The podcasting bubble might have finally burst. Be honest with yourself: when was the last time that you actually listened to The Daily in the morning, even though it was one of your New Year’s Resolutions? That’s what we thought. Never fear; there are still two more months (ish) of the year left, and we have some new recommendations, and some golden oldies, to restore your podcasting habits to their glory days.
2022 Newbies to Try:
A perfect combination of the art history and true crime, this ongoing podcast from Pushkin Industries explores the life, art and untimely death of Ana Mendieta, and the long-held rumor in the art world that she was murdered at the hands of her partner and minimalist art legend, Carl Andre. This podcast puts Mendieta in the spotlight, and dares to question the art world and its insiders, in some cases for the first time.
A completed series that debuted this summer from Novel for iHeartRadio, Deliver Us From Ervil takes you inside a fundamentalist Mormon cult town in Mexico, including stories from its founding to interviews with present day survivors of the cult they escaped. Listen in for murders, marriages (of course, plural) and more.
The newest of the list, American Terror debuted as a Spotify original in collaboration with Gimlet this October. This podcast is a thrilling, and at times hard to hear, investigation that takes listeners inside white supremacist hate groups, their ideology, and the people their followers leave behind.
You’ve heard about this podcast from us before. This scripted podcast from Wolf at the Door and Spotify presents the Dark Knight as you’ve never seen him, including a stacked celebrity cast (Hasan Minhaj as The Riddler is a delight) and a story for the Bat that feels even more personal in your ears. (Like what if Bruce Wayne…had parents?)
Oldies to Revisit:
Fom 2021, La Brega, a production of WNYC and Futuro Studios, investigates the Puerto Rican experience. That’s defined first by the title itself, which means “the hustle” in Spanish, a uniting mindset for many Puerto Ricans on the island and abroad. A bilingual podcast with episodes in Spanish and English, the podcast explores colonialism, culture, and a history that most Americans are unfamiliar with.
OK, not exactly old, and still ongoing with episodes weekly, Maintenance Phase challenges every weird diet rumor you’ve ever heard. From the BMI to the chips that maybe make people crap their pants, if you have a health question you’ll want Aubrey Gordon (from @yrfatfriend) and Michael Hobbes (from another acclaimed podcast series You’re Wrong About) to answer it.
The series, widely thought to have kicked-off podcasting, takes on new meaning now that the central protagonist, Adnan Syed, has been released from prison with all charges dropped after 22 years. Serial’s other seasons are just as well-researched and intriguing as the one that started it all from 2014, but season one is worth a re-listen in conjunction with the HBO documentary on the case, The Case Against Adnan Syed.
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