Joanna Newsom Quotes

I guess one thing that makes my music stand out is that it is quite hard to determine what genre it is.

I don't think our music has much to do with math rock.

I think my music is a little shocking to some people because my voice is very traditional-sounding, and my music is not.

The music that I make, the younger musicians are referring to it as 'stretch' music.

I'm very moved by Renaissance music, but I still love to play hard rock - though only if it's sophisticated and has some thought behind it.

What I'm trying to do is break the genre from what is rap and what is music.

We were really interested in music from all over the world. We realized that what we were doing was very close to contemporary classical music because of the lack of tonality in the guitar- the fact that I play guitar the way I play.

All that stuff about heavy metal and hard rock, I don't subscribe to any of that. It's all just music. I mean, the heavy metal from the '70s sounds nothing like the stuff from the '80s, and that sounds nothing like the stuff from the '90s. Who's to say what is and isn't a certain type of music?

The way I approach things is from an experimental folk music standpoint.

Maybe one day music will just be music, and there won't be these categories; it'll just be different shades of music.

Historically, black music has influenced other cultures and other genres and created other genres.

The fact that Stravinsky used the classics as a major influence is obvious. What is interesting is how he used them, how he turned Bach into Stravinsky.

I don't appreciate avant-garde, electronic music. It makes me feel quite ill.

I don't think my music's as traditional as people make it out.

I don't think you can mix classical music and reggae. It's not possible. But some producer in, like, Norway is going to put it together.

He helped make Living Things even more crazy than I wanted it to be. He added old-fashioned piano and classical folk music - that weird otherworldly vibe - all these elements got onto the record.

Rap is the only interesting music left - it's the only genre that's still pushing itself, and experimenting in a way that I find exciting.

In the future I think the labels on most pop music are going to go. Everyone keeps jumping into everyone else's space.

It's no longer unusual for real avant-garde composers to have been in a band, and for bands to be interested in a wide range of music. Look at how artists like Aphex Twin are influenced by Nancarrow and Stockhausen.

Although my music is electronic, it has a lot of influences from my past, which is all sorts of genres; I've been in a rock-metal band for a long time, and I still feel like, personally, I have a lot of influence from that. My classical influence, you can find spots here and there.

I consider the Stooges to be pop music.

People usually call me for experimental songs.

One of my problems is I'm not really sure if I slot into rock or not. I've always tried to combine world music, folk, jazz, blues and rock, and have done since Traffic.

When Talking Heads started, we called ourselves Thinking Man's Dance Music.

I wouldn't necessarily say she is a country artist. I mean, obviously Taylor Swift started in country, but she morphed into somewhat of a cultural icon, so, who am I to judge what she is?