The first Podcast I started listening to was Wittertainment
(aka the 5 Live Film Show) off the back of seeing Mark Kermode (ol’ Marky K as
I call him for some unanswerable injokey reason) on various programmes, hands a’flappin’,
films a’reviewing.
Like Mark loves his horror films and Simon likes his
various voice-led personalities, when I get into something I become something
of a collector. So in the past year I’ve
been scouring new cool unique and odd podcasts for my Generic Fruit Based
Device.
My top ones at the moment are Imaginary Advice by Ross
Sutherland, which is a collection of strange stories, spoken word pieces,
anecdotes and experiments in language.
Whilst spoken word is becoming snappier to fit the model of 3 minutes slam
and viral videos, Ross is playing with stories well over 10 minutes. For a (massive) punk rocker such as myself, it’s
a super break from punchy pieces. Six
House Parties is incredible.
There’s No Such Thing As
A Fish is probably one of the better known podcasts, run by the QI Elves,
it’s like an episode of the panel show but without comedians vying to be the funniest
in the spotlight like bears clawing for a chucked fish. Rather, it’s like mates chatting and sharing strange,
curious and unbelievable facts which give good fodder for future poems,
stories, play and conversations.
Podcasts have become something of a zine-like
culture. Zines are for people to put a
little bit of themselves into writing and images, bound together with staples,
glue and oodles of love. I guess a blog
has similar qualities.
I’ve found the Podcast has the same DIYness. The best podcasts are the incredible specific
ones, the ones that have a fanbase dedicated but on the otherside of
mainstream, underground, cornered, familiar to those who also explore the same
caverns.
Batman The Animated
Podcast, to me, sums up what a podcast should be. Very specific, very nerdy, very honest to the
podcastee, Justin Michael, talking about his childhood and love for the
Animated 90s cartoon. But I’ve never
been a big fan of perzines (personal zines).
I love people telling their story, but some can be a wee bit self-indulgent. But BTAP also talks about the history and use
of animation, casting, writing, acting, sound, lighting and all those
processes. It’s a fascinating insight
and everything I want from a Batman-themed medium.
So this year I’ve been making podcasts with the night I
run, Say Owt Slam. Some have been edited by Odd Horizon, some I
put together myself. I spent a long time
playing with audacity, downloading the right fomas, playing with editing,
uploading and re-uploading. I can honestly
say the Say Owt Podcast is very DIY, despite using the Evil Eye-of-Sauron-like iTunes
platform.
#1: Sophia Walker &
Adele Hampton
#2:
Dan Simpson
#3: Jack Dean
#4: Dave Jarman
#5: Rose Condo
#6: Scott Tyrrell
Thanks to listening to Desert Island Discs, I
think my interview style has progressed over the course of the podcasts. I think we got better at nailing topics, as
well as having fun. I think the one we
did with Rose Condo really got to the heart of writing and the process of
creating spoken word. I can’t wait to
continue the Podcast deep into 2017.
You can find Say Owt Podcast on iTunes. Please listen, subscribe, download, share and
any and all feedback hugely welcome.
Now I want to make a new podcast about Batman, though.
Henry
(p.s. Desert Island Zines sounds a great idea….)
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