Picks of the week
Katherine Ryan: Telling Everybody Everything
Ryan’s acerbic one-liners are in full flow in a podcast that covers a lot of ground, including The Tiger King, her daughter Violet, and getting romantic in lockdown. But it’s the unexpectedly personal episode about baby loss that stops listeners in their tracks. “No matter how many times people tell you: ‘It’s just one of those things,’ you feel this shame,” she says, as she talks about that gruelling time. The moment where she fights back tears is almost impossible to listen to, but her empathy with other women in the same situation is beautiful. Hannah Verdier
Slay in Your Lane: The Podcast
Yomi Adegoke and Elizabeth Uviebinené, authors of the non-fiction hit Slay In Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible, make the jump to another medium where self-improvement is often the order of the day: podcasting. As their smart, often irreverent show kicks off, the pair discuss the status of black-owned businesses both inside and outside of black communities, while also bringing their personalities to the fore as they chat about their quarantine hobbies. Hannah J Davies
Producer pick: GABA
Chosen by Madeleine Finlay (audio producer)
If, like me, you spend a good part of the day reading and listening to coronavirus related content, you’re probably finding yourself less than relaxed when it gets to bedtime. Switching off and falling into a peaceful slumber has never been a forte of mine, and recently it has presented a particular challenge. Enter GABA – a strange but absorbing meld of soundscapes, spoken word, and meditation.
Thankfully, the show manages to escape the tropes of each of those elements. Host Adam Martin gestures towards a narrative, poetically describing scenes and feelings while samples from films, news footage, interviews, and old songs meander in and out. It’s not always that calming, but GABA will lift you from wherever you’re sitting (or lying in my case) and take you into its world.
It’s meditation for people who don’t like being told to visit their ‘happy place’ or listening to the sort of ambient music you’d expect to hear playing in your local health spa. Several episodes in and there’s yet to be even a whisper of panpipes. The only complaint? A serious overuse of birdsong - although perhaps that’s coming from outside my headphones.
Talking points
Love the sound of your own voice? Why not turn your latest group Zoom chat into a podcast with Spotify’s Anchor.
Why not try: Miriam and Youssef | Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe’s Lockdown Parenting Hell | Homeschool History
