#89: The best podcasts of the week
Bello Collective Newsletter: June 19, 2019
Hello Bello,
In our last issue, we shared an article recently published on our site called Welcome to “The Overwhlem,” which sort of sounds like the next Mad Max movie but is really a lovely meditation on how cool it is that humans make stuff, and specifically how cool it is that so many quality podcasts are being released every day. I’ve been deep in The Overwhelm lately, but noticeably after a phase of reaching for my old favorites. After a dry spell, I suddenly had this long list of shows I wanted to share with you but literally not enough time in the day to listen.
And that’s why I love the Bello Collective. Because y’all, our team of writers came through. Maybe I can’t listen to everything in my queue, but the collective can.
With love,
Dana
PS) Patrons: check out a new idea we’re brainstorming over on patreon.com/bellocollective. We’d love your feedback.
1. Copper & Heat’s first season is all about women in professional kitchens (h/t to Skye Pillsbury’s Inside Podcasting newsletter for this anger-inducing, reality-checking, incredibly moving show). (Ma’ayan)
2. I returned briefly to last year’s Edge of Fame to catch up with the 25+ (?!) years of music production and performance with Hanson. (Ma’ayan)
3. KQED’s Truth Be Told had two moments of spontaneous singing that brought me such joy (beautifully representative in the first episode of the same name) and reminded me that I want to hear more voices of old people in podcasts. (Ma’ayan)
4. I love the creative constraints and resulting infinite possibilities in When We Got To The Seventh, with every episode recounting a story of the seventh time something happened. (Ma’ayan)
5. One new favorite show of mine is The Secret Room. In this episode, the host interviews Joey, who loves objects. As in, his sexual orientation is towards objects. For a lot of people, it’s a hard concept to wrap their heads around. (Paul)
6. One of my high school buddies died this week. Didn’t even make it to forty. Age has been on my mind, and The Lonely Palette’s episode on Rembrandt and aging was particularly relevant for me in this reflective time. (Calen)
7. Extremities is the story of the most remote places where humans dwell, and the first season explores Pitcairn Island, the scene of the Mutiny on the Bounty. (Calen)
8. 13 Minutes to the Moon is BBC’s look at the first lunar landing. It is exquisite storytelling— exactly what you should expect from the BBC. (Calen)
9. This Land is the story of how a simple murder becomes a Supreme Court case that affects the ownership of a huge portion of Native American land in Oklahoma. (Calen)
10. I binged The Hardest Word. With its audio apologies from around the world, it proves that all humans find it hard to say sorry. (Lory)
11. The Daily did a fantastic series on nationalism in Europe, exploring the rise of far right movements in France, Germany, Italy, Poland and more. Start with “Part 1: The Battle for Europe.” (Lory)
12. For those who are interested in the science of sound, Twenty Thousand Hertz did an episode this week on Sonic Illusions, featuring the Yanny/Laurel debate plus an interactive experiment in binaural audio. For the philosophical side of sound illusions, see the latest Hi Phi Nation episode. (Lory)
13. Reema Khrais’ first episode of Marketplace’s This is Uncomfortable absolutely lives up to the name. Khrais speaks to a couple where one has a lot of student debt, and one has none and lives fairly comfortably. It’s an episode fraught with emotion, but kindly handled by Khrais. If you want to hear about how money and financial matters impacts relationships, and you’re willing to get a little uncomfortable, queue this up. (Elena)
14. Lauren Ober’s new podcast, Spectacular Failures, launched with an episode of a Christian theme park that suffered from such failures as scandal and fraud. This episode is its own rollercoaster ride, with some incredible clips and extracts and expertly led by Ober’s frank and hilarious narrative. (Elena)
The Bello Collective is a publication + newsletter about podcasts and the audio industry. Our goal is to bring together writers, journalists, and other voices who share a passion for the world of audio storytelling.
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