Paul Rekret discusses “Take This Hammer” on the Minor Compositions podcast

Paul Rekret recently appeared on the Minor Compositions podcast to discuss his latest book Take This Hammer: Work, Song, Crisis (Goldsmiths University Press/MIT Press 2024).

The discussion explored the book’s key themes through both discussion and curated music selections that speak to the intersections of labor, leisure, and sound. Take This Hammer examines how shifts in work and the economy – from the fragmentation of the working day to the rise of precarious labor – have shaped and been reflected in the forms and experiences of popular music. Rekret traces how the separation of work and leisure, once central to industrial society, has become increasingly blurred in the age of streaming, automation, and remote labor, and considers how music both registers these changes and imagines alternatives.

The Minor Compositions podcast examines the complex intersections of art, politics, and social struggle, exploring how creative practices challenge dominant cultural and economic systems. Through conversations with artists, writers, musicians, and activists, the series investigates avant-garde movements, radical aesthetics, and collective forms of resistance. Each episode highlights how experimental and collaborative practices foster spaces of joy, refusal, and possibility beyond commodification. Ultimately, the podcast offers an intellectual and affective exploration of how art can nurture alternative histories and futures.

Listen to the podcast and learn more at minorcompositions.info.

Photo by T R A V E L E R G E E K on Unsplash