Archive for the ‘Thursday Listening Party’ Category
December 17, 2015
Friends! This is your annual reminder to pipe the Answer Me This! Christmas into your home, for festive advice and history and fun facts (and to drown out the sounds of Christmas rows). There’s a bit more seasonal content in AMT328 and 329 – and in this episode of The Allusionist, in which I learn that Christmas cards used to have bacon stuck to the front, and that Santa was almost called Captain Christmas.
Recently I’ve been racing through Woman of the Hour and Another Round, but because I’m currently mired in the immense annual task of compiling the AMT Best Of – out on Christmas Eve! – I haven’t had much time to listen to many other things over the past few weeks, hence the recent absence of Thursday Listening Parties. But please go to the comments to share the shows that have been delighting your eardrums lately.
We’ve received a LOT of questions about Monopoly over the years, so I think many of you will want to hear the 99% Invisible episode about it, the least enjoyable board game ever invented.
Here are three delightful episodes about music: Fugitive Waves by the Kitchen Sisters on Nick Drake; Björk talking about ‘Stonemilker’ on Song Exploder; and an Aaron Carter superfan on The Heart. What a party playlist!
Over Christmas and New Year, please sample our other podcasts:
• Get your Olly dose on the Modern Mann, the Media Podcast and the Guardian’s Tech Weekly; and he’ll be on LBC over the festive period as well.
• Martin’s shows include Song By Song, Brain Train, The Sound of the Ladies, and the Global Lab.
• The Allusionist is my other main gig. My favourite episode is perhaps this one, even though I crumble as a human being during it.
Alright, back to scaling Mount Edit! See you on the other side. If there is another side…
Tags:99% Invisible, Another Round, Bjork, Buzzfeed, Christmas, Father Christmas, Greg Jenner, Kitchen Sisters, Monopoly, Santa Claus, Song Exploder, The Allusionist, The Heart, Women of the Hour, Xmas
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November 5, 2015
Music!
Thanks to the delightful Pitch podcast alerting me to it, I’ve been bingeing on Switched On Pop. It’s very fun and educational, especially the episode examining Justin Bieber’s recent work via existential philosophers. Once I’ve polished off all the episodes, I will be moving on to Between the Liner Notes.
Because everyone is podcasting now, Alanis Morissette has a podcast. One of you, listen to it and report back.
I teamed up with Song Exploder to make this Allusionist episode about vocables – the words like la, dum, baba etc in songs. Warning: ‘Agadoo’.
NB, fans of Tom Waits/Martin the Sound Man: Song By Song is now song by songing through The Heart of Saturday Night.
Not music!
Olly’s new podcast is here! You can get The Modern Mann at modernmann.co.uk, as well as iTunes and Pocketcasts and whichever other places you get your podcasts.
After a hiatus, Martin’s Brain Train podcast is BACK! In the new episode, machines take over the world. Just to warn you.
I’ve been doing weekly Allusionists for the past month, because it’s Radiotopia‘s fundraising season. I’m TIRED! But excited! As well as the Vocables episode mentioned above, Criminal dropped by to talk about polygraphs and lying, and Roman Mars from 99% Invisible joined me to find out about eponyms – in this case Bic and Biro, which some of you have asked about before, so listen for the story. And if you fancy supporting the thirteen shows of Radiotopia, you can chip in a little at radiotopia.fm.
I was also on the charming BBC Radio 3 show The Verb, which is also available as a podcast. The day’s theme was ‘backwards’, and I found out there used to be a synonym ‘arsewards’. Due a revival.
Tune into BBC Radio 4 this Saturday morning at 10.30am for their new series In Pod We Trust: I’ll be talking to Miranda Sawyer about AMT and Allusionist and what I like about podcasts.
You like podcasts too, right? Tell us which ones have been delighting you this week.
PS Catch up on AMT326, in which we consider Gogglebox, Russian dolls and the haka, and try to find a cure for crying at inopportune times.
PPS Fun fact: In Pod We Trust was one of the rejected names for AMT off the 2006 List Of Shame.
Tags:Alanis Morissette, BBC, Between the Liner Notes, In Pod We Trust, Miranda Sawyer, music, Pitch, podcasts, pop, Radio 4, Song Exploder, songs, Switched On Pop, The Verb, Thursday Listening Party, Vocables
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October 8, 2015
The other day I heard this very interesting episode of All In The Mind about the Truman Show Delusion, and it must be Truman Show Delusion Season, because lo, on this week’s This American Life, there it is. (And in the same episode, I was glad to hear this absolutely bonkers story again.)
There’s a new series afoot of Radio 4’s Digital Human, and listening to it is making me feel smarter, even though my brain is actually rapidly crumbling. I’ve also been happily blasting through FiveThirtyEight‘s podcast What’s The Point, which makes tech and stats and data stuff a lot more engaging and entertaining than you would expect from the words ‘tech’, ‘stats’ and ‘data stuff’.
We’ve been keeping ourselves busy as well: for Guardian Tech Weekly, Olly met the founder of Instagram to celebrate the app’s fifth birthday. Regarding things that are even younger than that, in the latest Allusionist I found out why we talk to babies like we, and they, are idiots.
PS I know I mentioned Adam Buxton‘s new podcast last time, but given how enthusiastic you were to hear him in AMT300 and Jon Ronson in AMT190, I thought you should know that the latest episode features Adam Buxton AND Jon Ronson ie is probably your ideal podcast.
Tags:Adam Buxton, Aleks Krotoski, All In The Mind, delusion, FiveThirtyEight, Jon Ronson, RN, The Truman Show, This American Life, Thursday Listening Party, What's The Point
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September 24, 2015
We loved him in The Adam and Joe Show; we loved him on Adam and Joe’s BBC 6 Music show; we loved him in AMT300; so imagine the joy that swelled in our hearts when we saw that Adam Buxton has a new podcast! Additional joys: the first episode features Louis Theroux and BaaadDad.
There was a real amateur sleuth case in ‘Angie‘ by Criminal; it’s really compelling stuff. Likewise the 99% Invisible about missing children on milk cartons – it has become such a common trope, I had no idea the real campaign only lasted a couple of years. (Oh, and if you want cookies with your milk, of course 99PI has sorted you out too.)
I’m not going to apologise for plugging another Radiotopisibling‘s show, because the Resolution episode of Benjamen Walker’s Theory of Everything was the thing I most enjoyed listening to this month.
What’s in your ears, dears? Recommend shows in the comments.
In AMT323, we learnt about Venetian gondolas, preparing snails for eating, and Olly’s ranking of the various versions of Coca Cola. Go to answermethispodcast.com/episode323 to catch up, slowpoke.
Olly has been gallivanting in Vegas for Guardian Tech Weekly, and I’ve been gallivanting at home to make the latest Allusionist. I’ll wager that it’ll be the only linguistics podcast containing werewolves AND Step Up 4 that you’ll hear. Find it at theallusionist.org/dance. Oh, and Martin the Sound Man’s new podcast, Song By Song, launches this weekend! Put on some clean undies and get ready for a Tom Waits earparty.
Tags:99% Invisible, Adam Buxton, Benjamen Walker, Criminal, podcasts, shows, Song By Song, Theory of Everything, Thursday Listening Party
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September 10, 2015
There are still a few days left to hear the live-true-stories-hosted-by-me BBC Radio 4 show Truth Be Told. There are muggers! Flippers! Bladders! That’s human life for you, eh?
Right now my human life is tediously mired in podcast-tech fuckuppery, so I’m listening to Reply All goofing off as a temporary escape. What are you listening to?
The other day I met the founder of the Frekvens podcast network, which sounded like pretty cool collective. If you speak Norwegian, Swedish or Danish, check out their shows at radiofrekvens.com. Then translate them into English for me, thanks.
I also had chatted at length on Podcast Junkies, with Martin the Sound Man farting around in the background. A bit too literally for my liking, TBH.
Heard AMT322 yet? NO? Why are you depriving yourself of missing baristas, hair transplants and Desperate Dan?
PS The Guardian just posted an interview with me about AMT and the Allusionist, which you can read here.
Tags:BBC, Frekvens, Podcast Junkies, Radio 4, Reply All, Scandinavia, Truth Be Told
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August 27, 2015
In the early days of AMT (episode 16!) a listener called Benjamin Partridge posed the question, “Is Bremen in Germany a weird place to want to go on holiday?” He found out the answer for himself in episode 20. In the intervening years, I’ve met Bremenjamin Partridge in real life, and now I learn he has started a funny new podcast, The Beef and Dairy Network, which will be your kind of thing if you enjoy Down the Line or Chris Morris’s early-career gadding about. Or beef and dairy.
True crime time: there’s a new podcast, Detective, in which a retired lieutenant recounts stories from his 23 years in the Homicide Division. Give it a whirl if you like hearing about police procedure and don’t mind some gore.
I’ve been enjoying Late Night Woman’s Hour, hosted by Lauren Laverne, and thought the episode discussing masculinity was particularly interesting, even if I did want to shout “Shut up!” at the radio whenever one of the speakers was talking. I’ll leave you to guess which one. (Not super-podcaster Richard Herring.)
Do you like The Moth or Mortified or Spark London or other shows where people get on stage and tell stories from their lives? I just hosted a pilot of one such show, Truth Be Told, and if you like it, do tweet and email BBC Radio 4 demanding a full series.
Tomorrow, there’ll be a new episodes of: i) The Media Podcast featuring Olly up at the Edinburgh Festival; ii) The Allusionist, featuring me sliding off my chair after staring at an edit screen for 16-hour days on end. Meanwhile, catch up on the most recent episode about word games (and Jenga!) at theallusionist.org/word-play.
Which is more agonising: having to help your parents with their computer, or being faced with your parents’ sex lives? Answer: BOTH AT ONCE, as suffered by a questioneer in AMT321. Hear their pain, and join us for a fresh dose of other people’s pain next Thursday.
What’s in your ears, dears?
Recommend shows in the comments.
Tags:BBC Radio 4, Benjamin Partridge, Detective, The Beef and Dairy Network, Thursday Listening Party, Truth Be Told, Woman's Hour
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August 13, 2015
Richard Herring, the man with more podcasts than all of the other podcasters combined, has recently added another: The Twelve Shows of Herring, as he performs all of his solo shows in sequence over the next few weekends. ‘Someone Likes Yoghurt’ is coming up this weekend; I remember laughing till my face hurt when I saw it in Edinburgh ten years ago.
Also twelve parts, but not much of a laugh, is the recently completed series about Charles Manson’s Hollywood on You Must Remember This. It’s exhaustively researched and pulls together all sorts of links with different cultural players; so, though the gore is unavoidable given the subject matter, it’s a learned take rather than sensationalistic. Hunker down for an audiobook-length task – I raced through four episodes whilst making a complicated birthday cake.
To soothe yourself afterwards, how about a dose of Jarvis Cocker’s Wireless Nights? I’ve had these stacked up for ages and am only just now catching up. But look how soothed I am!
If you’ve not yet heard AMT320, rectify immediately in order to learn about registering your baby, 80s classic Overboard, and sensible dominatrix-relationship management. Peeking over the hill, ready to leap into your ears by the end of this week: new episodes of Guardian Tech Weekly, and The Allusionist. Martin is covering Ben Folds on the new Sound of the Ladies Podcast; and on the latest episode of Passion Pods, I’m discussing my feckless mess of a career. If any of you are having a bad A Level Results Day, perhaps this will be comfort that, a whole other lifetime hence, it won’t matter a jot.
What’s in your ears, dears?
Recommend shows in the comments.
Tags:Charles Manson, Jarvis Cocker, Karina Longworth, podcasts, Richard Herring, Thursday Listening Party, Wireless Nights, You Must Remember This
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July 30, 2015
What good stuff have you been listening to this month? I loved:
• The Accidental Gay Parents episode of The Longest Shortest Time; and now there’s a second instalment.
• The ‘Last Chance to Evacuate Earth’ episode of Here Be Monsters, about the Heaven’s Gate cult.
• This very jaunty 99% Invisible about the AIDS red ribbon.
• Next on my audio list: fifty years of Annie Nightingale on the radio. Fifty! I interviewed Annie last year, and she still seemed completely excited about and unjaded by her work, despite having done half a century of it.
Catch Olly on the Guardian’s Tech Weekly and LBC. Martin has a new episode of The Global Lab about knowing what rhinos look like before you could watch a David Attenborough documentary about rhinos. And in the new Allusionist, I find out about why stepmothers are so evil, with the assistance of Aaron Mahnke from Lore (a podcast which will be right up many of your streets, I’ll wager).
Catch up on AMT319, in which questioneers have problems with mustard, flags and a dominatrix.
Tags:99% Invisible, 99pi, Annie Nightingale, Here Be Monsters, Longest Shortest Time, podcasts, Thursday Listening Party
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July 2, 2015
I’m about to go on holiday* for a fortnight, and I want to pack a load of new-to-me podcasts; so this Thursday Listening Party, what I’d love to know is: which podcasts have you recently discovered?
Or, if you prefer to stick to your old favourites, let me know what’s in your regular rotation. Mine changes every few months: there are a few hundred shows stacked up in my podcast app, and many of the ones I like the best are released sporadically; but every week I listen to the latest 99% Invisible, Bullseye and Dinner Party Download.
*But still doing the usual amount of work, so there will be a new AMT in your podbucket next week.
Right now, here’s how I’ll be spending my eartime:
1. Tomorrow is final episode of the second season of StartUp: the stakes seem a lot higher than they did in season one. Good luck, Dating Ring! Also, I thought this article comparing StartUp to reality TV was an interesting perspective.
2. Hooray, Pitch has returned! The first episode of the new season is about cover songs. I am all for this.
3. Since we seem to be on the theme of firsts and lasts, try the new podcast First Time Last Time. What was it like the first time YOU robbed a bank, kids? (Don’t tell me; tell an officer of the law, please.)
4. In the latest installment of ‘things which might be a bit like Serial’ is BBC Radio 4’s Who Killed Elsie Frost?, a fifty-year-old cold case being reinvestigated by a team of journalists and the victim’s brother and sister. It’s available on the BBC website and as a podcast.
We’ve made a few sounds this week: Olly helms the brand new episode of the Guardian’s Tech Weekly, and a fresh Media Podcast will appear tomorrow. In the new Allusionist, I learn about how words can become your worst enemy and how psychotherapy can put them back in their place. Listen at theallusionist.org/behave.
Catch up with AMT316 to hear about the peace symbol, bridegrooms and Greggs the Baker, and rejoin us next Thursday for AMT318.
Tags:BBC, First Time Last Time, Pitch, Radio 4, StartUp, Thursday Listening Party, Who Killed Elsie Frost?
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June 18, 2015
We’ve been busy, churning out noises:
Olly has just laid a hot fresh episode of the Guardian’s Tech Weekly, in which he debates the future of your ear-tertainment what with Apple Music and Beats 1 entering the fray. Hear it here, and don’t forget to check back tomorrow for more Mann on The Media Podcast and his LBC show.
I make a tiny cameo on the new 99% Invisible, all about Sigmund Freud’s couch. And at MaxFunCon last weekend, I was a panellist in a particularly raucous edition of International Waters: under the jurisdiction of Dave Holmes, Nadia Kamil and I took on Paul F. Tompkins and his wife Janie Haddad Tompkins, and let me tell you, when you’re playing for Britain on American soil, they do NOT want you to win.
Almost certainly less raucous, but still fun and funny, is Radio 4’s News Quiz: I’ll be on it tomorrow night, 6.30pm.
In the new episode of the Allusionist, I reluctantly learn about emoji, and discover a world of misbehaving medieval nuns. Hear it at theallusionist.org/emoji.
Catch up with AMT316 to hear about dirty knickers, banana thrift and the undead Mike Oldfield, and rejoin us next Thursday for AMT317.
What have you been listening to, dear audiophiles? Tell me in the comments!
Tags:99% Invisible, BBC, emoji, international waters, Radio 4, Tech Weekly, The Allusionist, The News Quiz, Thursday Listening Party
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June 4, 2015
I was on the News Quiz last week! If you hurry, it’ll still be a tiny bit topical. It’s on the BBC website (there’s a redux version as well somewhere apparently) and the Friday Night Comedy podcast feed on iTunes etc. So do I still sound just like Sandi Toksvig? (Or Rebecca Front, Jeremy Hardy and Francis Wheen?)
In the latest Allusionist, I found out how the word ‘pride’ was chosen in 1970 for LGBT civil rights events. It was fascinating, especially to discover what the Quakers and Black Power had to do with the movement. Listen at theallusionist.org/pride or here:
Olly Mann has been busy this week – as well as hosting Guardian Tech Weekly and The Media Podcast and his LBC shows, he’s set up his own Facebook page, so like facebook.com/ollymann to express your affection.
What have you been listening to this week? Share your recent favourite noises in the comments.
The ‘Britney’ episode of Mystery Show was such fun. Starlee Kine’s investigations are full of surprises, but perhaps the biggest one in this was her conversation with a beleaguered-sounding man in a call centre.
This was a really interesting and entertaining episode of Song Exploder featuring Tune-yards (I can’t with their official upper/lower case salad, sorry Tune-yards) talking about what went into their song ‘Water Fountain’.
The Radiotopisiblings have been on terrific form, as ever: I particularly loved ‘How to be a Princess’ from The Heart and the ‘Art de Vivre’ two-parter from Theory of Everything.
Altogether, it has been a good week for my ears, and I hope for yours too.
Tags:Alan Bennett, Mystery Show, Radio 4, Sandi Toksvig, Song Exploder, Starlee Kine, The Heart, The News Quiz, Theory of Everything, Thursday Listening Party, Tune-yards
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May 21, 2015
Friends, this evening I’m on a new Radio 4 panel show, Best Behaviour. It’s hosted by (AMT jingle alum) Holly Walsh and is all about manners. Hear it on R4 at 6.30pm, or afterwards on the BBC website. And you might as well remain tuned in to Radio 4 for eight days, because on Friday 29th I’ll be on the News Quiz! Finally we can test whether I really can convincingly pass as a Sandi Toksvig soundalike…
I’m also on the latest episode of the bicontinental gameshow International Waters, hosted by Dave Holmes. Arnab Chanda and I were pitted against Paul Provenza and Brigid Ryan. We recorded pretty soon after the election, so were in an emotionally weakened state rather than 100% combat ready.
The new Allusionist tackles one of the most pressing questions of our time: what IS brunch? I’m joined by Dan Pashman of The Sporkful podcast, who champions something called ‘the porklift’. Racy! There’s more information and different ways to hear the show at theallusionist.org/brunch.
Sustain your ears over this weekend with Olly on the forthcoming Media Podcast and on LBC in the evenings.
My book club-style Podcast Club met again last week. The winners this time were this very intimate (NSFW) episode of The Heart and a Pitch episode about bands using backing tracks on live performances. I can thoroughly recommend this exercise – it’s proving to be very fun and interesting to meet with friends in the pub and argue about podcasts all evening.
What have you enjoyed listening to this week? Let us know in the comments! I’ve just started on Nocturne, which is really beautifully made audio essays about the night; and I’m catching up on ARRVLS before their second series begins next month. The Norjak episode will appeal to any of you who were into the DB Cooper theory of Mad Men. Backed the wrong horse, didn’t you? Maybe it’ll happen in one of the DVD extras.
Tags:ARRVLS, BBC, Best Behaviour, brunch, international waters, Nocturne, Pitch, Radio 4, The Allusionist, The Heart, The Sporkful, Thursday Listening Party
Posted in podcasts other than AMT, Thursday Listening Party | 3 Comments »
Answer Me This! Podcast 