Sound Matters: Pick of the Podcasts

Portable audio innovation from the days of yore: a B&O mobile loudspeaker van in the early 1930s, Denmark. Experiments were made to replace the Danish regimental orchestras with this custom B&O sound system. Though an immediate novelty, it was not a longterm success.

Sound Matters: Selector

Pick of the Podcasts

Here at B&O PLAY HQ we’re dedicated podcast listeners (we even make our very own, award-winning series) so we always have our ears out for more. Check below to see what we've been listening to over the past couple weeks. 

Pick of the podcasts #3

For the truth-seekers
Longform

In the age of post-truth and fake news, good journalism that establishes the facts is ever-more urgent. The Longform podcast goes in depth with some of the leading voices in (mostly American) non-fiction writing, with a focus on storytelling, journalism and the nitty-gritty work that goes on behind the scenes at many of the US’s most influential publications. Even if you don’t know who Ta-Nehisi Coates, A.J. Daulerio or Malcolm Gladwell are, Longform’s warm and chatty format will get you into some of the biggest and most important stories of our time.

For the fitness fanatics
Missing Richard Simmons

“On February 15, 2014, fitness guru Richard Simmons disappeared. He stopped teaching his regular exercise class at Slimmons, cut off his closest friends, and removed himself from the public eye after decades as one of the most accessible celebrities in the world. Nobody has heard from him - and no one knows why he left. Filmmaker Dan Taberski was a Slimmons regular and a friend of Richard’s. Missing Richard Simmons is Dan’s search for Richard - and the deeper he digs, the stranger it gets.” 

For the lovers of the unknown
Here Be Monsters

“Am I a benevolent god to these ants?” Meet Jacob Lemanski, owner of AntLife, a company that makes ant farms. After an experiment with using different soil types in one farm, an ant became trapped in a small underground cavern just inches from the surface. This is the most recent episode in Here Be Monsters: the podcast about the unknown. It’s really hard to pin down what the episodes are about exactly (though course that’s the whole idea!) but themes tend toward the dark and scary – focusing on real people relating bizarre and uncommon experiences direct to microphone. The sound design is superb, so definitely try to listen with headphones on, but maybe not while alone at home in the dark!

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Pick of the podcasts #02

For the drama lovers
Homecoming

Homecoming is a new psychological thriller from Gimlet Media, starring Catherine Keener, Oscar Isaac, and David Schwimmer. The first season just ended – they are quite original and are making radio drama cool again, almost positioning themselves as a “Netflix” of audio, and making quality listening experiences for when you’re not on the couch. The story revolves around a woman who has forgotten a period in her life, where she worked in a facility that helps war veterans ease their way back home from the battlefield.

For the tech lovers
Waking Up with Sam Harris

Here at B&O PLAY we’re really into AI – and not to mention that in the office, tech is. A. Very. Big. Deal for the team. Waking Up with neuroscientist, philosopher, and best-selling author Sam Harris mixes tech together with philosophy and social thinking in a way that’s great for newbies and experts alike. In this episode Sam speaks with computer scientist Stuart Russell about the complex challenges surrounding how we should build artificial intelligence that is compatible with human wellbeing.

For the music lovers who love listening to music lovers talk about how much they love music
The Light In The Attic Podcast

Dewey Lindon "Spooner" Oldham. You can be excused for not knowing his name, but you probably know his music: Percy Sledge’s "When a Man Loves a Woman”, Wilson Pickett’s "Mustang Sally" or Aretha Franklin "I Never Loved a Man" are just a few among many hit tracks he played keyboards on as a session musician over the past four decades. This podcast series is lovingly put together by Seattle-based Light In The Attic, probably the best and most active reissue labels in the US-of-A today. Other episodes include overviews of the legendary mustachioed cowboy crooner Lee Hazlewood, Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ Flea talking classy LA jazz and much more.

 

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Pick of the podcasts #01

For the scriptwriters
The Nerdist: The Writers Panel

Created by seasoned writer and producer Ben Blacker, The Writers Panel hosts informal panel discussions with leading writer talents in TV, accomplished storytellers doing what they do best, all with a lot of laughs thrown in. In this episode, Ben saddles up his steed and heads out on the range to meet his fellow cowpokes… well the people who write about ranges, cowpokes and westerns anyways: Westworld creators Jonah Nolan and Lisa Joy sit down and chat with Graham Yost, Jonathan Tucker, John Wirth, and Anson Mount and discuss the rich tradition of westerns on TV, from iconic characters to revenge, duels, outlaws, lawmen, and the communities they protect.

For the musical deconstructivists
Song Exploder

Ever wondered about the story behind your favourite tracks? Ever wanted to explode the songs you love? (Well, explode in a metaphorical sense.) Hrishikesh Hirway’s Song Exploder is a podcast where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made. In this episode the theme-song for the Netflix show Bojack Horseman is taken apart by Patrick Carney, who is one half of The Black Keys, and his uncle, Ralph Carney, a multi-instrumentalist who has worked artists like Tom Waits, St Vincent, The B-52s, Galaxie 500, and others.

For the thoughtful – and ambitious – DIY enthusiasts
99% Invisible

99% Invisible is about all the thought that goes into the things we don’t think about — the unnoticed architecture and design that shape our world. This episode explores how (or if) humans can discover our greatest creative potential. In the early 1950s, a research group at the University of California, Berkeley began developing new and different ways to analyse personalities. The scientists attempted what many thought was impossible: to study creativity in a methodical and scientific way, working to determine what specific personality traits make certain people creative.

For the wizards and sorceresses
Rune Soup

Feel the need to find your inner shamanic voice? Ever wondered what chaos magic is? Were you a weird kid? The last question kicks off every episode of this series run by author, researcher Gordon White, based out of his home in Australia’s Blue Mountains. The series looks at all types of esoteric, gnostic and occult traditions that are wired into so much of our mainstream culture, mostly unnoticed. Apart from here. In this episode, Gordon meets and chats with American hoodoo and shamanic practitioner, speaker, teacher and activist, Khi Armand about how to find yourself amongst the contemporary American society, and more

Stay tuned to our social media channels for more podcast recommendations.

By the way, we make beautiful headphones and speakers that would be perfect to listen to all of the above on (as well as any other recorded sound in this universe, if we may say so). Take a minute and check them out here.

Sound Matters: Pick of the Podcasts

Portable audio innovation from the days of yore: a B&O mobile loudspeaker van in the early 1930s, Denmark. Experiments were made to replace the Danish regimental orchestras with this custom B&O sound system. Though an immediate novelty, it was not a longterm success.

Sound Matters: Selector

Pick of the Podcasts

Here at B&O PLAY HQ we’re dedicated podcast listeners (we even make our very own, award-winning series) so we always have our ears out for more. Check below to see what we've been listening to over the past couple weeks. 

Pick of the podcasts #3

For the truth-seekers
Longform

In the age of post-truth and fake news, good journalism that establishes the facts is ever-more urgent. The Longform podcast goes in depth with some of the leading voices in (mostly American) non-fiction writing, with a focus on storytelling, journalism and the nitty-gritty work that goes on behind the scenes at many of the US’s most influential publications. Even if you don’t know who Ta-Nehisi Coates, A.J. Daulerio or Malcolm Gladwell are, Longform’s warm and chatty format will get you into some of the biggest and most important stories of our time.

For the fitness fanatics
Missing Richard Simmons

“On February 15, 2014, fitness guru Richard Simmons disappeared. He stopped teaching his regular exercise class at Slimmons, cut off his closest friends, and removed himself from the public eye after decades as one of the most accessible celebrities in the world. Nobody has heard from him - and no one knows why he left. Filmmaker Dan Taberski was a Slimmons regular and a friend of Richard’s. Missing Richard Simmons is Dan’s search for Richard - and the deeper he digs, the stranger it gets.” 

For the lovers of the unknown
Here Be Monsters

“Am I a benevolent god to these ants?” Meet Jacob Lemanski, owner of AntLife, a company that makes ant farms. After an experiment with using different soil types in one farm, an ant became trapped in a small underground cavern just inches from the surface. This is the most recent episode in Here Be Monsters: the podcast about the unknown. It’s really hard to pin down what the episodes are about exactly (though course that’s the whole idea!) but themes tend toward the dark and scary – focusing on real people relating bizarre and uncommon experiences direct to microphone. The sound design is superb, so definitely try to listen with headphones on, but maybe not while alone at home in the dark!

---

Pick of the podcasts #02

For the drama lovers
Homecoming

Homecoming is a new psychological thriller from Gimlet Media, starring Catherine Keener, Oscar Isaac, and David Schwimmer. The first season just ended – they are quite original and are making radio drama cool again, almost positioning themselves as a “Netflix” of audio, and making quality listening experiences for when you’re not on the couch. The story revolves around a woman who has forgotten a period in her life, where she worked in a facility that helps war veterans ease their way back home from the battlefield.

For the tech lovers
Waking Up with Sam Harris

Here at B&O PLAY we’re really into AI – and not to mention that in the office, tech is. A. Very. Big. Deal for the team. Waking Up with neuroscientist, philosopher, and best-selling author Sam Harris mixes tech together with philosophy and social thinking in a way that’s great for newbies and experts alike. In this episode Sam speaks with computer scientist Stuart Russell about the complex challenges surrounding how we should build artificial intelligence that is compatible with human wellbeing.

For the music lovers who love listening to music lovers talk about how much they love music
The Light In The Attic Podcast

Dewey Lindon "Spooner" Oldham. You can be excused for not knowing his name, but you probably know his music: Percy Sledge’s "When a Man Loves a Woman”, Wilson Pickett’s "Mustang Sally" or Aretha Franklin "I Never Loved a Man" are just a few among many hit tracks he played keyboards on as a session musician over the past four decades. This podcast series is lovingly put together by Seattle-based Light In The Attic, probably the best and most active reissue labels in the US-of-A today. Other episodes include overviews of the legendary mustachioed cowboy crooner Lee Hazlewood, Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ Flea talking classy LA jazz and much more.

 

---

Pick of the podcasts #01

For the scriptwriters
The Nerdist: The Writers Panel

Created by seasoned writer and producer Ben Blacker, The Writers Panel hosts informal panel discussions with leading writer talents in TV, accomplished storytellers doing what they do best, all with a lot of laughs thrown in. In this episode, Ben saddles up his steed and heads out on the range to meet his fellow cowpokes… well the people who write about ranges, cowpokes and westerns anyways: Westworld creators Jonah Nolan and Lisa Joy sit down and chat with Graham Yost, Jonathan Tucker, John Wirth, and Anson Mount and discuss the rich tradition of westerns on TV, from iconic characters to revenge, duels, outlaws, lawmen, and the communities they protect.

For the musical deconstructivists
Song Exploder

Ever wondered about the story behind your favourite tracks? Ever wanted to explode the songs you love? (Well, explode in a metaphorical sense.) Hrishikesh Hirway’s Song Exploder is a podcast where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made. In this episode the theme-song for the Netflix show Bojack Horseman is taken apart by Patrick Carney, who is one half of The Black Keys, and his uncle, Ralph Carney, a multi-instrumentalist who has worked artists like Tom Waits, St Vincent, The B-52s, Galaxie 500, and others.

For the thoughtful – and ambitious – DIY enthusiasts
99% Invisible

99% Invisible is about all the thought that goes into the things we don’t think about — the unnoticed architecture and design that shape our world. This episode explores how (or if) humans can discover our greatest creative potential. In the early 1950s, a research group at the University of California, Berkeley began developing new and different ways to analyse personalities. The scientists attempted what many thought was impossible: to study creativity in a methodical and scientific way, working to determine what specific personality traits make certain people creative.

For the wizards and sorceresses
Rune Soup

Feel the need to find your inner shamanic voice? Ever wondered what chaos magic is? Were you a weird kid? The last question kicks off every episode of this series run by author, researcher Gordon White, based out of his home in Australia’s Blue Mountains. The series looks at all types of esoteric, gnostic and occult traditions that are wired into so much of our mainstream culture, mostly unnoticed. Apart from here. In this episode, Gordon meets and chats with American hoodoo and shamanic practitioner, speaker, teacher and activist, Khi Armand about how to find yourself amongst the contemporary American society, and more

Stay tuned to our social media channels for more podcast recommendations.

By the way, we make beautiful headphones and speakers that would be perfect to listen to all of the above on (as well as any other recorded sound in this universe, if we may say so). Take a minute and check them out here.