May 22, 2020

Lockdown Blog 40: A Pick of Podcasts

Happy Friday everyone!

I hope it’s as gloriously sunny for you all as it is for me here in South West London.

Though if you’re reading this at night time I suppose that’d be unlikely.

One of many many many things I miss about Normal Life is that our touring schedule often allows for a lot of Podcast listening time. Without loads of faffy travelling going on, I’d have thought I’d be listening to a load more. Curiously, without all the travelling, I’m massively behind on all my regular shows. A favourite of mine is Reasons to be Cheerful - I think we could all do with a few of those right now. On that show they discuss many issues of the day (societal, politics, environmental, etc.) and talk to experts about what could be done, and, more positively, what is being done.

Here are some more musically focussed podcasts that might be of interest to you, dear reader:

World Music Service - has documentaries on a wide selection of genres, from Indian classical music to Aretha Franklin. Some fascinating finds for curious ears there

Song Exploder - more pop focussed podcast that talks to big artists, pulling apart a chosen song, and analysing the creative process

Composer of the Week - this is pretty self explanatory! But always fascinating even if it’s a really well known composer, or much more obscure one.

Desert Island Discs - this is an absolute favourite of mine. They always pick fascinating people to interview, not just musicians, rarely musicians in fact, but you find out so much about their life and personality through their choices of 8 essential songs, one book, and one luxury item that they would want if stranded on a desert island. This show has been going since 1951 (!) and has well over 2,000 episodes. Should be enough to see us through this blip in life.

Happy listening, and keep safe and singing!

Nick x