From a podcast that invites anonymous callers to share their secrets, to a show that offers intimate conversations on the future of culture
Goodbye To All This
Goodbye To All This is not a cheery listen. Across its 12 episodes, the host, writer and producer, Sophie Townsend (co-produced with Short Cuts’ Eleanor McDowall) beautifully navigates the death of her husband, learns how to cope with his loss and reconciles herself to raising their two children alone. I can very easily see how, reading that description, you might think, “Thanks, but I don’t think I can manage that right now.” I urge you, please, please do give it a try. It’s one of the most honestly observed, intimate and moving memoirs I’ve ever come across. Goodbye To All This is not a story about death, it’s a story about love, loss and crucially, what it takes to push through to the other side. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
The Secrets Hotline
Love + Radio was the first podcast I truly fell in love with, and to this day it remains one of the best. Each tale is masterfully crafted, revealing tantalising details bit-by-bit which end up completely turning the story on its head. It’s a true original. Now, the show’s creator Nick van der Kolk, and long time collaborator Phil Dmochowski, have launched a new podcast – The Secrets Hotline. With all of Love + Radio’s masterful sound design and deliciously voyeuristic detail, The Secrets Hotline invites anonymous callers from across the globe to share the stuff they’d normally keep hidden in their everyday lives. Episodes offer a marvellous window into the weirdness of the world we live in.
Shaking Out The Numb
A short, whimsical and excellently made series, Shaking Out The Numb is a collaboration between music duo Sylvan Esso and Rumble Strip producer Erica Heilman. Each episode weaves together organic found sounds, conversations, memories, and songs from Sylvan Esso’s new album to explore the band’s creative process. A particular highlight is Party – an episode in which Heilman playfully muses on the thought that getting ready to go out is actually far better than the party itself. It’s energetic, richly musical and full of fun.
Resistance
Resistance is a show about refusing to accept things as they are. Each episode presents stories from the front lines of the movement for Black lives, as told by the generation fighting for change. Hosted by Saidu Tejan-Thomas Jr, the podcast gives contributors room to process their experiences of political mobilisation. In one episode we follow a political organiser on their journey from protester to local-office candidate; in another we listen in on the first-hand account of an activist trapped inside their home by the NYPD; and in a third, we hear about the experience of the only Black man in a small Nebraskan town as he organises the area’s first Black Lives Matter rally.
How It Happened
The last few weeks – hang on, scratch that, the last four years – of American history have been a complete trash fire. As the former President lurched from one insane conspiracy theory to another, you might often find yourself thinking that House Of Cards’ dystopian vision of the American executive was actually quite cute. In his new series, Jonathan Swan, Axios reporter from that much-memed Trump interview, gives a blow-by-blow account of the collapse of Trump’s presidency with unprecedented access and tantalising detail. From the former President’s Covid diagnosis and his election night party, right up until the insurrection at the Capitol, Swan traces a fascinating and infuriating tick tock of the last days of one of the world’s most divisive leaders.
Canary: The Washington Post Investigates
In Washington DC one woman’s public warning about sexual assault ends up ricocheting from the District of Columbia all the way to Birmingham, Alabama in this gripping and informative investigative series from the Washington Post. Across its seven episodes, we hear how one woman’s strength becomes the catalyst for another’s confession about a high-ranking figure in the DC justice system. Thoughtfully made and sensitively reported, Canary is a necessary and insightful documentary about what it takes to publicly acknowledge an experience of sexual assault.
3.55 – The Chanel Podcast
Inspired by the house’s heritage of playing a role in “what happens next”, CHANEL Connects, brings together some of the most celebrated talent from film, art, architecture, dance, music, and fashion for intimate conversations on the future of culture. Listen to Pharrell Williams, Tilda Swinton, Keira Knightley and other luminaries reflect on their creative lives and imagine new frontiers for the arts as galleries, museums and stages prepare to reopen in a radically transformed world.