Afternoon! Playing with doing this on a Saturday (I guess if I was a tech person I’d call it Beta testing) because of some new work commitments. Feel free to send me angry emails if you don’t vibe with that. Bit of introspection about the state of the industry this week, but more importantly: have some podcasts.
Series
Twin Flames (Wondery)
In the future, every podcast will be about a scam, a cult or a murder. This is our fault of course. What gets listened to gets made. And when it comes to our listening habits, we seem to have a bias towards the extremes of human nature. I sometimes worry that we are just looking at a repeat of the grim noughties trend of TV freak show docs, just with a thin veneer of liberal twenties sheen. It is a bit worrying: journalism is cheapened if it just boils down to ‘look at these clowns’.
All that being said, my god would you look at these clowns. Twin Flames is the story of a couple who are so convinced of the uniqueness of their own love that they turn it into a money making enterprise. Find me something more millennial, more luxuriously now than monetising your own romantic bliss. Chic. Anyway, the couple set up a business based on the idea that we all have one perfect person out there for us (our twin flame), and that they can help you find yours. But this is where it gets dark: the other person doesn’t strictly have to agree that they are The One. Hence we join one client as she weeps in a parked car outside her ex’s wedding and another as she ends up in jail for stalking. This is not even close to the weirdest stuff that happens in this series.
Despite how I have made it sound, this is not a jolly romp, it is actually a pretty devastating exploration of the damage heartbreak can wreck, and the horrible ways in which the manipulative can control the vulnerable. It is possible to get this type of stuff right - and this podcast does that.
Episode
Hunt for the Porn King, Slow Newscast (Tortoise)
This is the second podcast in as many weeks I’ve recommended you about porn – perhaps proving I am victim to the same forces discussed above. But this is a great investigation into the secretive man who makes the money from the world’s largest porn company.
The Slow Newscast is fun because it shows you the process of the journalist finding the story, not just the story itself. I’m a sucker for an on-tape doorstepping or a montage of voicemail recordings to show a failed attempt to get comment. You feel like you are on a mission rather than just seeing the final product. Tortoise are a relative newcomer to the podcast scene and they are definitely one of the most exciting companies out there – I say this despite them having just poached one of my favourite colleagues, so it must be true.
Something Topical
Putin: Prisoner of Power (Somethin’ Else for Audible Originals)
Look, I’ll level with you. This podcast is not pushing at the boundaries of the form. It follows a very traditional format of intro, interview with journalist, interview with former official, back to the journalist, conclusion. But it is well researched and comprehensive. Sometimes there is nothing wrong with playing the classics and playing them well. Prisoner of Power tells the story of Putin’s rise to power and is an extremely good primer if you want to know how we got to, well, here.
This is another Audible job, but if you followed my tip on The Butterfly Effect last week you should still be in your free trial period and we might as well make the most of it.
https://somethinelse.com/projects/putin-prisoner-of-power/
On the subject of the butterfly effect, Jon Ronson also has a podcast series on BBC Sounds - Things Fall Apart. Soz if you’re already aware…