Practical Criticism is back with its first episode of 2024—on Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter. In it, Rebecca Ariel Porte plays the opening track of the album, “American Requiem,” for Ajay Singh Chaudhary, who, as usual, doesn’t know what the object will be. Their conversation then commences with a question: Beyoncé is far from the first to undertake the ambitious task of deconstructing country music’s many musical debts—but does she actually succeed in doing so? Along the way, they discuss the history of Black country music (and listen to Linda Martell), the convergence of aesthetic and commodity forms (is the album so slick as to slide over into parody?), conflictual aspirations to iconicity and iconoclasm, and the courage of conviction it takes to betray an older version of one’s own aesthetic commitments.

In episode 67 of Practical Criticism, Rebecca and Ajay surprise each other with songs and compositions drawn exclusively from their respective algorithmically-generated Spotify "Wrapped" playlists! Pieces include Erza Furman's "Can I Sleep in Your Brain"; Linked Horizon's "Guren No Yumiya" (from theAttack on Titan soundtrack); Lucy Dacus's "Night Shift"; The Smashing Pumpkins's "Mayonaise"; Monteverdi's "Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria"; Phish's "Cavern" (from Atlantic City, 10/30/2010); CeeLo Green's cover of "No One's Gonna Love You" by Band of Horses; and Nirvana's "All Apologies." Along the way, the conversation turns to overcoming the All-Roads-Lead-to-Coldplay-Problem of automatic curation, the subtle and the transformative, time changes and genre conventions, unadorned pop and unromanticized classics, the dialectic of sincerity and absurdity, cute aggression and martial pop, fascist aesthetics, narcissistic injury and pathic projection, epics of the ordinary, the strange proliferation of 2-part pop songs, soft edged vs. soft with edges, unleashed elegance, what the machine wants you to listen to, coolness and anomie, the many modalities of anger, musical artifacts and ur-forms, ariosos vs. arias and the nascent opera of the early 17th century, brilliant failures, and, above all, writing soundtracks. Listen to what rises out to shine from the digital (and other) mucks of 2023.

In Episode 61 of the Podcast for Social Research's Practical Criticism Series, Ajay Singh Chauhary and Rebecca Ariel Porte consider the music that, for them, best speaks to the zeitgeist of the year past, including a final song to play out 2021. Selections include everything from Baroque lute to compositions newly minted. Discussed: Japanese Breakfast, Herbie Hancock, Ennio Morricone, Pink Floyd, L'Rain, Grouper, Moor Mother, and much else.

In episode 62 of the Podcast for Social Research's "Practical Criticism" series, Rebecca Ariel Porte plays Roxy Music, Kate Bush, and Kanye West as examples of "art-pop" for Ajay Singh Chaudhary, who, as usual, doesn't know what the object of the week will be. Their conversation ranges over what exactly "art-pop" is, rhythmic and historical time, blurred genres, ascending complexity, Marcel Duchamp and avant-gardes, cold (and cool) modernisms, philosophical vs. musical naturalism, Mark Fisher's speculative definitions, the rare encounters of pop music and New Music, interesting failures and self-indulgence,  the emptiness of "pop-art", art-song in the nineteenth century, the crutch of hippie punching, the quality of "againstness," and the search for the oppositional, abrasive music of today. (Plus, don't miss Rebecca and Ajay spontaneously engage in and fail modestly at ear training exercises along the way.)

In Episode 63 of the Podcast for Social Research's "Practical Criticism Series," Ajay Singh Chaudhary plays "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda," as covered by The Pogues, for Rebecca Ariel Porte, who, as usual, doesn't know what the sonic object of the week will be. Their conversations covers resonances between World War I and our own historical moment, uses and abuses of nationalism, internationalism, periphery and metropole, proxy wars, balladry, pastiche, trauma, missed opportunities, disillusionment, and propaganda.

In episode 64 of the Podcast for Social Research's Practical Criticism series, live-recorded at Montez Press Radio's Canal street studio, Rebecca Ariel Porte and Ajay Singh Chaudhary play Sun Ra, Deltron 3030, Janaelle Monae, and Solange for guest Kazembe Balagun—all prompts to the question, what is Afrofuturism? A special co-production with Montez Press and Carnegie Hall, episode 64 explores the Afro diaspora, self-naming as self-determination, revolutionary aesthetics, Afrofuturism's "total" artistry, Afrofuturism vs. Italian Futurism and "Jeff Bezos" futurism, Blackness as a mass utopian political project, Sun Ra's influence on everything from MC5 to contemporary jazz and cinema, the reactionary futurism of the Disney/Marvel Black Panther, and whether Afrofuturism is a dated style, alive in the present, or a continuous echo of the future.

Originally published on April 1, 2022

Episode 64.5 of Practical Criticism picks up where episode 64, What is Afrofuturism?, leaves off, answering, as it were, the latter’s titular question by way of a two-hour DJ set, interspersed with explanations and commentary. Ajay and Rebecca spin tracks by Parliament Funkadelic, Miles Davis, Flying Lotus (ft. Kendrick Lamar), FKA Twigs, Kool Keith, NWA, Janelle Monáe, plumbing the Afrofuturist sound in all its musical diversity.

Originally published April 15, 2022.

In episode 65 of the Podcast for Social Research's "Practical Criticism" series, the game has changed. For a special live recording of the final episode of 2022, everyone knew in advance that the sonic object would be Pink Floyd's landmark concept album—and favorite laser light show accompaniment—Dark Side of the Moon. A gathering of dedicated listeners joined Rebecca and Ajay "in studio" for an immersive collective listening experience to this classic of prog rock on vintage vinyl. And the surprises spun out from there, beginning with a musicological breakdown of borrowed sounds, followed by a detour through Franz Schubert’s Winterreise song cycle (with insights from Adorno on poetry and escape), thoughts about the concepts at work in concept albums, plagal cadences and passacaglia, receptiveness to the sounds of ordinary life, the reverb of history, the history of lasers, and much more.

This podcast includes the whole of the approximately 45-minute album, so if you’re short on time, hop off at minute 5:56 and tune back in for the conversation that picks up again at minute 49:05. If you’re in it for the complete experience, this is one to listen to with headphones on!

Originally published November 11, 2022.