Hey, hi, and hello, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. Hope you're doing well.

What you're about to watch here is a compilation video of a bunch of interactions and clips that have been pulled together from a new NTS show that I've been doing called 'Call Me Maybe' – it's a live call-in show where people hit me up over the Hello phone, the Internet, really, in order to pick my brain about a variety of different music topics.

We talk, we inquire, we hash it out. That's how it goes. It's a good time. We've been doing monthly episodes. There are a few more on the way as well. Link in the description box for more information on that. But yes, without any further ado, here is the series of clips from 'Call Me Maybe' episodes one and two. Ahhhh.

AF: We have somebody on the line. Okay, well, let's see. We're really experimenting here.

Caller: I just wanted to chat about my favorite album of the year by Shirley Bassey. Have you heard of her?

AF: No, I haven't. I'm going to write down that name right now. Shirley. Is it B-A-S-S-E-Y? B-a-s-s-y?

Caller: I can't remember.

AF: Okay, well, what's the name of the album?

Caller: And I Love You So, and it's wonderful.

AF: And I Love You So. What genre lane is it in? What is it? Tell me.

Caller: Welsh pop music.

AF: Okay. Welsh pop music. I'm down to check it out. Welsh pop music.

Caller: You know Wales?

AF: I do not know Wales well. I haven't been there, personally.

Caller: Not the creature, the country.

AF: No, I know. I'm aware. I'm not that out of touch, okay? I'm a little out of touch, but I'm not that out of touch.

Caller: It's a very good album. I recommend it. She means a lot to us in Wales, you see, Shirley. A bit like Tom Jones, but not so crap.

AF: Oh, okay. How do you feel like this fits against the rest of her? I imagine this is an artist that has a pretty long and storied catalog from how you're describing her.

Caller: A very long catalog. She did one of the James Bond anthems.

AF: Okay, okay, okay. How does this record measure up against her other albums, would you say?

Caller: I don't really know, but I like it a lot.

AF: Okay. Everybody in chat is going wild over you popping on the call.

Caller: It's because they love Shirley Bassey.

AF: Obviously, there was this untapped fandom in the chat that I just didn't know was there, and it was lying dormant, and you brought it out.

Caller: I think the problem that you focus too much on the modern music.

AF: It's true. It becomes more and more cringe of me to do so as I get older and older and older. But I mean, honestly, I feel like that's my angle. I feel like that's where I thrive. I'm going to be 60 and wondering, what is this new 20-something pop artist doing? That's going to be my concern.

Caller: I don't like the Beatles. I think they're horrible.

AF: You know, honestly, valid, valid. Go off. Go off, go off, Queen.

Caller: I have a question for you about the Drake versus Kendrick drama, if you're good to chat about that.

AF: Okay, first off, are you the guy or do you know the guy who vandalized the OVO store? Is it you?

Caller: I am not, not the guy, unfortunately.

AF: Are you sure? Do you know the guy?

Caller: No, I do not know the guy. I will say I am definitely surprised to see that. It definitely feeds into my question. It's very clear to me from this drama that Kendrick hates Drake in a very explicit, literal way. And Kendrick is using his influence to perpetuate that hate. And Kendrick has talked in his past about this concept of misusing your influence. And now that we're seeing the OVO store get vandalized, now that there was a story about there being a shooting outside Drake's house, the Internet discourse has entirely shifted to calling Drake like a pedo. Do you see this as a misuse of influence? Do you see this as justice? Is this a necessary correction for the industry? How do you view this extreme shift and event that we're seeing within the industry right now?

AF: This beef went very personal, very fast. It's hard to say who exactly is totally at fault for escalating it in the direction that it did. I can say at the end of the day, at the very start of all of it with "Like That", for Kendrick, while he does have a history of, we obviously know the "Control" verse and everything like that, that was really out of nowhere, especially considering it was in response to a positive comment that J. Cole was throwing this way. Since all of this, I've imagined Drake just thinking about Cole and just being like, 'You just had to say it. You just had to say, we're all great, and we're all great and we're all the big three, and it's so that we're all, respectively, successful in our own way. You just had to say that, didn't you?' Drake has a pattern of he gets in these beefs, he gets in these exchanges, and then he mentions someone's wife, and he mentions someone's partner, and then it just all goes downhill from there. Through Drake's antics and the AI Tupac thing and so on and so forth, he was really openly shitting on the West Coast in a way.

A lot of rappers and a lot of rap fans still see, even with Drake being as dominant as he is, still see hip hop as an American institution. If you're going to go at the root of that, and you're going to go at the artists who paved the way for that, and you're going to not just attack one of the most respected artists in the genre, but also its idles at the same time, while dodging some very embarrassing allegations, people are going to have some stuff to say about that.

The beef of the century. Is it over? Is it still ongoing? I think it's over at this point. Even though some people are obviously taking it too far, we're talking about that. And anything else that comes up in the calls, anything you guys want to discuss music-wise.

AF: I believe we have Josh on the line. Josh, hello. Are you there?

Caller: Hi, I'm here. It's nice to be here.

Caller: Josh, how are you doing?

Caller: Yeah, all good, man. How are you doing?

AF: Good, good, good. Thank you for coming through. What do you have to say?

Caller: No worries. I really just wanted to ask, in the 2-3 weeks that we were waiting for that Kendrick response. I was interested in hearing what you thought that he was doing in that period. Do you think that it had something to do with Taylor dropping, as Drake suggested? Do you think that he was preparing or deciding what to do? And do you think that in that time, he was basically loading up all these tracks?

AF: Given the quickness with which he was able to act through all this, I think he was probably preparing as many songs and song ideas as possible and plotting out how he would release them and how he would put them out. I don't think the idea that he had to drop "Euphoria" and then wait for the Drake response and then drop another track immediately after. I don't think that idea just dawns on you last minute. Obviously, given the depth and conceptual detail of "Euphoria" and just how good and well-assembled that Alchemist beat is on the track, again, that's not a song that comes together in a couple of days. That's something that he obviously had ready to drop immediately after Drake did his whole thing.

Now, was he preparing this He's been cooking all of this up since the moment he dropped like that? I don't know if it's literally that insane. He would have to be on another level of like, hating this man, to be planning this out that far in advance. But I think he's probably been cooking this up since "Push Ups" dropped, most likely.

Caller: I don't really care about the Kendric and Drake stuff.

AF: That's fair.

Caller: I mean, Drake is probably a pedo. But, I just want to get some takes. What's your take on Fiona Apple?

AF: I think she's probably one of the greatest songwriters to break in the '90s period. I mean, I wish that her output schedule was a little bit more consistent, but when she does drop, it's always a moment. It's always a splash. It's always something worth listening to and discussing.

Caller: Do you think maybe she's a very important songwriter of the now as well, 2000s?

AF: I mean, as far as an influence. Clearly, she's not trying to compete with the most contemporary artists that are out there today. I feel like she's just enjoying the spoils of her success over the years, for the most part. But I would say she's relevant as an influence, for sure.

Caller: Yeah, I think she's one of the most important artists of the last 50 years.

AF: Yeah. The one thing about Fiona Apple is she was super unique for her time in terms of the pain and emotional turmoil that she put out there in her music so boldly. I feel like that's just come to be expected now. That's almost the norm when it comes to new up and coming singers and I feel like that standard changed a great deal due to her contributions.

Caller: Interesting. Also, another important point. Have you heard of brog?

AF: I have not off the top of my head, no. I don't think so.

Caller: It's a frog whose main consistency is baked beans.

AF: Yes.

Caller: How would you feel about a frog made of baked beans?

AF: I would feel odd about that, honestly. But we live in an odd world. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing out there, probably.

Caller: Wouldn't you actually think it would be one of the most normal things out there to have a brog, a bean-filled frog?

AF: If I was out in the UK, yeah, probably. It would probably seem like a frog made of beans. I think that would probably be just a regular Tuesday, just like this is right now.

Caller: Are bean's not big in America.

AF: Not as big for breakfast, I'll say that.

Caller: All right. What do you eat them for then? Free Palestine.

AF: Free Palestine.

AF: Hi, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, live on NTS, the internet's busiest music nerd. Back with you for another episode of 'Call Me Maybe', the show where you can call me, maybe, live. Let's talk, let's chat.

We're going to be talking about the new Charli XCX album, BRAT. It's out now. It's a banger. In my opinion, a 10 out of 10. It would take a lot to dethrone this record for this year in my mind. Are you enjoying the album as well? Are you liking it Back to Back? Are you feeling Everywhere? Are you feeling like... Are you feeling So Julia off of this record? Let me know.

I'm also curious about, with the Charli XCX record being as commercially successful as it is, are club bangers back? Are club bangers making a return? I'm curious. I want to know. What are your thoughts? What are your opinions? You can me up through nts.live/callfantano. Nts.live/callfantano. Any music takes, any opinions, any points of view, any perspectives that you want to go back and forth on or you have questions on, we can talk about it.

Favorite album of 2024? the Charli XCX, but some very close, close, close and fantastic so far,, runners up throughout the year for me, have also been the new Chelsea Wolfe record, She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She, which is a pretty, pretty, pretty powerful Goth and industrial record that's super heavy. The new Julia Holter record is a beautiful one that has been growing on me, too. Shockingly, I really enjoyed Vampire Weekend's come back on their latest LP, Only God Was Above Us.

AF: Hello. I am here. Hello. You are here. What's going on? What brings you today to the show?

Caller: Well, I wanted to chat to you, Fantano. So thank you for having me.

AF: But what do you want to talk about? I know you want to talk to me. That's clear. That's obvious. But what is it that's just on your lips, on your tongue? What do you need to discuss?

Caller: Well, I wanted to talk about Charli, actually, having a whole cultural moment at the moment. I think one of the things that I think is most influential about her for me is the way that she amplified a really experimental sound with the PC music collaborators and later on Dylan Brady. That was really influential for me because I was 18, 19 when the PC music was kicking off. So, I wanted to open the discussion to you about maybe other marriages between pop stars, because Charli really is a pop star, in my opinion.

AF: No, absolutely.

Caller: And more experimental underground scenes, because she's a vessel, in my opinion, for something more experimental. I wonder if that's or if you can think of where that's occurred in the past. Do you know what I mean?

AF: For sure, there have to be other examples that could be thought of or could be brought up. But in my own review, yeah, I said Charli... PC Music was doing their thing. Charli was doing her thing, both respectively. I feel like she just ended up being this really great conduit for what they were trying to achieve because obviously, conceptually and esthetically, they were borrowing a lot from pop, stardom, diva, pop, dance, pop esthetics of the 2000s. They were mirroring it and, I would say borderline satirizing it, but also creatively being reverent of it as well. But the only thing that they didn't quite have was that figure that could be the face of it and actually fulfill that big pop star-type role. There was Charli already locked and loaded with a successful career and being open to the vibes and the esthetics that they were going for.

Caller: I mean, as far as for seeing vision.

AF: Yeah, no, it's true. But I mean, oftentimes pop artists will usually find their stride when they get a hold of that producer, those collaborators that they feel like they flourish with the most creatively. Those connections never happen the same way every time. I mean, look at the way Billie Eilish and her brother work right now. I mean, obviously, they grew up close. They grew up knowing each other in a way that most collaborators probably don't being siblings, but they work together so well. You couldn't really envision it happening any other way, given how smoothly it seems to be functioning for the both of them.

Caller: Yeah, absolutely.

AF: But, there are some really unlikely connections that I think have been really surprising over the years in the pop sphere, be it like, Miley Cyrus with The Dead Pets and the weird psychedelic thing that she was doing on that record with Flaming Lips and a host of other people. As well as even the latest, if I can remember if it's the latest, I think the latest Halsey record where she was over a bunch of Trent Rezner production and doing a bit of an industrial thing, which I think worked out in her favor a bit as well. I don't know if that's something that they're going to continue doing.

Caller: I'm sure it's the same for you. As a music fan, pop music is great on its own, but when it can embrace something more experimental, especially from people who are currently popping off in the underground, I think that's really sick.

AF: Yeah. The thing is, it's not just limited to pop artists. There are loads of artists in a variety of different genres who sometimes when they hook with that right producer, that super producer in the genre that everybody knows. It's just incredible. It's just magic. I think that's what we see when we see various metalcore and loud rock bands hook up with Kurt Ballou from Converge. I'm going to end up putting out a really hard-hitting, well-assembled, well-pieced-together metal album that's just so thick and so crushing. Also, the name of the guy is escaping me. But also what they did recently on the Knocked Loose record, which is one of the thickest, heaviest things I've heard in my life, point-blank period. Also, Freddie Gibbs and Madlib, with some of the successes they've seen recently. Sometimes collaborations and crossovers just create a really unique lightning-in-a-bottle experience that you know those artists separately would have never been able to achieve that high alone. It's together, they're able to just make some real, some real greatness.

Caller: I do have a photo of you at the Brisbane, at your Brisbane DJ set in 2013. That's a callback.

AF: That set was quite something.

Caller: It really was, yeah. Yeah.

AF: I think I was playing everything from Death Grips to Tonetta during that set. That was like very, that was very unhinged.

AF: Maya is on the line. Maya, how are you? How are you doing?

Caller: I've been following you for quite a while, and I really admire the way that you talk about music and you inspire me as a content creator because I also talk about music. But what I wanted to ask specifically is about Don Toliver, because I'm a huge fan of Don Toliver. I loved his album last year, Love Sick. I went to the tour. I did a whole meet and greet. I just want to know your overall thoughts on him because I know you did a review of the album, but it wasn't stellar. I want to know what you think about him and with his newest songs, Bandit, and some of the stuff he's been What are your overall thoughts on him?

AF: I'm just a little underwhelmed as of late, honestly. I think Don Toliver, he has a standout voice. I know a Don Toliver song when I hear one instantly. He has a timbre and he has a tone about him that sticks out instantly. Again, it hits immediately, and that's why I think he also functions as such a good solid feature artist. He has a voice that functions like no other out there, even with typically autotune and all the vocal processing tends to take a lot of the personality out of a singer's voice. His persona and his character still really shines through, even through all of that. While I think that's keeping him afloat and keeping people focusing on him, I just wish he had, I don't know, a bit more versatility in terms of the production choices he makes and the lyrical content he packs into his tracks. I just feel instant recognition, he has style, he has esthetic, he has charisma, but it's the finer details that I'm just not that enthusiastic with at the end of the day.

Caller: Okay, fair. What did you think about "BANDIT" as a song overall?

AF: I wish... I hate to... Well, I mean, never mind. This is a music nerd show, so I'm going to be a music nerd on it.

Caller: Please do.

AF: Honestly, I feel like it was one of his worst mixed singles. It just felt a little rough. It was aggressive, and it hit pretty hard in terms of his performance and everything, but I feel like the beat could have had maybe a little bit more presence on it.

AF: Wantalk? Want to talk? Hello. Hello. It's Anthony Fantano on 'Call Me Maybe'. You have called in live. Hello. Are you there?

Caller: I was thinking about a few things. I guess first, do love the new XCX album. I think it's great. It's fantastic. I guess I had a couple of albums also that I love from this year, if you were curious. Then I also had another question for you.

AF: Okay, what are the other records that you're really enjoying this year as well as the BRAT album? Anything that I've covered already on the channel or stuff that's slipping by under my radar? What's going on?

Caller: Gosh, I'm not sure. Have you covered the Chanel Beads record and also the new Claire Rousay?

AF: I tried the Claire. I was a little on the fence with it, but I could see what it was going for with the way the vocals were treated and heavily manipulated and that working like a singer-songwriter, almost like an acoustic context. I thought it was interesting. I wouldn't say it was necessarily popping off for me personally, but I liked the angle that it was working, and it definitely stood out to me, creatively and stylistically. I have not, however, tried out the Chanel Beads record. What's the title of that one?

Caller: It is called Your Day Will Come. It's fantastic. Personally, I love it. I think it's a very interesting record that's very of the time. There's a really interesting scene in New York. I think they're in the same ballpark as The Dare, who also does show up on the XCX album.

AF: Oh, okay. Almost like a dance-punk electronic thing?

Caller: No, it's a little more like just a new lofi pop. Yeah, a lot of lofi pop, I would say. That's a very simplistic way to put it.

AF: I'll give it a shot.

Caller: It has these emo elements that are running through it to me. So I think it was great. I think it was a very interesting new direction.

AF: Emo is just running through everything right now. You can't escape it.

Caller: It is back. Same with the Claire Rousay.

AF: Thank you for the recommendation. I will check that out. What's the question that you had before we head out on the next call?

Caller: Yeah, absolutely. The question, hopefully this isn't a lame one or one that you've heard a lot. I was talking with a buddy about this yesterday, but I was just thinking, how is it that you go about evaluating music in general? How do you approach criticism as a whole? I was trying to think about how can we really say one thing is good, one thing is not as good. What goes into your mind when you're about to give something the yellow shirt treatment, as it were? Is it just something that connects with you that you like, or is there more criteria that goes along with that?

AF: I just try to boil it mostly down to just personal appeal and preference. I feel like doing anything further beyond that, as far as what makes me score the album higher, what makes me enjoy the album, is just overthinking it. As far as using anything more abstract beyond that is a truly judgeable criterion that you could base an album's success on. I mean, of course, in the review, though, you don't want to turn a blind eye to things like whether or not a record, stylistically or contextually, is cutting edge. Obviously, that's the thing that you want to take note of in the review. But there are lots of albums that may be experimental or out there or unique or weird or special in some way, and that they're challenging norms or pushing the envelope on some level. But personally, I may not find the music to really be all that appealing. At the end of the day, I feel like those abstracts are subjective in their own way, just in the same way that enjoyability is. But if I'm going to choose one of those two things to base my opinions on, I'd much rather do it based on whether or not I'm actually liking the music, as opposed to whether or not I feel like the record tells a story.

A while back, and this was like years and years and years ago, I remember I caught a panel of individuals who will remain nameless because I don't even remember who was talking about it. I remember being up and coming in what I was doing at the time and hearing this discussion about why various albums get covered on certain websites and why they get certain press coverage or what's exciting about pitching a record and doing a positive review and pushing it out there to the public. One of the sentiments expressed on this panel was like, 'We love an album that tells a story, and we can build a narrative or a tale around and so on and so forth because there's a lot of good B+ or A- music out there. But if it doesn't tell a story, so what? Or it's harder to cover or talk about if it doesn't tell a story.'

I don't know. For me, personally, as a music fan, I love a B+ record. I love an A- record. It doesn't matter to me if the person who made it is some weird, obscure internet hermit who has completely shut themselves off from the world, and you literally know nothing whatsoever about them because there's no context, there's no story, there's no anything. To me, if the album is good, I want to talk about it. Obviously, those other factors and factuals can be interesting and can certainly add to an appeal or give you some insight into what the album's about or why the themes of the record are about certain things or why there might be references to certain contexts in the modern world that we live in. Because obviously, no record is created or exists in a vacuum. But even if you have nothing to go on other than just the music, if the music is good and it appeals to you, it's worth talking about, and it's worth celebrating, and it's worth being excited over.

Caller: I'm calling in. As I said, I'm from India. I'm Indian. I was wondering, what's your experience with Indian music? Because I do radio shows about Indian music in Madison, Wisconsin, when I go there for the spring. I go to college over there. I was just wondering, what's your experience with Indian music and Indian adjacent vibes?

AF: I would say outside of artists who have managed to make it over a little bit in the West, not big, there is a local AM station that plays regularly. A pretty decent mix of old-school Indian and also Persian music, too, that I vibe to every once in a while. I've gotten some recommendations off of that that I've spun on YouTube, one of which is this old-school throwback soundtrack cut that's an interesting mix of not only Indian music, but Mexican music, too. There's some mariachi horns in it. I think it goes like, 'Amariya, Amariya'. It's this really insane '70s cut.

But to be completely honest, one Instagram account that I've been completely obsessed with lately, and I've been meaning to do more of a deep dive into it in terms of the music, the origins of the music, and just the whole story behind it, is this dude who seems to just go around, and he does nothing other than just document these these huge, insane Indian electronic party sound systems. It's just like dozens and dozens and dozens of speakers and tweeters just all stacked on top of each other with these insane freaking just truck straps that you would use to carry a heavy load on a payload or just strapping it so it was dozens of speakers all strapped together. And behind them, they'll have tons of amplifiers pumping into all the speakers, and they're just blasting the loudest, just crazy Southeast Asian bangers, just the craziest stuff you've ever heard in your life. People are just staying around and vibe, and they look at the speaker systems and everything, and it just looks crazy.

Caller: Yeah, I'm going to a wedding. That's a common thing at Indian weddings. You just see a massive guy. He just rocks up in a truck, and on the back of this truck is 12 subwoofer-style speakers, and he's just blasting bangers. It's like an Indian fake Charli XCX, but it's also a guy in his 40s with a mustache.

AF: Okay. Yeah. It must be a really, again, It looked very outlandish and wild to me. But the thing is this guy is constantly pumping out videos, and every video is a totally different sound system and a totally different DJ and a totally different setup. A lot of these sound systems end up all collectively going to the same place. It seems like there's almost a competition there to see who can spin whatever tracks or even be the loudest. Is that the case? I got that sense as well.

Caller: Yes. Oh, absolutely. Currently, a lot of cities have put times, so you can't put something on a speaker past 10:00 PM in my city. That doesn't stop people from trying.

AF: Okay, so screw the noise ordinances. That's what it is, essentially.

Caller: Yeah, I agree, though. If it's at 10:00 PM and there's a metal show going on, what metal show is any at 10:00?

AF: Okay, I found the account. It's Debashis & Friends. I may be pronouncing that incorrectly.

Caller: I love the pronunciation of Debashis.

AF: Yeah, sorry about that. He seems to be a DJ himself, but it's DEBA_SHIS_07. Again, he has tens of thousands of followers. Whenever these videos crop up in my feed, and it's often, because I watch them all the way through or I like them or I interact on some level, I'm just blown away by the speaker systems, the sound, the noise, the everything. It seems like such a... Whatever you want to call it. It seems like it's really dense, it's really rich, and there's a lot going on. I would love to be in the midst of that chaos at some point and just experience it in person because it just even seems wild in and of itself just looking at it through the phone.

Caller: Hey, I mean, if you need an invite to an Indian wedding, I got you.

AF: Okay. Okay. anthony@theneedledrop.com. That's my email. Hit me up with an invite. I would love to either do that or if you have any in to bring me to one of these parties, that would be insane.

Caller: Yeah, hell yeah.

There you have it, the 'Call Me Maybe' clip show of the first two episodes that have been done so far. Thank you very much.