Hey, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. I hope you're doing well.

Thank you for clicking on this because it's another compilation of conversations and back-and-forths that I had live on my NTS show, Call Me Maybe. The, again, live call-in show where I allow listeners to essentially hop on the phone and hit me with some hot takes, some unpopular opinions, some questions, whatever they want to chop it up about in regards to music. I hope you enjoy. And without any further ado, here is the collection of conversations.

AF: Hey, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. I hope you're doing well. It's time for another edition on NTS of Call Me Maybe, the monthly call music discussion program where the internet's busiest music nerd, he goes live to talk to you about whatever music topics are bubbling up off the top of your head. What are you passionate about? What's the take you have? What's the discussion you're looking to get into.

Now that Brat summer is coming to a close, what are our fall music trend predictions? What fall is it going to be? Is it going to be a Fred Again fall? A Floating Points fall? A Jamie XX fall? A Katie Perry? Autumn? I want to know.

Also, what was the song of the summer for you, for your friends, for the world, in your opinion? Black Midi, the legendary experimental, contemporary, amazing progressive and weirdo rock band, broken up, over and done with. We're sad. We're depressed about it. How are you feeling about it currently? Good thing, bad thing? Are we looking forward to solo releases in the future? Band reformation down the road? I don't What are your thoughts on that?

AF: Sean, my lovely producer, has our first call of the episode lined up, from what I understand. Nathan, how are you? Are you here? What is up?

Caller: I am here. Am I speaking to the best teeth in the game?

AF: Yes, you are. I still maintain that title. Nathan, what's on your mind, aside from my teeth?

Caller: Obviously, Black Midi have broken up as has my heart, into a million tiny pieces.

AF: Yes.

Caller: But the slight silver lining is that we're probably going to get soul effects from all three members. I was curious, are you more interested in hearing Geordie's direction, which is more jazz rock, prog stuff, or maybe Cam picked them with this folkier, more melodic sound?

AF: I think I'm more of a Greep boy, to be completely honest. I think I'm a Greep guy. Not that I wouldn't want to hear other solo records. I would, and I do. I am excited for any solo, duo, anything post Black Midi coming out. But I'm a big jazz rock guy. I love my Weather Report. I love my Maha Vishnu. I love my Prague. I love my gentle giant, and so on and so forth. I mean, that's really like... Listen, I love my share of folk artists and acoustic stuff, too. If that's the direction the other stuff is going in. But what made Black Midi interesting to me, to begin with, was that they were flirting with that stuff, the jazz rock and the prog stuff in a way that actually felt refreshing. So if there's an opportunity to drop more records into the future that continue to push on that front and push that boundary and keep that genre actually genuinely interesting, I'm very much looking forward to especially that. Same question to you. What about you?

Caller: Probably Greep. I do like Cam's contributions. I think he's an excellent bassist, and the songs that he wrote for the band were some of their best. But the technicality and just the visceral energy that Greep brings to it, like his voice deliveries and his soloing, along with Morgan's drumming, is just having your face melted off, and I just need more of that.

AF: Right. Also, his very absurd approach to lyricism, too, which has the potential to go even wilder and more indulgent in a solo context, maybe even for worse. Who the heck knows? I guess we'll just see.

Caller: Just as a follow-up to that, speaking of Cam Picton, since I think he is a great bassist, even though I'm sure I've heard you talk about plenty of classic bassists he looks to, but are there any more contemporary bassists or bands with bass sections that you personally find really great? For me, it'll be like Death From Above. Obviously, the bass tones are disgusting. Deerhoof's Satomi is a great bassist. Gorilla Toss has some incredible grooving. But for the modern era, who are some of your favorite bassists?

AF: As far as modern stuff, sometimes he's on bass, sometimes he's on this crazy war guitar, but I really do like Colin Marston quite a bit. He plays a little bit of everything, though. But when he is contributing bassier bits to various out there metal records that he's working on, I do tend to enjoy those a lot. But as far as favorite classics and so on and so forth and stuff like that, for a while, I was very much like a Joco guy and a Claypool guy. As a teenager, I was just annoyingly into slapping, and I'm just so over that now. I feel like you have to mature past it a little bit. It's fun to do for a bit, but it's more fun to do than it is to listen to constantly. I feel like it should be a nice subtle touch-up, not the coup de gras. Also, love myself as far as new, new Thundercat stuff. I've seen him live on a couple of occasions, one of which included another bassist in the band. He was like, there was rhythm bassist and lead bassist. It was an insane set. It was actually an incredible set that I caught him at. But listen, those are my thoughts on that. Nathan, thank you for coming through.

AF: Just give me some hot takes. Give me some something that is on the top of your mind music-wise that you would like to discuss with yours truly. Curious what Fantano thinks of ambient music? I mean, it's a good solid genre. Very abstract and I would say adventurous style of music, depending on the artist that you're listening to.

Ella is on the line. Ella, you're here. What is going on? What do you want to talk to me about on Call Me Maybe?

Caller: Oh, my gosh. First, I just want to say thank you so much for having me as a caller. I'm a first-time caller, long-time listener. I'm also a baby DJ. I'm the host of the Richmond County Radio Club outside of Staten Island, New York.

AF: A baby DJ?

Caller: Yeah, we just started our show. Oh, that was my cat knocking something over. Sorry.

AF: Sorry. Is this something that you've coined yourself, or is this a radio station term? When you are starting out and you're in the trenches, you're a baby DJ?

Caller: Honestly, a lot of my friends who are strippers call themselves baby strippers, and they tend to have that similar in-the-trenches experience. So I co-opted that from their language.

AF: Okay. I'm aware of the baby stripper terminology for reasons that I'm not going to divulge on air. But yes, so you've co-opted... Wow, disgusting of you. You've appropriated and co-opted SW Culture, and you've applied it without permission, I'm guessing, to DJ culture, which many online and on the airwaves are going to find offensive. We're going to be very lucky if there's another episode past this point.

Caller: Well, have you ever played this game? It's called Fuck, Marry, Kill.

AF: Oh, my God. Okay, so give me three records, and I will answer that question. Yeah, I'm very familiar with that game. In the same way that I'm familiar with the baby stripper terminology.

Caller: Okay, so the albums that I have selected for you are BRAT by Charli XCX, naturally. Hex Dealer by Lip Critic. You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To by Knocked Loose.

AF: Oh, okay. Jeez.

Caller: Wide range here.

AF: Yeah, no, it's a wide range. Okay, listen, I'm going to say I feel like this is so against my character because I am usually such a post-punk boy, but I think I have to say kill on the Lip Critic, and it's not out of any disrespect. I was put into a hard, tough position here by a baby DJ, and I have no other options. Beyond that, I would say I'm going to F the Knocked Loose because I feel like that would be a very wild F. On top of it, given all of the religious and blasphemous themes throughout the lyrics of that record, getting married under the eyes of God is probably not in the cards for a Knocked Loose album. I feel like that album is probably for the sluts. It's for the whores. Then beyond that, we'd have to marry BRAT because obviously, BRAT, she's untamable. She's wearing a white shirt with no bra. She's got a half-a-lit cig hanging out of her mouth and so on and so forth. But she's also sitting there on the precipice. She's like, 'Hey, but also, do I want to end my birth control and have a baby and stuff? Hold on, let me do another line of coke. But now I'm still thinking about it.' You know what I mean? She's on the edge. You know what I mean? It's like, let's just be brats together in holy matrimony is why I would choose marriage. Plus, also, fiancé George is a part of the narrative there, which I feel like you got one foot in the door there. That album is as close to marriage as I think any record is in that bunch that you offered me.

Caller: That is so true. That's actually such a beautiful analysis. Thank you for that.

AF: Thank you for proposing it. It was a good thought experiment. I appreciate you coming through.

Caller: Of course. Thank you.

AF: All right. Have a good one.

Caller: You, too. Have a great day.

Oh, my God. That was great.

Caller: It's Call Me Maybe, latest episode of the music call-in show, featuring Anthony Fantano, the internet's busiest music nerd. We are inviting you guys to hop on air and discuss anything music-wise that is on the top of your mind at nts.live/callfantano.

We've got Alex over here. Just give me one second. Alex. Alex is coming on the air. Alex, it's me. It's the internet's busiest music nerd. How are you doing? Are you there?

AF: Good. How are you?

Caller: Good. I'm doing good. I'm so glad to hear your voice. What's going on?

AF: How would you recommend someone who's never done journalism before get into music journalism?

Caller: Yeah. I mean, look, when I was starting out with what I was doing, I mean, obviously, I didn't have the potential social media channels that are around now, but I was using what was available to me and what was popular and prevailing at the time. I had a Blogspot site because music blogs were super popular at the time. I had started my YouTube channel last after all of that. I was writing for a few publications, and I had a podcast going with a proper RSS feed that was on my website and so on and so forth. While these aspects of it didn't really end up taking off, it seemed like the thing to do at the time as I was throwing a lot of irons in the fire just throwing a lot of crap at the wall and just seeing what stuck. Then eventually, it was the YouTube thing that slowly began to snowball into what it is today. I would look at what's in front of you as far as mediums and platforms and channels that you could potentially put yourself out on, be it YouTube, be it some podcast, be it TikTok, be it Instagram, be it whatever, however you choose to promote yourself or your thoughts or your ideas or your opinions or these interviews that you want to do and how you go about getting a hold of them. Just start putting yourself out there on all of these platforms as much as possible.

Caller: Thank you so much. One last question to finish it off. What is your favorite bagel flavor?

AF: Everything. Thank you.

Caller: Everything bagel. Nice!

AF: Everything.

Caller: Okay, that's a good answer.

AF: Are you kidding me? Everything. I like it all. I want the Sesame seeds. I want the poppy seeds. I want some of those Everything bagels have a bit of garlic flavor on them, too, and I like that. That's what I want.

Caller: Right. Good answer. I rock with it. All right. Thank you so much. Have a great one.

AF: Thank you. Have a good one.

AF: Call Me Maybe, the live music call-in show featuring your doffy boy who you're wondering how the heck he even got on the air. It's Anthony Fantano, the internet's busiest music nerd. Under the weather right now. But still willing to take your calls at nts.live/callfantano.

All right, we have our next caller on the line. Who is with us? We have Vicente here. Vicente. Are you there? Are you there? Are you there? Are you there? We want to talk to you. What's going on?

Caller: Yes, I am. I'm right here.

AF: There you are. What's going on? What's happening? What's on the top of your mind? What do you want to discuss?

Caller: I'm just interested in hearing your thoughts on the whole East Coast club music scene. That's been having a resurgence in my popularity recently, the 2020s decade.

AF: You're talking about the New Jersey stuff and the Philly stuff and so on and so forth, and the driving beats and the bed squeaks and so on, all that crazy shit!?

Caller: Oh, yeah. That's what I'm here for. That's what I love.

AF: No, I think it's interesting. I mean, it's been cool to see it like... I guess here's the thing. I guess what's unfortunate a little bit about it for me, and I'm not speaking from the places like somebody who's an expert on this style, per se, or somebody who's long been a fan or something like that. But it feels like very, very quickly, the sound and the vibe and the production style got mainstreamed so quick and just brought right up to the most popular, most relevant, most viral artist so immediately, it didn't even really provide much of a chance for anybody who was in the underground, was on the ground floor, artist or producer-wise, to really catch any wave or hype off of it that would actually drive attention back to those respective scenes. That's at least my outsider's perspective of it. I don't know if you think that's the case, but it just seems like it blew up so quickly with some of the biggest artists so quick that it didn't really provide an opportunity for people to explore that sound beyond a bunch of top 40 artists indulging in it, if you know what I'm saying.

Caller: Yeah, I know. I think I get what you're saying. I mean, it's risen into popularity quickly. If the Lil Uzi Vert track, "Just Want to Rock", and the track he did with Nicki Minaj, "Everybody", and there are some other ones that I could name out. But I think that's a fair case. However, I also do believe that elements from those genres are also kind of leading to other different genres, such as the drill scene.

AF: Yeah, no, they most definitely are.

Caller: Oh, yeah. I think of an artist like Cash Cobain recently. He's had a lot of popularity as of late. He fuses elements of Jersey Club with the more sensual R&B samples he uses with the stomping kicks, which I really love. But I get what you're saying. It definitely does have an impact for the more underground DJs and all that that are trying to get their name out there. I think that's a fair perspective to have.

AF: Yeah, because typically in the past, especially when it comes to any club music or electronic music, when that stuff gets really popular, gets really hot, in various instances in the past, that has usually coincided with a DJ, a producer, a handful of producers or artists or something also coming up along with it that prior we weren't really getting exposure to. It provides this opportunity for a new generation of artists and creators to get exposure that they wouldn't have otherwise. That, unfortunately, just has not happened with this. I don't know what it is about the makeup of all of it or the way the mainstream has been paying attention to or not diving into it, but it seems like we've been deprived of an opportunity to think a bit deeper and dive a bit further into a style that's being paraded around the mainstream right now that we should be getting a little bit more, I guess, depth on from the music press and social media and so on and so forth. But yeah, those are my thoughts on that.

I appreciate you coming through with your thoughts and opinions. This has been Call Me Maybe, the latest episode of the Music Call-in Show featuring Anthony Fantano.

We're going to have to call it a day. Hey, hey, hey. Yeah, thank you for coming through. Thank you again for listening, and I'll see you guys in the next one. Bye.