I Only Listen To the Tides
This post is an update to my 2017 post talking about the podcasts I like. I have a couple more to recommend.
- I Only Listen To The Mountain Goats: This has been a delight in so many ways. Joe and John talk informally about how they create cool stuff. One could say that these are recordings of Joseph Fink and John Darnielle in conversation about their creative process as artists. One of the reasons I’m digging this so much is that both viewpoints are true. These are two guys and two erudite artists. They bop between those two modes of discourse with remarkable ease and have lots of deep things to say in mundane ways and mundane things to say in deep ways. And it’s all two guys talking in the basement.
As a bonus,it turns out that I really like the album they’re using to frame their talks: All Hail West Texas. I expect I’ll like more Mountain Goats music as well. I know I’ll be buying some. They also get people to cover the songs and I’ve bought a couple of those, too. So be warned that this podcast may make you spend money. - Tides Of History: As Ben Edlund said: from the other side of the Corpus Callosum, I’ve been enjoying this incredible deep dive into late antiquity and early modern history. I’ve tried to listen to Patrick Wyman’s earlier podcasts and found his presentation well intentioned, but too dull for me. He’s a history professor, after all. What kept me keeping tabs on him is that he had (IMHO) the right idea: make this stuff accessible to people by describing it better. He’s made his presentation into something that’s beyond accessible and into enticing. He hooks me by grounding his – extensive – scholarship in compelling framings of the time and important concepts of the present. He’s also become much more savvy about using the medium, too – his sound design has markedly improved, for example and he lets his enthusiasm warm his episodes without overheating them. There’s no need for you to care about that process. If you like history at all, try couple episodes and join me as a fan.