PODCAST

Sound Philosophy

Chadwick Jenkins

A podcast exploring philosophical and interpretive approaches to the history of popular music.

music music history

All Episodes

00:59:11

057-Neo-Soul and the Body

Sound Philosophy ·

2022/11/08

This episode explores four understandings of the relationship between the soul and the body (from Descartes, Marx, Merleau-Ponty, and Fanon) and applies that thinking to readings of songs and videos by India.Arie, Jill Scott, Maxwell, D'Angelo, and Erykah Badu.

01:04:19

056-Neo-Soul and Temporality

Sound Philosophy ·

2022/11/01

Starting with a review of Marx's ideas concerning temporality in capitalism, this episode then explores how the notion of genre involves a temporal understanding--particularly the genre of 90s neo-soul, a term coined by producer Kedar Massenburg. Finally, I apply thinking about temporality to the musical and visual elements of neo-soul in songs and videos by Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, D'Angelo, and others.

01:00:45

055- Hardcore Punk and Ronald Reagan

Sound Philosophy ·

2022/10/24

This episode opens with a thought experiment: just what might have Ronald Reagan have understood (all-too-well) in Chapter 2 of The Communist Manifesto. In particular, I examine Reagan's and neoliberalism's take on class struggle--and what class deserves to prevail. Then I turn to Reagan's policies (particularly his economics, foreign policy, and alignment with the Christian Right) and how those policies were viewed by punks. Finally, I look at Rock Against Reagan, bratcore, and some explicitly

00:56:40

054-Politics and Hardcore Punk

Sound Philosophy ·

2022/10/18

This episode examines the political side of hardcore punk. Starting with a discussion of the distinction between the first generation of punks and the new generation of hardcore punks and their differing relationship to style and politics, the episode then considers the implicit politics of moshing, the influence of Marxism on bands like the Dils, anarchism on bands like Crass, and the politics of the straightedge movement.

00:59:26

053-Reggae Confronts Babylon

Sound Philosophy ·

2022/10/11

This episode applies Marx's thinking in Chapter 1 of the Communist Manifesto regarding the corporate nature of the evils of Modern Industry to the situation of the Rastafarians in Jamaica. The episode then considers reggae's move from a local to international culture/genre and how that impacted the proliferation of Rastafarian ideas.

00:45:32

052-Economic and Political Violence in Early Reggae

Sound Philosophy ·

2022/10/04

After discussing the ambiguities of the Marxist position on violence, I discuss subjective versus objective violence and the linkages between the two. I then proceed to an examination of the fraught political and economic landscape of Jamaica, concentrating on the 1960s and the era of independence. Finally, I explore the notion of violence in the sound system culture, ska, and rocksteady--the genres leading to reggae.

00:48:31

051- Gospel Music and Surplus Value

Sound Philosophy ·

2022/09/12

Using Karl Marx's notion of surplus value, I ask: what is the felt surplus in Golden-Age Gospel music (Thomas Dorsey, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and Mahalia Jackson)? I suggest various ways in which it may emerge.

00:48:16

050-Early Gospel Recordings and the Ecstasy of Suffering

Sound Philosophy ·

2022/09/05

Starting with some of Karl Marx's thoughts on religion, we turn to the rise of Pentacostalism, the emphasis on entire sanctification and speaking in tongues as well as the ecstatic nature of "getting happy," and then examine the recordings in the mid-20s by blind singer and pianist Arizona Dranes.

00:56:16

049--The 1930s Musical Commodity Fetish

Sound Philosophy ·

2022/08/29

This episode uses Marx's notion of the "commodity fetish" to explore how music developed as a commodity in its own right during the late 1920s into the Depression era.

00:52:31

048-Tin Pan Alley and the Depression

Sound Philosophy ·

2022/08/23

This episode looks at changes in the record industry in the 1930s and, using the Marxian concept of base-superstructure, examines how the music of the era reflected the underlying economic infrastructure of the late 20s and 30s.

01:24:11

047- The Numbing Sublime of DJ Screw and Cloud Rap

Sound Philosophy ·

2021/12/06

This episode proposes an expansion of Adam Krims's notion of a Hip Hop Sublime (as discussed in episode 46) beyond its application to gangsta rap and involving something other than terror. This is what I term the "numbing or immersive sublime" and it describes that feeling of oneness with infinity (rather than fear of infinity) and is linked positively to Freud's concept of sublimation. The second segment applies the "numbing sublime" to the work of DJ Screw and the third segment considers Cloud Rap

01:26:54

046--Gangsta Rap and the Hip Hop Sublime

Sound Philosophy ·

2021/11/29

This episode explores Gangsta Rap and the set of production techniques that musicologist Adam Krims described as the "Hip Hop Sublime." The first segment discusses the rise to prominence of gangsta rap and its social, political, and aesthetic place in the 1990s. The second segment examines the notion of the sublime as illustrated in the writings of Edmund Burke, Immanuel Kant, and Jean-François Lyotard. The third segment examines the notion of the "Hip Hop Sublime" and the manner in which gangsta

00:57:47

045--Willie Nelson, Red Headed Stranger, and Murder

Sound Philosophy ·

2021/11/17

This episode looks at Willie Nelson's concept album of 1975, Red Headed Stranger. The first segment explores the interest in murder as a topic within country music--particularly examining the tradition of the murder ballad. The second segment examines the 1870 court case of McFarland vs. Richardson, concerning McFarland's murder of his ex-wife's new fiancee. This segment addresses the "unwritten law" that exonerated husbands killing their wives' seducers, the temporary insanity plea, and the

01:05:47

044-Outlaw Country, Kant, and Low Down Freedom

Sound Philosophy ·

2021/11/10

This episode examines the Outlaw Country genre of the 1970s with respect to freedom: both in the sense of the artistic freedom that figures like Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings sought within the Nashville system and in the sense of freedom as a topic within the songs themselves. The second segment comes to grips with Kant's ideas about freedom and all the potential ambiguities it presents. Then I turn to the issue of US rugged individualism and its impact on Outlaw

01:44:59

043--Kant's Critique of Pure Reason ep.3 Introduction

Sound Philosophy ·

2021/11/10

This is the third in a series where I'm joined by Eric Taxier to discuss Kant's First Critique, the Critique of Pure Reason. In this episode we discuss the Introduction to the Critique. The first segment discusses Kant's conception of the collaboration between the object and our faculties for comprehending that object as well as the distinction between the a priori and the a posteriori. The second segment turn to the Kantian distinction between the analytic and the synthetic and examines the notion

01:01:24

042--Bebop and Freedom in Play

Sound Philosophy ·

2021/11/01

This episode examines the issue of play. What is at stake in play? How do "rules of the game" relate to the freedom of play? The second segment turns to the notion that aesthetic pleasure arises for Immanuel Kant from the "free play" of the Imagination and Understanding that exhibits "lawfulness without a law." I suggest that in both play and this notion of aesthetic judgment the "law" or the "rules" are emergent--they emerge out of the act of playing, they are in play. The last segment looks at

01:03:06

041--Sapere Aude: Bebop and (Kantian) Autonomy

Sound Philosophy ·

2021/10/25

This episode begins by examining historiographical accounts of the rise of bebop and places bebop within the context of Harlem and 52nd Street. The second segment discusses the famous essay "What Is Enlightenment?" by Immanuel Kant and unpacks his concept of autonomy as presented there. Michel Foucault's critical take on Kant's essay introduces the idea of autonomy involving working at the edges of one's being. The final segment presents Harlem and 52nd street as two zones of autonomy for bebop--one

01:46:33

040--Kant's Critique of Pure Reason ep.2 Prefaces

Sound Philosophy ·

2021/10/25

Eric Taxier and Chad Jenkins discuss the two prefaces of Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. We address the different goals and strategies of the two quite different prefaces: the 1781 original and the new preface for the 1787 revision. We discuss the way in which Kant describes Reason as insisting on going beyond what it can directly experience (and the trouble it causes itself in so doing), the notion of a critique, the things metaphysics can learn from other sciences, the importance of being

01:26:50

039-Kant's Critique of Pure Reason ep.1 Background

Sound Philosophy ·

2021/10/20

This is the first in a series of episodes in which Chad Jenkins and Eric Taxier discuss the Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant. This episode covers some background information including the conflict between Rationalism and Empiricism, Kant's pre-critical writings, and the authors that led him to the critical impasse: Leibniz, Hume, and Rousseau.

01:05:02

038--Giving the Idea to Art: Kant, the Genius, and...

Sound Philosophy ·

2021/10/19

This episode explores the notion of genius and Immanuel Kant's concept of the aesthetic idea. The aesthetic idea is shown to be the distinguishing element that differentiates natural beauty from art beauty. Progressive Rock is then discussed as a genre that self-consciously courts the label of genius and takes seriously the espousal of ideas (aesthetic and otherwise). "Pantagruel's Nativity" and "Black Cat" by Gentle Giant are discussed along with a brief overview of "Supper's Ready" by Genesis.The

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