Dissect

Cole Cuchna does not skim the surface. His podcast Dissect takes a single album and spends an entire season pulling it apart — one song per episode, with the kind of attention to detail that most music criticism never attempts. Over 15 seasons and 314 episodes, he has covered some of the most significant records of the past few decades, from Kendrick Lamar's "To Pimp a Butterfly" to Frank Ocean's "Blonde" to Radiohead's "Kid A." The analysis goes deep. Cuchna examines lyrics line by line, traces samples back to their sources, unpacks musical theory, and connects it all to the artist's biography and the broader cultural moment. An episode on a single track can run well over an hour. It requires patience and genuine curiosity from the listener, but the payoff is substantial. You come away understanding not just what an album sounds like, but why it was made and what it means. More recently, the show has introduced a "Last Song Standing" format where two albums are placed in conversation with each other — Kanye's "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" versus Drake's "Take Care," or Jay-Z's "The Blueprint" against Beyonce's "Lemonade." These comparative seasons add a fresh dimension to the analysis. Cuchna has also brought in co-host Charles Holmes for some episodes, which loosens the tone a bit. With a 4.9-star rating from over 9,300 reviews, Dissect is one of the highest-rated music podcasts on Apple Podcasts. The audience skews toward people who already love these albums and want to go further. If you have ever spent an afternoon reading album liner notes or tracking down samples on WhoSampled, this podcast was built for you.