The Week UK - 28.03.2020

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THEWEEK 28 March 2020

ARTS

The Week’s own podcast, The Week Unwrapped, covers the biggest unreported stories of the week (available on Apple and Google)

Radiois“alwaysthebestmedium

inacrisis”,saysMirandaSawyer

inTheObserver.Fornews,

opinionandlistenerreaction,

I’drecommendinparticular

YourCallandEmmaBarnett

on 5 Live,andNickFerrariand

JamesO’BrienonLBC.Butthese

days,someofthebestaudioison

podcasts–andnowisagoodtime

tojointhatrevolution.

TheCoronavirusNewscast

BBCSoundsInthecurrent

emergency,theBBCwasquick

offthemark,producingadaily

coronaviruspodcastthathas

sincebeenmergedwithits

popularNewscaststrand

(formerlyBrexitcast).Providinga

farmoreinformalandfree-flowingtakeoneventsthanonRadio

4,say,thepodcastersinvolvedincludetheBBCpoliticaleditor

LauraKuenssbergandAnyQuestions?presenterChrisMason.

13 MinutestotheMoonBBCSoundsIf, however, what you

really want istoescape the here and nowentirely,theWorld

Service’s13 Minutestothe Moonisonetocheckout,says

Graham Readfearnin TheGuardian. During the Apollo 1 1

missionof1969,there wasatense13-minute periodbetweenthe

lunarlanderdetachingfromthe mothership, and landing onthe

Moon’ssurface.Thispodcasttakesyou throughthoseminutes

in grippingdetail.Itfeatures newinterviews,archived interviews

frommanyofthosewhowere

there –andoriginalmusicbythe

greatGermanfilmcomposerHans

Zimmer.Asecondseries,looking

atthedoomed Apollo 13 mission,

hasjuststarted–butbesuretostart

withthis12-episodefirstseries.

TheLastBohemiansAudioboom,

ApplePodcasts,Spotify,TuneIn

andStitcherConsistingof“superior

portraits”ofpioneeringwomen

inartsandculture,thisriveting

podcastwasoneofthebestof

2019 ,saysFionaSturgesinthe

FT.Nowit’sbackforasecond

series,kickingoffwithfolklegend

JudyCollins.Asbefore,the

productionis“delicateand

atmospheric”,withminimal

interventionsfromhostKateHutchinson.

Ifyou’renewtopodcasts,andwantsomeintellectualstimulation

to seeyou throughthecrisis,startwithone ofthese classics, says

TheTimes. No“sociallyaspirationalCovid-19victim should

self-isolatewithout”TheNewYorkerRadioHour(subscribeat

newyorker.com),or ThisAmericanLife,whichdelvesinto such

diversetopicsassharkattacks and schoolshootings.Theentire

archiveof690+episodesisavailableatthisamerica nlife.org.

Finally,in RevisionistHistory,Malcolm Gladwellfinds “big

stories intinymatters”. Youcanfindit atrevision isthistory.com

orviapodcastappssuchasGoogle, Apple,Stitcherand Spotify.

Podcasts... from virus reaction to space history

Folk legend Judy Collins: subject ofa“superior portrait”

Porridge Radio:

Every Bad

Secretly

Canadian

£10

Dana Margolin recently declared her post-

punk indie band Porridge Radio “the best

band in the world”, said Rhian Daly on

NME. It wasabold assertion–but this

second album from the Brighton rockers

“is abold, brilliantrecord”. They may

indeed be one of British music’s “next

great hopes”. An “intoxicating reflection

on trying to figure out life in your mid-20s”,

EveryBadbreathes “fresh life into indie”

withasound that brings to mind such

illustrious forebears as Elastica and the

Pixies, while being entirely distinctive.

This “spiky, strange and uncomprom-

isingly brilliant” album reveals the

“sardonic” Margolin to be “one of rock’s

great screamers”, agreed Alexis Petridis

in The Guardian. Her “hoarse, guttural

sound seems dredged up from somewhere

deep within, an authentic expression of

something dark and tormented, rather

than an edgy embellishment”. From a

“resolutely uncommercial background”,

Porridge Radio has made “something that

could be–and certainly deserves to be –

big. But without losing their strangeness.”

From the moment it opens, the New

Zealand singer-songwriter’s third album

“has you hooked”, said Lisa Verrico in The

Sunday Times. Listening to this “intimately

delivered” record is like eavesdropping on

“snippets” of the artist’s life. Who is the ex

she hears on the radio onHearttoRide?

Where is the place inIDon’tWannaTake

AnythingfromYouthat “looks immaculate

at four in the morning”? The cumulative

effect is “bewitching”–while “sumptuous

brass and strings ratchet up the drama”.

Twenty-eight-year-old Reid has “come

of age” on this outstanding album, said Will

Hodgkinson in The Times, with an “airy,

jazzy mood” and “evocative yet oblique

lyrical approach” that recallHejira-era Joni

Mitchell. The tone moves from “exquisite

self-pity” on the country rockingHigh&

Lonelyto tentative romance (AllofMy

Love), to the frustrations and resignation

of the long-distance lover (OtherSideofthe

Wheel). With Reid’s fine voice close up to

the microphone, this is an intimate, deeply

personal record: “one for late nights, spent

indoors, with the lights down low”.

“Here isadiscthatlives up to itstitle”,

sai dErica Jeal in The Guardian. OnEpic,

the French baritone Stéphane Degout and

English pianist Simon Lepper treat us to a

“stormy sequence of songs and ballads”

in the German Romantic tradition–works

by the likes of Schubert, Loewe, Schumann,

Wolf, Brahms and Liszt, delivered with

real storytelling panache. There’s “some

seriously superb singing on this disc:

throughout, there’s the thrill of hearing a

big voice perfectly calibrated to the music

in hand, used with absolute security”.

It’s “quiteaperformance” from Degout:

vividly dramatic, yeta“masterclass in

vocal control”–while Lepperoffers

“flo wing”, perfectly judged support.

Degout is sublime, agreed Stephen Pettitt

in The Sunday Times. From Schubert’sDer

Zwergto Wolf’s “diabolic”DerFeuerreiter,

the Frenchman “entices, terrifies and

enthrals”. For two pieces by Brahms, the

baritone and his “excellent” pianist are

joined by the mezzos Felicity Palmer and

Marielou Jacquard, while Liszt’sPetrarch

Sonnets,“beautifull ydone, end the recital”.

Nadia Reid: Out

of My Province

Spacebomb

£10

Albums of the week: three new releases

Stéphane

Degout/Simon

Lepper: Epic –

Lieder &

Balladen

HarmoniaMundi

£13

©LAURA KELLY