When I moved back to Ireland after an extended period of living and working abroad, the first few years were a bit stressful: building works, a PhD to finish, and so on. In reaction to this, my evening relaxations were as far removed from the intellectually demanding as possible—comfort-watching Murder, She Wrote, for example.
Eventually, things began to work themselves out and my brain decided that enough was enough, and demanded some more nourishing entertainment. This was when I discovered that there was a whole world of podcasts out there, where articulate, intelligent people discoursed fluently, knoweldgeably, and entertainingly on a vast range of topics.
So this Friday, I'm listing five of my favourite podcasts.
Presented by musicologist Phil Ford and film-maker J.F. Martel, this podcast combines intellectual rigour and speculative audacity as the two hosts "[dwell] on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call 'reality'." Topics range from the music of Wagner to the metaphysics of Conan the Barbarian: all is grist to the mill. The effect is like injecting adrenaline straight into your mind; and the show is also often very, very funny.
I enjoy listening to 'classical' music (using the term in its loose rather than precise sense, so anything from mediaeval to contemporary). But I have no musical training or education, and often feel that I am missing out on the finer aspects of appreciation. I am not confident that I understand music to the same degree that I understand literature or visual art. So this podcast, hosted by the renowned conductor Joshua Weilerstein, is exactly what I need. Articulate and extremely knowledgeable, he communicates both enthusiasm and understanding in a highly engaging manner.
This podcast is a real treasure for anyone who loves books. It is hosted by independent publisher John Mitchinson and author Andy Miller, aided by an impressive array of high-calibre guests. The episode list is the menu for a lavish literary feast comprising books you have read long ago but are now suddenly reminded of, books you haven't read but always meant to, books you've haven't read and never wanted to (but now wonder whether you should), and books you've never come across before but now feel you must read.
This podcast is different from the others on my list. Instead of focusing on analysis, host and author Tony Walker reads a tale of the uncanny, the weird or the horrific each week—mostly short stories, but also some novels and novellas extended over several weeks. Effectively, it is a library of audiobooks of classics of the genre, as well as some of his own work. As with Backlisted, there is an enticing mix of the familiar and the unfamiliar. Tony has a very attractive reading voice, which adds greatly to the pleasure of listening to the tales, and to his delightfully rambling discussions afterwards.
Despite the tongue-in-cheek (or, perhaps rather, metatextual) reference to 'secret knowledge', this podcast is in fact an unfolding of the rigorous academic "study of Platonism, Gnosticism, Hermeticism, the Kabbalah, alchemy, occultism, magic, and related currents of thought." Progressing chronologically from the ancient world to the present day, it offers an exploration of important—and frequently sidelined—aspects of intellectual history in a manner that is at once erudite and accessible. The series host, Earl Fontainelle (who has one of those voices that you'd happily listen to if he were reading his way through the phone directory), is joined by various other experts from time to time.
3. Wouter Hanegraaff on Western Esotericism
So there you have it: the internet is my hedge-school!
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