Podcasts

Thanks!

A friend turned me on to Cocaine & Rhinestones last weekend and I've done three episodes now. They're looooong, and the host/narrator is kind of awkward, but if you want deeeeeeep dives into facets of the history of 20th century country music, this seems like the one to hit up.
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, January 31, 2018 10:04 PM (one month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah wanna keep going w/ this but can't get with this bizarre speak-and-spell inflection. Guy sounds like if Ira Glass produced To Catch A Predator.

It took me a good 20 minutes to get used to it. I stopped noticing and/or he gets a little less awkward (can't tell which) as it goes

My podcast queue is like a stack of New Yorkers anything older than a year gets deleted and if it tops 30 unlistened episodes I unsubscribe.

I tried Scroobius Pip's podcast the other day on a week-long commute -mild speech impediment to one side - he just talks and talks over his guests and frames the same frigging question six times before he shuts up, it's unendurable.

it's a testament to the power of consistency that he can produce such an offputting show and pull in the big numbers

i feel like anybody who can put up one show a week on something they really care about, even if they're terrible at speaking/podcasting/etc, will start to do well after 150 episodes or so... is how i break it down to an extent

It took me a good 20 minutes to get used to it. I stopped noticing and/or he gets a little less awkward (can't tell which) as it goes

― Simon H., Tuesday, 6 March 2018 20:19 (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this happened to me with jon ronson on butterfly effect

Little bit of self-promotion: just posted an episode talking about UFOs, ufologists who become media figures, Posadism and how space comrades can help us bring about communist utopia. It’s fin.

https://soundcloud.com/givingthemic/close-encounters-of-the-posadist-kind-with-douglas-lain-and-comrade-communicator

re: the awkwardness of TMC on Cocaine & Rhinestones. I think he does get less awkward by the end of S1, and also you get more used to it. He still sounds like the dude who will dominate any conversation at a table of several people, but not in a particularly offputting way. He's put in the work, and there's a lot to say.

This being a total one-man operations scares me, though. He's either going to have to get some assistance/assistants or he's going to burn himself out.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/podcast-dept/cocaine-and-rhinestones-an-addictive-sparkling-podcast-about-country-music

"Coe, who is currently working on the second season of the show, was recently invited to use the archives in the Country Music Hall of Fame, where, he wrote in an e-mail, there “are at least 500 unwritten books in that data and probably closer to 1,000. . . . Half or more of those books will not be written.”"

guys

https://www.modcloth.com/shop/hidden/podcast-co-host-sleeveless-top/151049.html

what the shit

i'm sure it'd look lovely on matt from chapo

modcloth have nice stuff but they have some of the all-time dumbest names for their clothes.

There’s a new podcast that caught my eye yesterday

It’s called “Dear Franklin Jones” about cult leader Adi Da aka Franklin Jones (aka Bubba Free John and like 15 other acronyms). The host grew up in the cult & he investigates what went on

I <3 cults so obv i am going to check this out

Found one because of the Coathangers Instagram account - The Trap Set w/ James Wong, interviews with drummers.

Only listened to the Stephanie Luke episode but it’s good. Wong has a great radio voice.

yeah La Lechera put me onto Trap Set, it’s great!

I fell off The Trap Set a long time ago, but if you dig way back in the archives, the Stewart Copeland episode is great. Ernie Isley's too.

I had forgotten about that one. I listened to the first handful of episodes and now they've got ... 158! Looks like that will give me something good to sift through.

I listened through all the Cocaine & Rhinestones episodes. It's definitely a favorite now. There are weird bits every now and then, like in the Kershaws ep he suggests that the label's shelving of "Tonight's the Night" is a sign of its poor quality

Yeah, that was a head-scratcher. Overall though, I think he makes a really good effort to be well-researched.

He also has a podcast called Your Favorite Band Sucks. That one is not as good. It's a lot more freewheeling. Just him and a buddy riffing on not-particularly-challenging opinions about some of rock's sacred cows just some rock bands, really.

I listened to all three Harper Valley PTA episodes over the weekend and now that song is stuck in my head (along with its sequels).

Are there any good contemporary classical music podcasts out there?

Not in response to that, and not directly on point to contemporary classical (although perhaps some slight overlap), my friend has been running a really good podcast about avant/out/improvised contemporary music, much of it jazz-related or jazz-adjacent but not exclusively, and mostly from Chicago (where he was based for most of the time the podcast has been in existence so far).

http://cast.now-is.org/

He selects music to play for the interviewee -- some of it being the musician's own work, some of it influences, some of it just grab bag, and they discuss. Hamid Drake, Matt Lux, Vandermark, Olivia Block, and many others.

That sounds fantastic, thanks so much!

He also has a podcast called Your Favorite Band Sucks. That one is not as good. It's a lot more freewheeling. Just him and a buddy riffing on not-particularly-challenging opinions about some of rock's sacred cows just some rock bands, really.

Yeah, the concept would be good and result would be funny if maybe I was drunk and knew them personally, but as a podcast it's garbage.

I finished Heaven’s Gate the other day - highly recommend. Impressive array of interviews & audio, changed my impression of the group in some ways.

I prefer the radio

thanks

You're very welcome. May I refer you to my live journal?

if anyone wants to get a primer on TROP ROCK check out the new illogical contraption

the latest desert island podcast with david byrne is pretty great:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09vz6r1

Joe Frank fans (I've devoured the ouvre in the months since his passing) will find much to like in James Urbaniak's Getting On

http://cast.now-is.org/

He selects music to play for the interviewee -- some of it being the musician's own work, some of it influences, some of it just grab bag, and they discuss. Hamid Drake, Matt Lux, Vandermark, Olivia Block, and many others.

― Fedora Dostoyevsky (man alive), Tuesday, March 20, 2018 8:50 PM (six days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Thanks again for this rec man alive.

Out of the list of participants, I only knew Mark Shippy and Tim Stine but I've buzzed through about 4 of them and they are very enjoyable, the format is really strong too.

I feel that Ben doesn't need to add in those curious, stuttering edits, at first I thought he was maybe using them as chapter markings or ways of getting from one part of a conversation to another but they seem kinda arbitrary.

ahhhh to not have to worry about music rights in a podcast. living the dream.

Ooh that is a good concept, I love the ol' "blindfold test" and it's a natural for the format.

I tried this but man, it's hard to listen to. It sounds like they're recording on a phone and talking over the music in the room...I usually don't care about sound quality that much, but that's rough. A cheap mixer and a couple cheap mics would probably do wonders.

Which one? I think the sound quality got better over time.

It was the Mike Reed one

Just taped an hour+ interview with legendary drummer Billy Cobham for the episode of my podcast that'll be live on 4/13.

David Goldblatt's new football podcast Game of our lives covers football round the world and is excellent even if you don't care about football. 1st ep is an interview w/ Werner Herzog on crowds, voodoo, piss, Peruvian football & ritual, highly recommended

https://gameofourlives.fm/

Excellent, I’ll bookmark that one.

Idk how the podcast economy manages to support professionally-produced double-episode deep dives into Chris Korda but it does apparently.

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/parcast/cults/e/53861518

It’s not particularly interesting but reminded me to dig out the old IDG compilations.

i'm going to be doing some driving in late april. i'm going to check out cocaine and rhinestones but have there been any good narrative podcasts lately? i like crime, rural stories, string music in background, creepy stuff. idk. my favorite place to drive is rural delaware and it would be nice to have a weird story along with it.

Heaven’s Gate is pretty good, a+ balance of research & storytelling

ooh i was looking for something about this after i watched wild, wild country because i'm not too young to remember heaven's gate at least. i might finish it before the drive!

i thought i knew a fair bit but they poke into interesting corners, it’s one of the best things I’ve heard in the past year imo

psyched for this. a history of china as told through 20 personalities. first episode: "the female emperor"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09zgd6y/episodes/downloads

Interesting. Will have to check that out.

Anyone listening to "Empire on Blood"?

I fell off The Trap Set a long time ago, but if you dig way back in the archives, the Stewart Copeland episode is great. Ernie Isley's too.

― Johnny Fever, Friday, March 9, 2018 5:29 PM (one month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I had forgotten about that one. I listened to the first handful of episodes and now they've got ... 158! Looks like that will give me something good to sift through.

― how's life, Friday, March 9, 2018 5:48 PM (one month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I tried this again, cherrypicking episodes from some of my favorite drummers. Each one that I listened to felt like it could have been any podcaster interviewing these drummers, Chris Hardwick or whoever, rather than a drummer sitting down with another drummer and really going in. Joe Wong's approach to interviewing is very general, asking questions like "so what was it like when your band got big?" I guess I would be more interested in hearing more specifically about playing and technique and gear.

xpost - i started Empire on Blood the other day, only 1 ep in but i really like what i’ve heard

I guess I would be more interested in hearing more specifically about playing and technique and gear.
as a non-drummer, the non-gear / technique stuff is what I like about the trap set — I think he's pretty good at drawing out interesting ideas/stories from people. like the drummer from earth wind and fire talking about conspiracy theories last week, haha.