Podcasts — they’re everywhere these days. Time was you couldn’t find a half decent podcast for miles around. Now it’s all “You get a podcast! You get a podcast! Everybody gets a podcast!” repeated endlessly into your ears, the only respite coming in short 40 second adverts brought to you by Squarespace.
I say this as someone who hosts a podcast. We’ve been making Fash-ON Fash-OFF for the last couple of months now and you know what? It’s actually quite fun. You get to chat about interesting things. You get to interview people without having to do the boring bits like write it up. You get to skive off work for a couple of hours.
Anyway, podcasts are here and they’re not going away until Lil Miquela starts broadcasting hologram chat shows from the simulacrum art galleries in space. But which ones should you listen to? I asked the i-D office and here’s what they said.
My First Time
My First Time is a mostly sexy sex podcast from the good people at Broadly. They make it literally down stairs from the seat in which I write and cover topics including ‘Training A Sex Slave’ and ‘Finding My Sexuality After Leaving My Husband — and an Islamist Cult’. “We all know your ‘first time’ is about a lot more than just popping your cherry,” they told us. “From experimenting with kink to just trying something new and wild, everyone experiences thousands of first times in the bedroom — that’s how sex stays fun, right?”. That and listening to a cracking pod before bed, yeah.
Making Gay History
Eric Marcus uncovers the unsung heroes of LGBTQI activism with interviews from his archives throughout the 20th and 21st century. “Thanks to the LGBTQI people and allies who entrusted their stories to me, I have a powerful sense of my own history as a gay man and the proud history of my people,” he says. “Through the magic of podcasting I now get to introduce my heroes and role models to listeners all over the world.” It’s worth checking out the episode with Ellen DeGeneres too — while probably the least “unsung” of all his heroes, it still makes for a pretty incredible listen.
Death, Sex and Money
A podcast hosted by Anna Sale about the “big questions and hard choices that are often left out of polite conversation” now. Recent episodes include ‘Finding Love, And A Kidney, On Tinder’ and ‘A Bitcoin Mogul Goes Broke’. You can share your stories or your show ideas by sending an email or voice memo to deathsexmoney@wnyc.org too.
You Must Remember This
A journey through the secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywood’s first century in this one from journalist Karina Longworth. Previous episodes include the Manson Family murders, Charlie Chaplin’s exile and that time Frank Sinatra released a 40 minute concept album about travelling in outer space. You heard.
Where Should We Begin
And finally, Esther Perel’s Where Should We Begin takes you “into the antechamber of intimate moments” by eavesdropping on couples and their relationship woes — something anyone who’s got ever got the night bus from Oxford Circus at 2 in the morning will be incredibly adept at. Described by The Atlantic as “The Rosetta Stone of feelings”, host Perel is excellent at communicating the mysteries of the human condition in a simple yet compelling way. If she can’t fix you, the first one on the list ought to do it.
You can listen to any of these podcasts on the very snazzy HAY for Sonos Limited Edition Collection of Sonos One smart speakers out this September.