PODCAST RECOMMENDATIONS
Updated September 19, 2023
People frequently ask me for podcast suggestions (and I’m even more frequently just offering them) so I thought it might be a good idea to put together an annotated list of what I listen to, including recommended episodes for shows that deal with distinct topics each episode:
Audio drama
Public Radio Alliance:
— TANIS
An investigative look into a spooky mystery about the woods of the Pacific Northwest with some weird corporate conspiracy for good measure. Easily my favourite fiction podcast.
— THE BLACK TAPES
An investigative profile of a scientist who debunks paranormal phenomena, and the videotapes of cases he has been unable to debunk.
— RABBITS
A journalist tries to find her missing friend whose disappearance she believes to be related to an alternate reality game known as “Rabbits.”
— THE LAST MOVIE
A spin-off of TANIS about a cult film that causes people who watch it to go into a violent rage and a mysterious internet video that is 2 hours and 76 minutes long that seems to be linked to the disappearance of anyone who is involved in its production or distribution.
— FAERIE
A woman tries to untangle the weird circumstances that surrounded her saving a man’s life and it somehow involves faerie lore.
Non-PRA:
— ALICE ISN’T DEAD
Dispatches from a woman who is driving across the United States searching for her missing wife and the spooky shit she encounters.
— THE BIG LOOP
An anthology series of weird/sci-fi stories from Paul Bae, co-creator of The Black Tapes that usually have a really intense emotional core.
Recommended episodes:
— THE EYE OF THE LORD
— THE STUDIO
— THE FUGUE
— YOU
— UNEXPLAINED
True stories of the unexplained and supernatural.
Recommended episodes:
— TIME OUT OF JOINT
— UNDER THE ASPHALT
— ROADS TO NOWHERE
Politics/history/media criticism
— BLOWBACK
Maybe the most important podcast in the world. Each season covers an individual part of US imperialist history in great detail, including the historical context leading up to US intervention. Seasons include the Iraq War, the covert war against Cuba, the Korean War and the Afghanistan War. Any time they have a quote from Saddam Hussein it is read by H. John Benjamin (Bob from Bob’s Burgers).
— GUERILLA HISTORY
A Marxist history podcast that is thoroughly researched and rigorous. It’s co-hosted by an immunobiologist, the director of the School of Religion at Queens University in Ottawa, and the co-host of Revolutionary Left Radio/Red Menace.
— REVOLUTIONARY LEFT RADIO
This is my favourite politics and history podcast. Interviews about various political and historical topics from a multi-tendency, though generally Marxist-Leninist (especially in later episodes) perspective.
— RED MENACE
Breht from Revolutionary Left Radio and Alyson Escalante, who is a guest on a few Rev Left episodes, discuss foundational and important Marxist texts, discuss what they meant when they were written and what they mean for us today.
— CITATIONS NEEDED
Critical analysis of mainstream media coverage of political topics and the ways they are structured by ideology.
— DEATH PANEL
Marxist policy analysis mainly focusing on issues of public health, hosted by the authors of the really wonderful Health Communism.
— GEOPOLITICAL ECONOMY REPORT
Independent journalism led by journalist Ben Norton (formerly of Moderate Rebels/The Grayzone before Max Blumenthal became a Strasserite conspiracy weirdo) that covers economic, military and diplomatic imperialism.
— THE EMPIRE FILES
Another independent media outlet covering US imperialism.
— QANON ANONYMOUS
Covering the right wing conspiracy culture that emerged in the US after Donald Trump became president.
— TRUE ANON
Another podcast about the politics of US conspiracy culture originally covering the Jeffrey Epstein case but branching out much further.
— ALBERTA ADVANTAGE
Canadian (primarily Alberta based, the worst but maybe most important province in the country) socialist analysis.
Recommended episodes:
— KENNEY FORGOT WHO DEFEATED THE NAZIS (Excellent debunking the Black Book of Communism’s “death toll”)
— CAN A FUTURE BE IMAGINED?
— LAND BACK: RECLAIMING INDIGENOUS JURISDICTION
— THE RED NATION
Indigenous anticolonial analysis.
— DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT
Discussion of radical politics from an activism and organization oriented perspective.
— POLITICS THEORY OTHER
Interviews with writers and contemporary radical political theorists.
Recommended episodes:
— SOPHIE LEWIS ON TRANS-EXCLUSIONARY RADICAL FEMINISM
— KATE PICKETT ON THE MENTAL HEALTH EFFECTS OF INEQUALITY
— PATRICIA REED ON XENOFEMINISM
Film/art/pop culture
— WYRD_SIGNAL
Academic critical/Marxist analysis of “weird, eerie and hauntological” cinema. My favourite podcast, probably. They interviewed me once. Skip that episode maybe.
— HORROR VANGUARD
More spooky leftist film analysis.
— WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE
Funny people talking about silly news from the week.
— HOW DID THIS GET MADE?
Everyone knows this one already but Paul Scheer, Jason Manzoukas and June Dian Raphael make fun of bad movies and it’s delightful.
— THE P.O.D. KAST
Bryan from Street Fight Radio and comedian John Cullen talking about nü-metal.
— WRESTLESPLANIA (Defunct, sadly)
Learning the joys of pro wrestling (and not just WWE, great focus on independent and Japanese wrestling) with some hints of socialist and feminist analysis sprinkled in.
Recommended episodes:
— SIGN MY YEARBOOK MEGAN (CHRIS JERICHO & KEVIN OWENS)
— THE MAN WITH THE WORST PERSONALITY IN THE WORLD (MINORU SUZUKI)
— CHILDBIRTH IS WRESTLING (ALL JAPAN WOMEN'S W/ HUNKTEARS)
— THE LODGERS
Twin Peaks podcast that analyses every episode from a cinema studies angle. Highly recommend watching every episode of Twin Peaks and listening to each corresponding episode of the podcast after each episode.
— COUNTER ESPERANTO: WINDS OF THE WEIRD
Twin Peaks through the lens of weird fiction.
— DIANE
More Twin Peaks because that’s all I care about, ultimately.
