Practical Criticism

In episode 72 of Practical Criticism, Ajay takes the somber occasion of Brian Wilson's recent death to play, for Rebecca, the Beach Boys's immortal track "God Only Knows"—a song Paul McCartney called the "greatest ever written." Is Sir Paul, for once, correct? Ajay and Rebecca ask after the song's technical perfection, noting its intermix of pop, jazz, and even Bach-esque baroque, while dwelling a...

In episode 71 of the Podcast for Social Research's Practical Criticism series, Rebecca Ariel Porte plays Neko Case's "Curse of the I-5 Corridor" (off the 2018 album  Hell-On ) for Ajay Singh Chaudhary. Their conversation ranges from convention to the sound of disillusionment to lyrical density, meta-musical gesture, vocal quality, and how you can tell if and when something is beyond saving. 

In episode no. 70 of Practical Criticism, Ajay surprises Rebecca with Roy Hargrove and the RH Factor's "Out of Town," off the 2003 record  Hard Groove . The discussion includes a dive deep into jazz-hip-hop experiments, varieties and suspicions of musical fusion, caesuras and polyharmonies, the dissonant and the antiphonal, "open-eared moonlighting," and hybridity without history. Practical Critic...

In this episode we discussed our end of year Spotify Wrapped lists and what algorithmic listening means for us as subjects and social beings, mass culture's current expression in shared forms of circulation rather than in objects of attention held in common, the limits of poptimism, the sound of melancholy, experimental hip-hop, jazz, vocaloid(ish) bands, music as cinematic form, Sampa the Great,...

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 ma...

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 the Attack on Titan soundtrack); Lucy Dacus's "Night Shift"; The Smashing Pumpkins's "Mayonaise"; Mon...

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,...

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 Ducham...

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, international...

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...

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...

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...