MY TOP 5 POD AND VID CASTS
Though it's true, I'm prone to the occasional bouts of lofty pretentiousness, I'm happy to concede that, at heart, I'm a fairly simple guy. I only need a select few bases covered when it comes to my weekly diet of pod and vid casts, and they include film, classical music, boxing, and politics, and a wild card “keep me on my toes” hip hop analysis channel.
The longevity of podcasts and their appeal is an elusive business. There are so many I've simply stopped listening to (and unsubscribed from) as they're either too chatty, too slick, or just overall inconsistent in terms of maintaining both quality and my interest.
There is also such a thing as pod burnout or content burnout, where the listener or viewer eventually reaches the end of the road with certain shows or personalities and their content. It’s a bit like when you’re young and have a favourite food you eat obsessively for months (ham, cheese, and mayonnaise rolls were my preferred choice once upon a time), only to suddenly find you don’t enjoy the taste of it anymore. Bloat is also a huge factor with a lot of pod and vid casts, where it seems at times as if the excessive duration of each pod or vid cast episode ceases to remain any type of factor in relation to the scale and size of casters’ egos and sheer love of the sound of their own voice(s).
In light of this phenomenon, I decided to pay tribute to five “glasses of water in a desert of mediocrity," five keepers I’ve stuck with over the past few years, while many others have fallen by the wayside.
The common thread with all five of my favourite podcasts or vidcasts is that there’s often very little slick production involved, mostly just a voice and a mic, and, for some, a screen. My takeaway? The best content creators in this crazy modern world of ours tend to keep it authentic and real, while many others try too hard or indulge in excesses of the form that quickly become tedious after a while.
And let's not mention adverts! Grrrr!
So, without further ado, here are my top five pod and vid casts in no particular ranking as they're all great in their own unique way.
Professor Skye's Record Review (Vidcast)
Professor Skye is, in fact, an actual professor teaching in New York, and watching his analysis of mostly contemporary hip hop is kind of like attending a free course on the subject, so rich is his probing analysis of the genre/form that, regardless of my interest in the actual albums or artists (Kanye excluded) themselves, his passion and thorough exploration of themes is compelling enough. On occasion, he dabbles in some pop/rock analysis too, but mostly his forte lies within the realm of rap and hip hop, which he navigates thoughtfully, often acknowledging his “white privilege.” In fact, I find a perverse type of comedy watching the prof wrestle and tie himself in knots with the guilt of his “white privilege,” whilst trying to express his devout passion for the rap and hip hop form he loves so much. It's like someone having to constantly second-guess themselves, which, in its way, seems like a self-conscious and inverted form of racism itself. But regardless of my laughing at his predictable academic wokery, I actually have a lot of respect for his work and admire his content a great deal.
The thing about people who have passion for things is that it becomes infectious, and in an age where there’s so much generic slop swilling round (both human and artificial content), it's refreshing to see someone who maintains a childlike love for culture, and though I often don't completely agree with his takes, I always get something from hearing him talk masterfully on the subject.
Also, he's endearingly human and unafraid to laugh at himself. Always a good sign in my book.
The Duran (Pod and Vid Cast)
Politics, similar to film, is an oversaturated field in the world of pod and vid casts, so I like to keep things relatively simple. Sometimes, for balance, I try and force myself to listen to those smug bastions of the UK's Political Industrial Complex that act more like a propaganda arm for certain figures and parties, including The News Agents with the wretched Jon Sopel, Emily Maitlis, and Lewis Goodall, as well as the insane pairing of the psychotic Alistair Campbell and creepy, Dobby-looking weirdo Rory Stewart on their Gary Lineker-produced The Rest of Politics, but honestly, it's all pretty much beyond the pale.
The Duran, for me, provides a far more sobering and pragmatic overview of geopolitics currently playing out across the globe, and both hosts and contributors, Alexander Mercouris and Alex Christoforou, do an amazing job of both keeping on top of fluid developments as they unfold on battlegrounds (literal and metaphorical) mostly related to Western foreign policy as well as keeping a sober weather eye on all things Asia.
Articulate, intelligent, and often incredulous, these two have been a tonic in an age of on going madness.
Highfield Boxing (Beyond Boxing Podcast)
There's an expression, “bullshit baffles the brain,” and it could easily be the chief axiom that describes the sport/business of boxing. Or, as Porky of Porky’s Corner (a friend of Highfield) often says, “there’s talkers and there’s smoky bacon walkers.”
Thankfully, we have Highfield Boxing to keep us fans honest in a sport that frequently struggles to chiefly because of the hustlers, grifters, and tribal fanboys that propel the endless cycle of rumours, hype, and (frequent) disappointment. As it's a sport that often punches itself in the groin guard, it's essential that we have a commentator as clear-sighted and raw as Highfield, as there's no doubt boxing is fair game for ridicule, scrutiny, and constructive criticism. Make no mistake, however, Highfield's pod is no miserablist sermonising. The joys of great nights and great success stories in the sport are celebrated as much as the awful ones, and deceitful ones are denigrated. Highfield Boxing has skin in the game as a coach himself and talks from the engine room of the sport with a rare intelligence and passion that elevates and reminds those who get it why it's worth fighting for and sticking with. Uncomfortable truths are spoken and taboos broken where needed, and all because Highfield wants the best for a sport that all too often seems hell-bent on being its own worst enemy.
He's also got a great way of articulating his points with details and insights that make a mockery of pretty much the rest of the pundit class in the sport, where too often (like football) clichés are routinely wheeled out.
I must also thank him for answering questions when I've raised them with him for research purposes or otherwise on boxing-related projects of my own.
A thoughtful, generous, and honest voice in a historically and continually problematic and infuriating sport.
Full Cast and Crew (Podcast)
I've exhausted a fair few film podcasts over the years; as you can imagine, it's one of my preferred subjects of interest. However, considering how insanely crowded the field is in terms of film pod critics and nerds, you really need to whittle down to essentials pretty quick; otherwise, you risk getting burned out with one pod episode after another (to paraphrase Paul Thomas Anderson's latest feature). There are far too many podcasters who spend way too much time bantering between themselves, bouncing their opinions and love of their own voices off one another like being stuck in a room of overexcited toddlers playing with their new collection of toys.
What's so great about host Jason Cilo of the Full Cast and Crew podcast is that he keeps things absolutely real, no fake histrionics or wasted energy on pre-analysis guff, but more just a slow-burn appreciation of the films he loves (a lot of classic 70s American cinema), just like he's talking next to you like an old friend, but who is also sardonic and idiosyncratic enough to keep things interesting beyond just routine opining and geeking out.
His observations and musings about film sneak up on you in an unassuming way and often make me re-evaluate the qualities of the films he studies and analyses with his audience. Recently, I re-listened to his brilliant analysis of Scorsese's Goodfellas and felt as if I was appreciating the film in a new light, with his perfect blend of research, personal thoughts on the film at hand, and overall appreciation of the craft that goes into the films themselves. He even persuaded me, by virtue of his sheer enthusiasm in one episode, to rewatch the geriatric gangster movie The Irishman, which I had dismissed the first time around. Those who know me, will appreciate that's no mean feat. I can be pretty obstinate when it comes to making my mind up on first impressions.
And though, more often than not, Full Cast and Crew sticks to doing one film per episode, sometimes Jason breaks an especially significant feature—like Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey—into a three-parter.
So many film podcasts have fallen by the wayside for me over the past few years. It's a testament to Jason's consistency that, in my estimation, he remains numero uno in the film field of podcasting.
I may not agree with Jason about the films of Denis Villeneuve, but I'm not sure I have the chops to argue the toss with a man who's so deep in the pocket of his passion for film.
He also has an occasional newsletter which I highly recommend.
The Ultimate Classical Music Guide by Dave Hurwitz (Vidcast)
I knew as soon as I clapped eyes on the old bastard Dave Hurwitz that he was part of my tribe. This opinionated, occasionally obnoxious blowhard is the internet's full stop and paragraph when it comes to reviewing classical recordings (less so opera, which he openly admits is not his strong suit). With a confessed bias toward American orchestras and conductors, Hurwitz often likes to “shit” on the British recordings which he considers overpraised by the Penguin Guide/Gramophone mafia of UK critics, and I kind of get his point, but he's perhaps (if he's honest) as hypocritical as they are. He also has little time for one of my personal favourite modern conductors, Theodor Currentzis, whose “pretentious” liner-note essays he loves to denigrate. Nevertheless, the sheer breadth of Hurwitz's knowledge is so extensive that you have to take his critical assessment of recordings seriously. Probably few in the world have listened to as many recordings as Hurwitz — the Smaug the Dragon of classical music, where instead of gold, he rests atop box set after box set of recordings. I live in awe of anyone who can live so utterly surrounded, per square inch of his living space, by their material possessions (respecting it's also his work). The man even has an “overflow room” for excess recordings he has no room for in the main part of his apartment.
He's truly shameless when it comes to sucking the marrow out of the classical catalogue.
And for those of you who have followed Digital Renegade long enough, you may notice that Hurwitz bears an uncanny resemblance to a certain Bob Koppelman of my Koppelman anthology series — what I like to call my very own Pat Hobby Stories (after Scott F. Fitzgerald). I can only say that Hurwitz is a type of muse for me in this regard.
The absolute madman.
