March 2024 – Podcast Picks

A quick one

I know. It’s April. Not March. But March has been a hectic month and there haven’t been that many great new releases this month in the world of narrative audio. Also, I’ve started a non-profit initiative for audio creators of all kinds: journalists, documentarians, and artists called THE ECCO. All very exciting! So don’t mind me while I have my head in the clouds dreaming up my little corner of the audio world.

This Substack, THE ECCO and other initiatives and projects for the audio creator community are all made in my free time. This newsletter is free and will stay free. So, if you feel like you’ve benefited from my work and you like what I do, you can “buy me a coffee” here. And of course, as podcast people know, word-of-mouth is the most powerful marketing tool. So, if you can share this Podcast Sundays newsletter with friends and colleagues, that would be grand.

Enough said:

Here’s some of the best narrative audio I heard in March.

1. Ripple (Western Sound & APM)

2. When I was 13 and my Da gave me the Sex Talk – The Blindboy Podcast

3. Who trolled Amber? (Tortoise)

4. Lowlines

5. Nudity – Articles of Interest

1. Ripple

A fantastic investigation about the aftermath of the BP oil spill in 2010. Host Dan Leone didn’t only write this, he also sound-designed the show and composed the music. Senior reporter and producer is Betsy Shepherd. Both of them go back to the scene of the crime to determine whether this story was prematurely declared to be done and to follow up with the people who fought BP in court. It is one of the shows that reaffirms the fact that investigative journalism is not dead and that audio is a fantastic place for it. Not a second was wasted. An absolute must-listen this season.

FYI: This was recommended to me by Ronald Young Jr., host and creator of the show Weight For It, which recently won three Ambies (if I didn’t miss any)! Congrats Ronald!!

2. When I was 13 and my Da gave me the Sex Talk – The Blindboy Podcast

I discovered this – I think – because Arielle Nissenblatt created a playlist of podcasts Ira Glass likes to listen to. (I know. Bear with me. Arielle is the Founder of @earbudspodcastcollective and has her ear on the tracks of the audio industry. And Ira Glass is the host of This American Life).

This is for fans of the Irish accent and good satire. A very eclectic almost diary-like show, hosted by David Chambers, a.k.a. Blindboy Boatclub. It’s odd but also really captivating (???) I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s not a show I can binge because it’s basically a long monologue. But I can do 1-2 episodes at a time. This one was a favorite and made me laugh and then there’s this one that was oddly interesting about bugs and snakes and it’s just a live talk with a bunch of specialists. I don’t even like bugs and snakes and listened to the entire episode anyway because it was a glorious rabbit hole of the true sanctity of ultimate nerddom. So much fun!

3. Who trolled Amber?

Tortoise delivers yet again. This isn’t just a podcast about a marital fight between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp that the media jumped on in a frenzy. Alexi Murdoch (who some might know from Sweet Bobby One - of last year’s highlights) looks at the system, the very organized machine that was the ecosystem of the media frenzy and the online attacks on Amber Heard.

Again, great journalism for the win here. Alexi follows the traces of trolls, dives deep into excel sheets, and comes across the story of an emu, which has more to do with Heard’s story than one would think. Alexi and the Tortoise team do a fantastic job of lifting the veil of the trolling and the concerted organized online efforts against Heard.

4. Lowlines

In the same vein as The Blindboy Podcast, Lowlines is also an attempt at testing out what else we could do within that box we call “podcasts”. Petra Barran calls it her “sonic scrapbook” and I think that’s quite fitting. The show is a bit random it seems. I didn’t quite know where it was going to take me in the beginning but I signed up for the ride because it was entertaining to dive into Petra’s inner world. It’s a road trip of sorts with loads of different kinds of tape.

I loved that Petra wasn’t afraid to play around, she wasn’t afraid to be a bit quirky, create soundscapes, and record herself half-asleep after an ayahuasca ceremony (which yes of course, some might have strong opinions about). Generally curious to learn about other cultures, she takes us to two continents and it did feel like I was just there with her. Like I got to dive into the sonic version of her diary.

Here’s someone who tried something new, who wanted to express herself, who went on a trip and takes us along. And I think that deserves respect because there’s not much money lying around for this sort of thing. But we need to experiment more.. How else will this medium evolve past the true crime hype and chat shows of the moment? Give it a try. It’s quite forgiving.

5. Nudity – Articles of Interest

Yesss!! Articles of Interest is back and starts off on nudity and the shame around it. Avery Trufelman takes her producer to a nude stand-up comedy show and then takes us deep into the “fashion” of nudity.

Something to notice is that Avery talks to so many experts for her show, but it never feels “expert-y” if that makes any sense. Her experts are people who have had to deal with the topic at hand in a very practical sense, not only in the academic sense. And it’s such a breath of fresh air to have experts who talk about an issue at eye level. Experts, like a burlesque dancer that talks about the different laws in each US state that determine how much skin left and right and above the butt crack needs to be covered. Really smart... and fun!

Avery Trufelman doing Avery Trufelman things.. but also: She’s writing a book! Can’t wait for that.

And that’s it!

If you enjoyed this edition, please share it with others. And if you have tips for other podcasts I should listen to, please send them over! Otherwise, I run the danger of offering you recs out of my own echo chamber.

Happy April everybody!!