Latest podcast recs for leftist nerds
April 21, 2022 10:00 AM Subscribe
I am looking for podcasts about art, science, history, philosophy and politics created by folks who understand the world in political terms, and see the world through liberatory, left and radical lenses. Let's say leftist intellectual podcasts.
My favorite podcasts right now in the space I'm dubbing leftist intellectuals (broadly including both criticism and politics) are: What's Left of Philosophy, The LRB & Film Comment. Some other podcasts I like are The Dig and A World to Win, but they are on the more explicitly 'about politics' end of the spectrum of what I seek. Poetry Unbound, Hi-Phi Nation & Into the Zone are faves on the less-explicitly political end of the spectrum of what I'm looking for.
I know the biggest, major podcasts that have been around for years and not just looking for like, any brainy podcast. I am not interested in electoral politics or daily news breakdowns. I don't want to listen to dudes chatting about Democrats. I want stuff that goes a bit deep on a topic, in a way that is grounded in left thinking, and that is still accessible to someone like me outside of academia or their special field.
What is out there for me?
My favorite podcasts right now in the space I'm dubbing leftist intellectuals (broadly including both criticism and politics) are: What's Left of Philosophy, The LRB & Film Comment. Some other podcasts I like are The Dig and A World to Win, but they are on the more explicitly 'about politics' end of the spectrum of what I seek. Poetry Unbound, Hi-Phi Nation & Into the Zone are faves on the less-explicitly political end of the spectrum of what I'm looking for.
I know the biggest, major podcasts that have been around for years and not just looking for like, any brainy podcast. I am not interested in electoral politics or daily news breakdowns. I don't want to listen to dudes chatting about Democrats. I want stuff that goes a bit deep on a topic, in a way that is grounded in left thinking, and that is still accessible to someone like me outside of academia or their special field.
What is out there for me?
Maybe try Entitled Opinions? It isn't explicitly leftist or radical, but it's thoughtful and considered conversation, usually between a couple of university professors, about some topic in the history of ideas and often using that as a way to examine the modern condition.
Recommended to me originally by a marxist academic; it isn't for everyone, but it might be up your alley.
Sometimes the host spends a long time talking about The Doors....
posted by msbrauer at 10:18 AM on April 21, 2022
Recommended to me originally by a marxist academic; it isn't for everyone, but it might be up your alley.
Sometimes the host spends a long time talking about The Doors....
posted by msbrauer at 10:18 AM on April 21, 2022
UK-based Novara Media has some great podcast episodes/audio tracks for their interviews. I posted their climate change series on the blue several weeks ago. They have a fantastic episode on sex work that features three sex workers and the interviewer.
posted by spamandkimchi at 10:20 AM on April 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by spamandkimchi at 10:20 AM on April 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
Depending on how/where you listen to podcasts, certain Youtube channels work great as ersatz podcasts.
Barnard's Center for Research on Women has amazing webinars. They feature a lot of abolitionists including Mariame Kaba and Dean Spade.
Haymarket Books has been rocking the panel discussion format all through the pandemic.
posted by spamandkimchi at 10:25 AM on April 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
Barnard's Center for Research on Women has amazing webinars. They feature a lot of abolitionists including Mariame Kaba and Dean Spade.
Haymarket Books has been rocking the panel discussion format all through the pandemic.
posted by spamandkimchi at 10:25 AM on April 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
Maybe Book Shambles, Robin Ince and Josie Long. It's described on JL's website as "our ludicrous and always passionate conversations into literature, science, philosophy, comedy, politics and, well, everything and anything". Left perspective. Can't find many reviews, but there is this one of one of the live shows.
posted by paduasoy at 10:50 AM on April 21, 2022
posted by paduasoy at 10:50 AM on April 21, 2022
You might like Scene on Radio. They have seasons about whiteness, the patriarchy, American history, etc.
posted by catquas at 11:00 AM on April 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by catquas at 11:00 AM on April 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
The Ezra Klein Show and Vox Conversations almost seem like they were made for you.
posted by panama joe at 11:08 AM on April 21, 2022
posted by panama joe at 11:08 AM on April 21, 2022
5-4 is a very deep dive into Supreme Court Cases ("a podcast about how much the Supreme Court sucks"). The best description I've heard for it is that you'll feel like you're eavesdropping on a bunch of lefty lawyers griping about SCOTUS decisions at a bar.
posted by windbox at 11:17 AM on April 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by windbox at 11:17 AM on April 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
The Lit Review Podcast is really good--"conversations with community organizers, activists, and cultural workers on the books that have shaped their theories of change" (e.g., Angela Davis discussing Capital).
posted by carrienation at 11:27 AM on April 21, 2022
posted by carrienation at 11:27 AM on April 21, 2022
If you're interested in music, and dance music specifically, Love is the Message: Dance, Music and Counterculture is killer. It's history and analysis from two british scholars who come firmly from the britsh cultural studies tradition and provide a ton of political/historical/economic analysis of the music culture(s) they take on. It's not hard left, but their politics are definitely leftist and they are concerned largely with the liberatory potential (or not) of music and its cultures.
If thinking about ie analyzing Motown through the lens of Foridst/post-Fordist society gets you excited, this podcast is for you! It's also a DEEP dive in to histories of dance music/culture, so you gotta be into that, too.
posted by wemayfreeze at 11:43 AM on April 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
If thinking about ie analyzing Motown through the lens of Foridst/post-Fordist society gets you excited, this podcast is for you! It's also a DEEP dive in to histories of dance music/culture, so you gotta be into that, too.
posted by wemayfreeze at 11:43 AM on April 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
Desert Oracle, Swindled, I Don't Even Own A Television, maybe Swindled or Behind the Bastards, My Year In Mensa and her podcast about Cathy
posted by alsoran at 12:18 PM on April 21, 2022
posted by alsoran at 12:18 PM on April 21, 2022
I love Cerise & Vicky Rank the Movies, which is a podcast about movies by two trans women who are smart and funny and politically informed.
posted by attentionplease at 12:36 PM on April 21, 2022
posted by attentionplease at 12:36 PM on April 21, 2022
Each Ologies episode is deep dive into a single field. Love it.
posted by hankscorpio83 at 12:53 PM on April 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by hankscorpio83 at 12:53 PM on April 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
I second the recommendation for 5-4.
I'm also a fan of Horror Vanguard (leftist criticism of horror movies) and I wonder if you might like I Don't Speak German (a podcast about the far right).
posted by Jeanne at 12:59 PM on April 21, 2022
I'm also a fan of Horror Vanguard (leftist criticism of horror movies) and I wonder if you might like I Don't Speak German (a podcast about the far right).
posted by Jeanne at 12:59 PM on April 21, 2022
I constantly recommend WELL THERE'S YOUR PROBLEM, a "podcast with slides" about engineering disasters and the political/economic factors that led to them. It's available on Youtube, and various methods of accessing podcasts. It features a communist, a socialist, and an anarchist, from three different faith backgrounds, and they provide brief commentary on recent news along with the topic of the episode. (One of these is Justin Roczniak who made a fantastic video series on American city planning history and economics, called FRANKLIN. Another is Liam Anderson who also does a bro-y podcast about the misfortunes of military infantry, LIONS LED BY DONKEYS. Finally there is Alice Avizandum of the TRASH FUTURE podcast, about present day dystopian UK/tech nonsense.) They constantly return to the economic and political factors behind singularly terrible events- turns out that senseless profit motives and short-term decisions by worksite authoritarians don't make for good safety environments. They end episodes with user-submitted horror stories of times their own workplaces ignored safety problems and someone almost got hurt. You'll learn about unions who have your back, physics and engineering, train good car bad, and too much about Philadelphia.
posted by panhopticon at 1:02 PM on April 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by panhopticon at 1:02 PM on April 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
The Great Battlefield covers the deep mechanics, technology, and innovation in progressive organizing and political campaigns. It is certainly about "electoral politics", but not in the daily horse-race sense. It is more about movement building, and features conversations with people on the ground discussing the nuts and bolts of their work.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 1:13 PM on April 21, 2022
posted by Winnie the Proust at 1:13 PM on April 21, 2022
I've been very impressed with the Working Class History podcast. Episode 38, about mutinies, is crammed full of material that needs to be in a feature film.
posted by kelper at 1:49 PM on April 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by kelper at 1:49 PM on April 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
I adore Srsly Wrong, a "utopian leftist comedy podcast" ("comedy" because the hosts intersperse their interviews and discussions with sketches, not because they interrupt each other with crappy jokes). Ideologically, they are in the left-libertarian zone (they recently did an unofficial trilogy with different anarchist guests; awhile back, they did a massive two-parter on social ecology). One of the things I really like is their deep sincerity -- so refreshing.
Recent-ish non-interview episodes that I think are typical and give you a good insight into their vibe:
posted by icebergs at 2:28 PM on April 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
Recent-ish non-interview episodes that I think are typical and give you a good insight into their vibe:
- 212 – ALL LORDS ARE BASTARDS
- 235 – The Imaginary Tragedy of the Hypothetical Commons
- 207 – Democratize Everything
posted by icebergs at 2:28 PM on April 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
Off the top of my head I like Art & Labor and Podvant Garde.
posted by Bigfoot Mandala at 3:02 PM on April 21, 2022
posted by Bigfoot Mandala at 3:02 PM on April 21, 2022
Sorry if you already know Bad Gays — they’re politically great. History podcast.
posted by lokta at 4:05 PM on April 21, 2022
posted by lokta at 4:05 PM on April 21, 2022
Time to Say Goodbye - about all kinds of things, sometimes Asia and Asian-Americans. [Patreon].
Tipping Pitches- about baseball.
posted by cushie at 6:58 PM on April 21, 2022
Tipping Pitches- about baseball.
posted by cushie at 6:58 PM on April 21, 2022
I like Pick Me Up I'm Scared, a low-production DIY podcast with a different deep dive into a very lefty topic every week.
posted by LeeLanded at 4:23 AM on April 22, 2022
posted by LeeLanded at 4:23 AM on April 22, 2022
Probably my favorite podcast is Know Your Enemy , which is more on the political side, but it's not news-y or horse-race-y -- the focus of a typical episode is a deep dive into the history of a conservative thinker/organization/movement. The hosts are one lifelong leftist and one more recent convert from the right to the left, and they are absolutely both giant nerds.
Seconding the recommendations for 5-4, ALAB, and Time to Say Goodbye. I've also enjoyed lately: On the Nose (from Jewish Currents), Blowback (season 1 is on the Iraq War, season 2 is on the Cuban Revolution, and the soon-to-come season 3 will be on the Korean War), and I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this but I'm still listening to the Current Affairs podcast (despite the recent unpleasantness) because the roster of guests continues to be really solid.
posted by naoko at 4:53 PM on April 24, 2022
Seconding the recommendations for 5-4, ALAB, and Time to Say Goodbye. I've also enjoyed lately: On the Nose (from Jewish Currents), Blowback (season 1 is on the Iraq War, season 2 is on the Cuban Revolution, and the soon-to-come season 3 will be on the Korean War), and I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this but I'm still listening to the Current Affairs podcast (despite the recent unpleasantness) because the roster of guests continues to be really solid.
posted by naoko at 4:53 PM on April 24, 2022
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posted by naju at 10:11 AM on April 21, 2022 [1 favorite]