Picks of the week
The Music & Meditation Podcast
BBC Sounds, all episodes available from Monday
Grammy and Mercury-nominated soul singer NAO tackles her twin loves of music and meditation in a podcast that is so loosely structured it feels like a free-form listening experience. There are anecdotes, guided breathing exercises, interviews with meditation experts and musical interludes of bespoke compositions from the BBC Concert Orchestra – all of which add up to an extremely soothing listen. Alexi Duggins
Ghost Church
Widely available, episodes weekly
Nominally the topic of this new series is American spiritualism – the century-old, Bible-following US religion that believes in communing with the dead. Or what host Jamie Loftus dubbed, “Ghost Church”. Loftus is a charming, open-minded and funny guide, travelling not just to a Florida camp full of mediums, but also into her own past and beliefs. AD
Lives Less Ordinary
BBC Sounds, episodes weekly
“I have a secret that I was special: I robbed banks in my spare time.” Tom – a one-time Olympic cycling hopeful who stole from 25 banks before the FBI got him – is Mobeen Azhar’s guest in the first of an intriguing series that seeks out the extraordinary life stories of ordinary-seeming people. Hollie Richardson
Not Lost
Widely available, episodes weekly
When Brendan Francis Newnam’s radio show and relationship ended he started a travel podcast, in which he tries to get invited to dinner parties in different places. He starts in Montreal, then sets out on an unpredictable and highly entertaining journey, running into a priest who does magic, a woman who lives in a wine barrel, and an electric bear-fence. Hannah Verdier
Deliver Us from Ervil
Widely available, episodes weekly
How did Colonia LeBaron go from being a Mormon community to a place where organised crime thrived? Host Jesse Hyde looks at the Mexican town’s history since the 1950s, tracing the story of cult leader Ervil LeBaron through interviews with his followers – and his teenage wife – which adds up to an intriguing story of a utopia that goes very wrong. HV
There’s a podcast for that
This week, Danielle Koku chooses five of the best music podcasts, from a hip-hop nostalgia hit to a show shining a light on the evolution of Latin American music
Dissect Podcast
Cole Cuchna is all about the details in Dissect, dedicating each season to a single album before breaking down its lyrics, production, cover art and more for our listening pleasure. It’s ‘nerding out’ of the highest degree, but for good reason. The most recent season is a deep dive into Bo Burnham’s satirical lockdown hit Outside, while previous seasons have ventured into the late Mac Miller’s Swimming in Circles, Childish Gambino’s Because of the Internet, and Beyoncé’s Lemonade. In an age of cut-and-paste pop, but it is endearing to listen to artistic analysis that feels far from disposable.
Popcast
A detached attitude towards discussing music doesn’t tend to make for an interesting podcast. Gladly, this series from The New York Times does a great job of filling you in without pretending to be neutral. Hosted by seasoned critic Jon Caramanica, it has covered everything from the global expansion of Reggaeton to Adele’s recent return, dealing with trends from a US perspective. If you’re the type to time your podcast to your commute, this one will have you over and out in an hour, feeling like you can tie together various cultural threads into a neat little bow.
Don’t Alert The Stans
Journalist Nicolas-Tyrell Scott, publicist Sope Soetan, and self-confessed album nerd Eden Mckenzie host this conversational show, in which they aim to keep music’s often wrath-fuelled fanbases at arm’s length. In lieu of reactive music takes like those served up by the much-decorated Joe Budden, they are fans of deeper, hour-plus dives. As well as recounting Twitter memes for a quick laugh, the trio contextualise ongoing debates and wider themes. They’re also not afraid to discuss female rappers, without the arrogance and misogyny often directed towards them.
Alt.Latino
Felix Contreras and Cat Sposato keep to the storytelling tradition that underpins much of Latin American culture in their NPR series. They take a historical approach to celebrating the past glory of Latinas in Punk, for example, before facing forward and seeking out their modern reincarnations. In the episode Encore: The Meteoric Rise of Latin Urban Explained, listeners are treated to a primer on the movement as we see it now. Coming in at an easy breezy 24 minutes, it explains not only the rise in ‘papi’ references in pop, but the racial and cultural differences that dictate who has visibility in these spaces.
Rhymes like Dimes Podcast
For hip-hop fans who are also suckers for nostalgia, and there is something sweet and familiar about this show hosted by two brothers and an old friend. South London-based music journalist Yemi Abiade is joined by his sibling Peter and their pal Moe to offer up weekly discussions on the genre, complete with the kind of polite critique that Brits are well admired for. If you need a quick explainer on why the UK’s grime scene doesn’t need American validation or an introduction to the eternal battle between lyrical-obsessed “oldheads” and hype-dazed youngsters present in most subcultures, this is the show for you.
Why not try …
Tales of (almost) wedded bliss with Made In Chelsea’s endearingly posh Jamie and Sophie in NearlyWeds
Shocking Victorian crimes get a feminist reexamination in Lady Killers with Lucy Worsley.
Comprehensive daily updates on the continuing conflict, in NPR’s State of Ukraine.
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