lol, but

youtube is like an anaesthetic. vlogs are shit. all you guys are fools for even imagining them imo.

Huh?

minutes with no sound samples (wtf is up with that, btw?)

I think he used to have sound samples in some of his older review. Whatever happened?

yeah, i thought he did too -- copyright issues, maybe?

I'm trying to think where video offers an advantage over an audio review. Would you pull up spectrum analyses of records?
I think it could be a useful to show where someone maybe ripped off someone else, but it isn't immediately obvious by listening to it.

you could slowly pan over album artwork and pictures of the band while actors read quotes from the musicians, reading rainbow style.

interpretive dance

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

xp to ksh

video is less abstract and more sensory, & that dazzle sweetens the transmission of all sorts of shit. ppl will watch lots of shit they wldn't read, changing the ratio of yr senses can have a numbing effect, youtube is like an audiac, the headphone anaesthetic where you wld increase the volume till you couldn't feel any pain, or presumably, hear afterwards

the laurie anderson curlers line gets me every time!

feel like his role is more like that Ray William Johnson guy, he doesn't really have opinions or a coherent set of likes and dislikes, he just reacts to shit

feel like his role is more like that Ray William Johnson guy, he doesn't really have opinions or a coherent set of likes and dislikes, he just reacts to shit

― frogbs, Tuesday, June 23, 2026

That's my complaint. For him, albums live in a context-free phantom zone. Besides enjoying their prose for its own sake, the fun of reading Ebert and John Leland or whoever when I was younger was the connections they made to antecedents. "Oh, this movie is influenced by a director named François Truffaut? Gimme."

That said, an easy crutch in music writing is to turn paragraphs into a stew of this-reminds-me-ofs.

Fantano contributed to an anti-SJW video with a clip advising the "SJWs" to drink bleach. He has never really apologised for this, only saying that the makers of the video misrepresented the context. he is a creature of 4chan and unless he disavows everything about them he will always be deeply suspect.

I feel the main thrust of his “criticism” has always felt closer to the function of AI — how is the generic Critic talking about these sorts of albums — than that of a critic, ie an individual whose unpredictability is where you detect a soul

i figure this guy just reviews the same stuff pitchfork and rolling stone do, idgi

― brimstead, Monday, June 22, 2026 9:17 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

i think he takes his cues from rate your music

or vice versa

I feel the main thrust of his “criticism” has always felt closer to the function of AI — how is the generic Critic talking about these sorts of albums — than that of a critic, ie an individual whose unpredictability is where you detect a soul

― ok (D-40),

This.

yes, d-40 otm

unfortunately, 95% of music talkers/influencers on tiktok have inherited his mannerisms and overly-pedantic analytical style

always loved how Nmesh's Dream Sequins extensively samples his Floral Shoppe review on the last track, specifically the parts where he's wasting time rambling about all these new genres and the history of plunderphonics and just describing the shit that happens on the album and saying "oh it's supposed to be weird", kinda cemented my impression of this guy as someone who just can't see anything beyond this overly wordy critical lens. even Scrauffi on occasion would really like something and wax poetic about it in a way that made you wish you could hear what he was hearing. I don't think Fantano has ever given anyone that feeling.

interesting discourse here. he *did* tell you guys who he was from the start though: "the internet's busiest music nerd."

...and, to his credit, has been nothing more ever since.

joke

if you break it down, the most widely recognized in their respective fields are usually the busiest, nerdiest ones. i mean, i'dve called herbie hancock "the syntheziser's busiest music nerd" at one point in his career. just for accuracy.

and to be clear: no, i don't like fantano's work. it never should've been a thing. or at least not the thing it became.

there are leftsetz corollaries here tbqf

Was thinking this earlier today. Seems increasingly clearer with time.

there are leftsetz corollaries here tbqf

Wake me up when Fantano develops an obsession with "real artists, man" and fixates on, like, Jackson Browne as a paradigm of same.

You know, the “real artists, man” guys are wildly annoying and stupid, but please can we admit they are worlds better than the “How dare you give Carly Rae Jepsen a light 6” people we have now

Two sides, same coin, surely.

yeah the poster who gets whiny about a 6.9 for CRJ is like this because he thinks she's a real artist, man.

Wake me up when Fantano develops an obsession with "real artists, man" and fixates on, like, Jackson Browne as a paradigm of same.

"relevance" is just "real artists, man" in newer duds

He absolutely is the only person talking about -- in every sense -- music whom my students listen to. They may not agree or even regard him as an authority, but he's part of their Instagram feed content.

As others have pointed out, juicing your content to catch the widest possible algorithmic distribution is nothing to hang your hat on, it just means you are Pewdiepie for people who like music instead of video games

lol yeah fair cop, or like, why am i holding music critics to a higher standard than roger ebert or something

Ebert occasionally (/often idk?) got deets wrong bcz he watched three movies a day in a dark room and had to write convincing Takes on them in 12-72 hour window

Despite this, he was a great writer who turned out a) thoroughly readable copy that b) nearly always gave the reader a clear awareness of how his opinion would relate to their own taste, bcz they had a perspective of his own tastes and mode of expression

― uploading this content requires perseveration (sic), Tuesday, June 23, 2026 1:27 AM (fourteen hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

lol pvmic, i am well aware of roger ebert's excellebt writing, i was referring to the popular conception of ebert as "thumbs up or down" guy, shouldve said gene shallit or rex reed or somebody instead

Whatever happened to Joe Bob Briggs? We need a JBB of contemporary music criticism.

He’s been doing his thing! Just wrapped up a series for Shudder this year that’s run for about six years, and after a couple of specials this year he’s got something new planned for 2027.

was referring to the popular conception of ebert as "thumbs up or down" guy, shouldve

look at this mf holding roger ebert to a higher standard than roger ebert or something

(obv I have no context to think of him as the thumbs guy)

multitudes. he practiced.. what i would call.. Movie Criticism in Video Form

As others have pointed out, juicing your content to catch the widest possible algorithmic distribution is nothing to hang your hat on,

how do you define juicing your content?

Cut content in half. Hold one half in your hand, using a fork, squeeze the content around the fork over a bowl or measuring cup. Strain through mesh if desired.

Still too many seeds.

What I don't understand was Halsey is going off on him about an old review right? Or was there something new that set this off?

I thought she retired?

i mean he did return to my youtube recommendation algorithm as "Fantano REACTS!!!" which iirc was not his channel's original branding, i guess the guy does know how to continue riding a wave but all of it feels so targeted toward saying the least insightful things to as many people as possible and i continue to think that's one of the major things wrong with the world

xxxp

What I don't understand was Halsey is going off on him about an old review right? Or was there something new that set this off?

― chr1sb3singer, Wednesday, June 24, 2026 9:42 AM (thirty-seven seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

i think he recently reshared the old review. on top of that there have been weird fandom wars happening ever since he interviewed rodrigo that i wish i knew less about

Ahh ok, i guess I'm dimly aware there is some Rodrigo related weirdness going, though thankfully the two Rodrigo fans in my house seem to be completely unware of

From what I can tell, Swifties started coming after him after the OR review, then Halsey fans resurrected a beef they had about his review of The Great Impersonator and he responded with something like "When people are still talking about the review instead of the album.." which Halsey saw and responded to.

Every time internet fandom these days is like reading about European history just before WW I

"It all started with the sudden emergence of Serbian poptimism."

franz ferdinand need to be careful

how do you define juicing your content?

― boners for bombs (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, June 24, 2026 10:19 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

engineering the style and content of your videos to go viral

you go viral by reviewing Tierra Whack mixtapes?

Do you understand how the internet works?

No, you're right, I'm sure he's just a normal guy who loves what he loves and stumbled into this in spite of himself

Not sure what you're getting at. Is he more nefarious than other people who post Youtube videos? And if not, then what extra is he doing to hack the algorithm?

To me, getting in a feud with Halsey and then making a video about it would be an attempt to "go viral" but just posting reviews of albums RYM is into limits your reach a bit.

I'm not saying he's nefarious, my simple point remains that being the "world's most popular music critic Youtuber" is not something I'd consider to be an accomplishment in itself, but behind that I just hate this guy's vibe and think that he rarely has anything worthwhile to say, others are free to disagree

I think hes kind of nefarious, in the sense that his shit pretends to be criticism while being not that

the way he talks about music reminds me more of product reviews, like guys reviewing headphones on youtube or something

right, he's good at describing what it *is* but not why you should like it. I don't think I've ever gotten anything from him that I wouldn't get by just listening to the album. but yes there is that additional Youtube specific element in how he just drones on and on while cutting out every moment of silence and hesitation, stitching together sentences from multiple takes, it makes it hard for my brain to parse what he's actually saying, which would be an issue if he was actually saying anything interesting. it feels like he's just trying to hit a certain length to get that mid-video ad break revenue.

The way Fantano uses the word “project” to describe virtually any release drives me nuts.

a thing i've thought about fantano:

at the beginning of one of his very old reviews, he briefly mentions that his voice is hoarse and he is a bit sluggish because he had had a late night seeing a regional favorite band, who he named. i went and looked up the band, figuring the mention was intentional and they were a band he was personally recommending because he just digs their music (and was probably still riding the endorphins of a rad show). the band's music was passable post-grunge, post-hardcore, kinda math-rocky guitar stuff. enh, sure. makes sense for a dude with that energy to like that sort of thing.

it's just that it was at the beginning of a review of a current hyped hiphop album, so i couldn't really make heads or tails of what he was trying to do after that. then there was all the weird altright second channel stuff a year or so later. now he thinks he's the smartest guy in the room. huh. he really *is* boring.

Anthony Fantano may be boring blowhard, but Cal Chuchesta seems like a pretty swell guy.