Here are the podcasts I am listening to right now #1

Some podcasts. That I'm listening to. Right now

Forgive the radio silence. It’s been a week. Lots of irons. Lots of fires. Many hot irons. Blisters on my hands. But plenty of time to listen to podcasts.

Here are some of my new favourites. You can’t listen to my podcasts all the time.

I’m interested in a lot of weird shit. But I’m not hugely convinced in the legitimacy of any of it like I am in the existence of UAPs. If you’re not familiar with that acronym – <pushes glasses up nose> it stands for Unidentified Aerial Phenomena – this is what used to be called UFOs, until in 2017 an epochal New York Times rebrand added a veneer of respectability to discussion of the subject. Which is probably for the best to be honest, given the alarming reality of shitloads of unexplained stuff buzzing around our skies. Even NASA are concerned. And Obama. And, um, Demi Lovato.

I’ve been listening to That UFO Podcast for a while now. It was a lockdown favourite. It gets a bit silly when discussion of Remote Viewing lurches into view – essentially looking up at the skies and attempting to connect telepathically with nearby spacecraft – but the testimony of big-name guests like Luis Elizondo and George Knapp would test even the most hardened of sceptics. A new discovery for me is Alien State, presented by sometime Vice writer MJ Banias, which presents the basics of the phenomenon with patience and humour. Roswell. Tom DeLonge [hey, why not listen to my interview with him here!]. The Men in Black. Skinwalker Ranch. Weird shit.

I interviewed Shaun Ryder once. I love Shaun Ryder. I think he’s an actual genius. We were talking about UFOs. I asked him what his evidence for their existence was. We talked about Project Blue Book. Then he pounded the table with his fist and shouted, “IT’S DARE!” It was very funny, but I guess you had to be there/dare.

When I wrote about the Yuba County Five podcast the other week, I said I was relieved to find a story being told within the true crime space that had hooked me. Maybe it’s just fatigue, but it’s been a while. There’s also Vigilante by journalist and verified private investigator (!!!), Allie Conti. Set over five episodes, the podcast sees Conti head to Texas and shadow the famous search-and-rescuer Tim Miller as he attempts to solve the 1984 murder of his 16-year-old daughter, Laura. It’s sometimes a messily told tale, but then you get the impression that Tim Miller brings mess with him wherever he goes. Vigilante is less a true crime podcast than a case study of obsession and grief, and the pendulum that swings between sense and stupidity when you’re driven by something that’s not rational thought. The host’s languid presenting style anchors the chaos perfectly. There’s one more episode to go and I’m hooked.

Oh, and it’s not new - it launched in 2019 to much acclaim - but I finally got around to listening to The Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia. Eight episodes long, and helmed by Yvette Gentile and Rasha Pecoraro, Black Dahlia murder suspect George Hodel's great-granddaughters, it is again, less a whodunit than an episodic exploration of familial secrets and shame. And yet, reader, I like to be scared. I really, really like to lay in the dark and freak myself out. Everyone needs a hobby. And so episode four, ‘The Minotaur’, is perhaps the most unsettling episode of any podcast I have ever heard (notable mentions; Radio Rental episode ‘Laura of the Woods’; all of BBC Sounds’ The Lovecraft Investigations). And speaking of spoooky…

Danny Robins is back with a summer special of Uncanny - this time round it’s an alleged haunting in a seaside lodge in Newfoundland, Canada - and on the basis of the one episode I’ve heard to date, the second drops tomorrow - it promises to be as impressive as previous seasons of said show, and of course, the excellent The Battersea Poltergeist. I went to see a live production of The Battersea Poltergeist at the Clapham Grand last year. Someone fainted. It was fucking wild. Not only that, but the last season of Uncanny proper saw me and my wife saying ‘bloody hell, Ken!’ to each other approximately 20-30 times a day. Danny’s shows are much beloved at Spoook HQ (and his play, 2:22, was the best thing I saw at the theatre last year. I mean, I don’t go to the theatre very often. I’m not Laurence Olivier. But I did really love the production of it that I saw). And, on the subject of Uncanny specifically, it’s always nice to hear my old friends from the North East, Lanterns on the Lake, and their theme tune too.

Oh look, it’s the brilliant Kmele Foster!

As anyone who has been unlucky to find themselves siloed from the main conversation in a pub these last few years will attest, I have opinions on the culture wars. Kmele’s podcast The Fifth Column remains the podcast I most look forward to each and every week. The boys are doing sterling work at the moment; this episode with Lara Bazelon is chilling on the ramifications of the illiberal capture of the ACLU, Michael Moynihan’s bleary eyed update from Ukraine makes sense of a truly senseless situation (and for those looking for similar insight, Moynihan’s recent appearance on Peter McCormak’s What Bitcoin Did is very good too), while the conversation Kmele, Moynihan and Matt Welch had with Mike Pesca of The Gist (now restored to its daily glory) back in January, is essential listening for anyone who remains skeptical of the reality of cancel culture. Ditto this episode of the ever brilliant Blocked and Reported, which makes the surprisingly controversial point that, y’know, due process is a pretty good thing if we, y’know, don’t want our societies to implode and eternal misery and cruelty to reign supreme.

On a similar tip is Jamie Kilstein’s appearance on Meghan Daum’s always interesting The Unspeakable podcast. And Bari Weiss’ conversation with Matthew Continetti on Honestly helped flesh out some gaps in my knowledge of the American right and its shapeshifting history (while Bari’s new episode on what to do about America’s lust for guns helped me make sense - there’s a theme developing here - of a situation I care a lot about, though geographical distance and cultural factors mean that I don’t have an innate understanding of living alongside The Second Amendment). Finally, a brand new discovery for me is Fucking Cancelled. Their most recent episode - entitled: ‘Supporting Our Cancelled Friends and Loved Ones’ - is great.

I really wish I’d thought of that for Shame.

Until next time.