When disco stormed the charts – podcasts of the week
Picks of the week
Speed of Sound
Steve Greenberg may have discovered the boyband Hanson, but he’s also an authority on disco. This four-part special goes beyond Studio 54, into obscure clubs and the sweaty dancefloors of Fire Island. There’s some great Saturday Night Fever trivia as well as an examination of how the hit movie brought disco safely to the mainstream. The rise and fall of the genre has been well documented, but this is forensically done with a reminder of just how good so many of the songs from that era were.
Hannah Verdier
Sway
“In this twitchy and tense world, it is time for really substantive discussions about our future and about how to hold the powerful to account”. So says Kara Swisher, described by New York Magazine as “Silicon Valley’s most feared and well liked journalist”, and known for grilling the likes of Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Kim Kardashian. This new series from the New York Times sees her consider power at this rocky juncture in history: who has it, who doesn’t, and who is trying to rally against it. US house speaker Nancy Pelosi is Swisher’s first guest. Hannah J Davies
Producer pick: Suspicious Activity – Inside the FinCEN Files
Chosen by Danielle Stephens
If you were to zone out during the first episode of this new podcast, you might be forgiven for thinking this was a series about a rock band. The grungy music and dulcet tones of the main characters Jason Leopold and Anthony Cormier would fool anyone into thinking they were listening to a story of musical fandom. Instead, this five-part collaboration between Buzzfeed News and Pineapple Street Studios is more of a series about rockstar journalism.
If you zone back in to what host Azeen Ghorayshi is saying, you’ll soon realise that this is actually the tale of how the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists published the FinCEN Files. These files proved how much dirty money circulated internationally, but more importantly, why some in the US government may have known about it – and let it happen.
While the content is heavy and sometimes hard to follow, but it’s worth repeating a few sections, like you would a chapter of a good book. Fascinating, troubling stuff.
Talking points
This week saw Gimlet’s How To Save the Planet explore the link between the fight for racial inequality and the climate emergency. What might the climate movement be able to learn from Black Lives Matter, and how are the two connected? You can also read an exclusive interview with the creators of the ‘anti-doom and gloom’ podcast, by the Guardian’s Amelia Gentleman, here.
Why not try: Black Ink Cinema | I Can’t Believe It’s Not Buddha | Memory Lane with Kerry Godliman
