August 6 - 12, 2017
THE LIST
1. 99% Invisible - "Ways of Hearing"
Stuck in my mind more than anything else I heard this week, this episode of 99 PI takes a journey into the act of listening. For anyone who enjoys music, podcasts, concerts, theatre, movies or anything with sound, this is amazingly relevant. The episode starts out with the first edition of a new Radiotopia project called Showcase (which will feature short-run podcast specials that aren't full-fledged shows with seasons). Podcaster and musician Damon Krakowski takes the reins in the first installment, dubbed "Ways of Hearing," which recounts a brief history of sound's transition from analog to digital. Even if that doesn't appear to be a thrilling topic, Krakowski integrates narrative expertly and had me on the edge of my earbuds. It's kind of cheating to list this as a single episode, because after Krakowski's piece we are treated to a clip from an old 99 PI. We find a beamishly young Roman Mars circle 2012 introducing a 2006 excerpt from the WBEZ radio show Sound Opinions. This brief appendage to the show deals with music as either a performance piece and a song - essentially whether a sound can be reproduced en-mass by any talented performer, or whether the original author's performative ability dwarfs the inherent genius of the songwriting. It's not always a clear-cut distinction, but it has definitely shaped the way I listen to music!
2. Strangers - "Jack Be Nimble, Part 1"
Strangers could sometimes boast the tag-line "regular people telling unbelievably awful stories about themselves." That's not to downgrade it in any way, simply to reiterate that the various human experiences Lea Thau cultivates are incredibly heart-breaking. In "Jack Be Nimble, Part 1" we hear about a troubled childhood and the extreme lengths to which some young people are forced to go in order to survive. What do you do when your human support network is built on a morally rotten foundation, complimented by treacherous beams and pillars at every turn? This is not easy listening, but it needs to be heard.
3. The Cracked Podcast - "12 Animals That Could 'Planet of The Apes' Us If They Tried"
Inspired by the latest installment in the Planet of the Apes franchise, Cracked takes a preventative step in forestalling the dethronement of the human race by discussing possible species that could do us in. With their various connections to humans, apes are the obvious choice to usurp our strangle-hold on the planet. But it seems like there are a lot of different species that could take us on without much problem if they ever managed to organize. The format of the show is familiar - a panel of guests prepares a topic and then defends their reasoning against an onslaught from their peers. While the secret powers of ants, dolphins and shrimp were new and exciting, the best part of the episode was without a doubt the conviction with which cats were defended as secret killing machines biding their time.
4. On the Media - "Shmashmortion"
On The Media put together a podcast package that does for abortion what Only Human did for climate change a few months back. "Shmashmortion" details the evolution of American public thought on the hot-button issue by telling the controversial story of an Arizona woman who sought out an abortion in the 1960s. Add the fact that this woman was Sherry Finkelbine, a once-prominent TV personality, and the episode shapes into a meditation on celebrity, privacy, medicine, law and the media. It would be a compelling topic to simply read about, but OTM synthesizes old audio clips and current copy to seamlessly convey the information. Perhaps the most engaging bit of tape comes from the present, as Finkelbine makes an appearance some 50+ years after the fact to give her input on how the debate has remained static despite decades of democratized media distribution.
HONORABLE MENTION
Startup - "Building The Perfect Cup of Coffee"
Futility Closet - "Vigil on the Ice"
SOMETHING NEW
With a variety of musical podcasts cropping up, Earwolf decided to get in the game with their brand of comedy thrown in for good measure. Off-Book is a delightful mix of zaniness, skill and relative celebrity. Hosts Jessica McKenna and Zach Reino invite a different comedy-related guest on for each episode, and the first part of the show consists of a brief informal interview in the style of Nerdist. After enough time elapses for source material to surface, McKenna and Reino proceed to use some tidbit of biographical information from the guest to perform an improvised musical. It's surprising how coherent each episode tends to be, with a plot that builds naturally and a resolution that doesn't seem very forced. I do enjoy the depth of a lengthy interview every now and again, but Off-Book provides a little bit of that shooting-the-breeze feel while not lingering too long. The riffing also feels more justified, as it serves a story rather than purely the ego of the joke-maker. In the pair of episodes I sampled with Drew Tarver and Jamie Denbo, the guests also proved remarkably up for the task (though I suppose they wouldn't have been invited if they didn't possess some talent for improv). In addition to being a pretty novel genre, the improv-musical podcast splits the difference between an interview and a highly produced fictional show. There aren't installments, which makes the hour-long episodes palatable in one-off fashion without the need to commit for a whole series. It was nice to hear something so unique that manages to borrow from other existing forms while maintaining a sense of novelty, and I've willingly subscribed to the feed.
Off-Book: The Improvised Musical
Recommended for: Theatre nerds, comedy geeks, and respectfully in awe patrons of arts in general
Rating: Gotta Have It
1. 99% Invisible - "Ways of Hearing"
Stuck in my mind more than anything else I heard this week, this episode of 99 PI takes a journey into the act of listening. For anyone who enjoys music, podcasts, concerts, theatre, movies or anything with sound, this is amazingly relevant. The episode starts out with the first edition of a new Radiotopia project called Showcase (which will feature short-run podcast specials that aren't full-fledged shows with seasons). Podcaster and musician Damon Krakowski takes the reins in the first installment, dubbed "Ways of Hearing," which recounts a brief history of sound's transition from analog to digital. Even if that doesn't appear to be a thrilling topic, Krakowski integrates narrative expertly and had me on the edge of my earbuds. It's kind of cheating to list this as a single episode, because after Krakowski's piece we are treated to a clip from an old 99 PI. We find a beamishly young Roman Mars circle 2012 introducing a 2006 excerpt from the WBEZ radio show Sound Opinions. This brief appendage to the show deals with music as either a performance piece and a song - essentially whether a sound can be reproduced en-mass by any talented performer, or whether the original author's performative ability dwarfs the inherent genius of the songwriting. It's not always a clear-cut distinction, but it has definitely shaped the way I listen to music!
2. Strangers - "Jack Be Nimble, Part 1"
Strangers could sometimes boast the tag-line "regular people telling unbelievably awful stories about themselves." That's not to downgrade it in any way, simply to reiterate that the various human experiences Lea Thau cultivates are incredibly heart-breaking. In "Jack Be Nimble, Part 1" we hear about a troubled childhood and the extreme lengths to which some young people are forced to go in order to survive. What do you do when your human support network is built on a morally rotten foundation, complimented by treacherous beams and pillars at every turn? This is not easy listening, but it needs to be heard.
3. The Cracked Podcast - "12 Animals That Could 'Planet of The Apes' Us If They Tried"
Inspired by the latest installment in the Planet of the Apes franchise, Cracked takes a preventative step in forestalling the dethronement of the human race by discussing possible species that could do us in. With their various connections to humans, apes are the obvious choice to usurp our strangle-hold on the planet. But it seems like there are a lot of different species that could take us on without much problem if they ever managed to organize. The format of the show is familiar - a panel of guests prepares a topic and then defends their reasoning against an onslaught from their peers. While the secret powers of ants, dolphins and shrimp were new and exciting, the best part of the episode was without a doubt the conviction with which cats were defended as secret killing machines biding their time.
4. On the Media - "Shmashmortion"
On The Media put together a podcast package that does for abortion what Only Human did for climate change a few months back. "Shmashmortion" details the evolution of American public thought on the hot-button issue by telling the controversial story of an Arizona woman who sought out an abortion in the 1960s. Add the fact that this woman was Sherry Finkelbine, a once-prominent TV personality, and the episode shapes into a meditation on celebrity, privacy, medicine, law and the media. It would be a compelling topic to simply read about, but OTM synthesizes old audio clips and current copy to seamlessly convey the information. Perhaps the most engaging bit of tape comes from the present, as Finkelbine makes an appearance some 50+ years after the fact to give her input on how the debate has remained static despite decades of democratized media distribution.
HONORABLE MENTION
Startup - "Building The Perfect Cup of Coffee"
Futility Closet - "Vigil on the Ice"
"We're all just future cadavers, right?"
- Roman Mars, 99% Invisible - "The Stethoscope"
SOMETHING NEW
With a variety of musical podcasts cropping up, Earwolf decided to get in the game with their brand of comedy thrown in for good measure. Off-Book is a delightful mix of zaniness, skill and relative celebrity. Hosts Jessica McKenna and Zach Reino invite a different comedy-related guest on for each episode, and the first part of the show consists of a brief informal interview in the style of Nerdist. After enough time elapses for source material to surface, McKenna and Reino proceed to use some tidbit of biographical information from the guest to perform an improvised musical. It's surprising how coherent each episode tends to be, with a plot that builds naturally and a resolution that doesn't seem very forced. I do enjoy the depth of a lengthy interview every now and again, but Off-Book provides a little bit of that shooting-the-breeze feel while not lingering too long. The riffing also feels more justified, as it serves a story rather than purely the ego of the joke-maker. In the pair of episodes I sampled with Drew Tarver and Jamie Denbo, the guests also proved remarkably up for the task (though I suppose they wouldn't have been invited if they didn't possess some talent for improv). In addition to being a pretty novel genre, the improv-musical podcast splits the difference between an interview and a highly produced fictional show. There aren't installments, which makes the hour-long episodes palatable in one-off fashion without the need to commit for a whole series. It was nice to hear something so unique that manages to borrow from other existing forms while maintaining a sense of novelty, and I've willingly subscribed to the feed.
Off-Book: The Improvised Musical
Recommended for: Theatre nerds, comedy geeks, and respectfully in awe patrons of arts in general
Rating: Gotta Have It
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