Practical Criticism

Practical Criticism No. 72: Brian Wilson (God Only Knows What We'll do Without You...)

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 as well on its emotional ambiguity, barbershop polyphony, and inimitable quality of being at once light and airy yet incredibly substantial. Is "God Only Knows" the platonic ideal of pop? How can we think about "genius"—and its complicated avatar, Brian Wilson?

Practical Criticism No. 71: Neko Case

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.

Practical Criticism, No. 70: Roy Hargrove and the RH Factor

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 Criticism is produced by Ryan Lentini. Learn more about upcoming courses on our website [https://thebrooklyninstitute.com/current-courses/]. Follow Brooklyn Institute for Social Research on Twitter [https://x.com/bklyninstitute?lang=en] / Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/TheBrooklynInstitute/] / Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/brooklyninstitute/?hl=en] / Bluesky [https://bsky.app/profile/brooklyninstitute.bsky.social]

Practical Criticism No. 69 — 2024 Algorithmically "Wrapped"

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, Ahmed Abdul-Malik, HoneyWorks, Weyes Blood, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Arooj Aftab.

Practical Criticism No. 68—Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter

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.