If you’re interested in an even more diverse set of podcasts from 2018, see picks at the halfway mark of the year from Eric Silver, Wil Williams, Ma’ayan Plaut, Arielle Nissenblatt, and myself — the best podcasts of 2018 (so far).

Alright, enough blabber. Here were my best podcasts of 2018 in no discernable order.

1. Caliphate

Holy crap. I started my Caliphate binge during a 3-hour drive from Austin to Dallas. I honestly can’t remember a quicker trip. Caliphate, produced by The New York Times, follows journalist Rukmini Callimachi as she reports on ISIS and the fall of Mosul. Expertly researched, Callimachi gives adequate context and interviews a former ISIS member to give further insight into their initial appeal, recruiting, and organization.

Caliphate is a 10-episode story with each episode hovering around the 30-minute mark.

2. Binge Mode: Harry Potter

A little less heavy than Caliphate, but arguably denser, the Binge Mode team of Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion strike a happy nerd cord with their deep dives into the Harry Potter series. I’ve written about my love for Binge Mode before (here and here), but it’s honestly one of my favorite podcasts — whether they tackle Game of Thrones or Harry Potter. As co-hosts, Rubin and Concepcion have an unrivaled rapport combined with sharp, sometimes dirty humor and extensive knowledge of the series and wider canon.

Binge Mode isn’t the podcast for a quick binge. As of this writing, the Harry Potter version of the feed has 63 episodes with most having over a 1.5-hour runtime. If you call yourself a Potterhead, you can’t miss it.

3. Articles of Interest

99% Invisible‘s Avery Trufelman produced a 6-part series that exemplifies what I enjoy about podcasts. Each episode goes into a different piece of clothing to analyze its history and the events that shaped it to be what we now think about it. For instance, how did Hawaiian shirts lead to “casual Friday”, or how did blue jeans become and remain such a ubiquitous article of clothing? Each episode is around 30 minutes and while thematically linked, can be listened to separately.

4. The Bright Sessions

I’ll be the first to admit, I had zero interest in audio drama podcasts. I don’t know why, I just never bothered to listen to any. However, we’re fortunate enough to have audio drama conoussier, Wil Williams, write for Discover Pods and she gave me a curated audio drama starter kit. For a comic book fan, The Bright Sessions comparisons to The X-Men are easy to make, but still don’t quite do it justice. The Bright Sessions follows therapist to the extraordinary, Dr. Bright, as she navigates complex relationships, coming of age challenges, and a sinister government corporation.

The Bright Sessions wrapped up their core story in June, but they’re still producing special individual episodes following new patients and creator, Lauren Shippen, has deals in place to adapt the story into other formats. Read our feature on Shippen here.  

5. 30 for 30 Bikram

As you’ll likely pick up from this list, I listen to podcasts for a few reasons: to be informed, to learn about something new, and to be entertained. These interests tend to lead to vastly different podcast choices — which I consider a good thing. ESPN’s 30 for 30 is a podcast I’ve subscribed to since day one. I’ve always been a fan of the documentary series and highly anticipated the podcast version of episodic audio documentaries.

However, the podcast took a mini departure from their winning format with the serialized Bikram season. They expanded their story to a 5-part series detailing the rise of popular fitness regime, Bikram Yoga and its horrific founder, Bikram Choudhury.

Read my full review of 30 for 30 Bikram here.

6. Endless Thread

I was initially apprehensive about a podcast using Reddit as their foundation. It seemed like a short-lived pseudo-branded podcast destined to live in mediocrity. But once again, I was wrong. The Reddit x WBUR collab has been a delightful new podcast for 2018. Reddit, as it turns out, is a nearly endless supply of stories and ideation for a quality podcast to build off of. From diving into Ken Bone’s fifteen minutes of fame, to analyzing the Mattress Firm potential conspiracy, to a story of strangers going great lengths to do a favor, and many other tangents, Endless Thread combines WBUR’s talent for good radio and Reddit’s already proven focus group of what people find interesting.

7. Dissect

I wrote about Dissect, the deep dive podcast analyzing specific hip hop albums, after host Cole Cuchna wrapped up the season on Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Since then, the podcast and host were gobbled up by Spotify and Cuchna has completed two seasons on Frank Ocean and Lauryn Hill.

Cuchna’s penchant for choosing albums that happen to near and dear to my heart is unfathomable (pssst Cole, Yeezus next, thanks). Dissect does a great job of providing context into the events that led to the album creation, analyzing and discussing the significance of the lyrics, and breaking apart the beat production so even us layman can understand.

8. Disgraceland

I don’t typically gush over true crime podcasts unless there’s something unique or some unmatched production value. Disgraceland does have its faults — notably some exaggeration. However, there’s no denying the compelling writing and delivery of the story. Each episode tells the past crime of some musician. Stories include the alleged forced overdose of Sex Pistols’ Sid Vicious, drug- and sex-crazed Rick James, and of course the murder of Tupac.

Read my feature on Disgraceland creator, Jake Brennan here.

9. Slow Burn

The first anthology of Slow Burn was one of the best podcasts of 2017, chronicling the Watergate investigation and impeachment process of President Nixon. The collective podcast community was unsurprisingly excited when they revealed the Bill Clinton scandal and impeachment would be the focus of season two. It didn’t disappoint, and in many ways, surpassed the inaugural season. Host Leon Neyfakh does a masterful job of crafting historical evidence, new interviews, and forgotten context to present a well-known story in a new light.

Neyfakh surprised many when he announced his departure from Slate to start his own podcast company. Their first podcast, FIASCO, appears to follow a similar format to Slow Burn and will initially focus on the 2000 presidential election, Bush v. Gore. For their part, Slate has remained steadfast that Slow Burn will continue without Neyfakh.

10. Ars Paradoxica

Another audio drama I fell in love with (thanks again Wil! Read her full review). Ars Paradoxica tells the complicated story of time travel and clandestine government organizations. What I appreciated most, however, was their magnified attention to detail. They don’t shy away from the existential issues time travel would undoubtedly create — multiple universes, butterfly effect, and more. This unbridled focus is also readily apparent within the plot and dialogue that led to constant theorizing and speculation among the most ardent fans.

Though the main story is spread between 36 episodes, there are several bonus episodes and cast interviews that give even more insight into the story and characters.

11. Villains

Best-selling author, Shea Serrano, takes his unique humor, fanboy’ness, and honesty to create one of my favorite new podcasts. The concept of Villains is fairly simple, each week Serrano and a panel of guest hosts dive into a specific movie villain and discuss their motivations, actions, and determine if they’re redeemable. The topics and format is something The Ringer has already had success with The Rewatchables — a movie podcast.

What’s absolutely endearing about Villains is Shea’s honesty about being an amateur podcaster. In multiple episodes, Shea has added post-production audio footnotes providing meta-commentary on the podcast and his mistakes. It’s great.

12. Hi-Phi Nation

Along with Dissect, Hi-Phi Nation is another indie podcast receiving a promotion in 2018. In November, creator Barry Lam announced Hi-Phi Nation had been picked up by Slate to join their ranks. The philosophy podcast carefully blends qualitative and quantitative data to craft an immensely interesting podcast while also being extremely informative.

If you need to start with one episode, I’d recommend “The Chamber of Facts,” which details how our political beliefs are shaped by media echo chambers and what happens when the script is flipped.

13. Decoder Ring

Another new podcast from this year to crack my best of list. Slate’s Decoder Ring is billed as “cracking cultural mysteries”. This likely intentional vague descriptor really works for a podcast that’s explored topics ranging from opposing factions of a Sherlock Holmes fanfic theory to the origins and rise of the art in hotels.

Also, what I said at the top of the article about why I listen: “to be informed, to learn about something new, and to be entertained” — this podcast is a perfect 3/3. Host, Willa Paskin, does a great job acting as the audience’s proxy by asking the right questions and getting to the crucial aspects of the story.  

14. The Big Loop

Whoa, another audio drama! Audio dramas make-up 18.75% of my best of list, a stat I would not have believed had you told me a year ago. Creator and professional good human, Paul Bae, takes an episodic approach the genre. While most audio dramas tell a narrative fiction story serialized over several seasons, The Big Loop changes stories, characters, and overall format with each episode.

In the first episode, “The Studio,” Bae takes his influence from a popular Love+Radio episode, “The Living Room,” but adds a characteristic supernatural spin on the story. Arguably the best episode, however, is “Goodbye Mr. Adams,” which tells the coming-of-age story and a special lesson from a unique teacher. Briggon Snow voices the main character and does a great job encapsulating the teenage angst he brought to his character Caleb from The Bright Sessions. Combined with clever writing and intriguing stories, The Big Loop also adds custom music to provide the soundtrack for each episode.

15. Everything is Alive

Probably the most unique podcast I’ve heard in quite some time, Everything Is Alive brings life and personality to inanimate everyday objects. Creator and host, Ian Chillag, has a compelling and heartfelt unscripted conversation with objects you encounter on a daily basis to understand what they’re thinking, their struggles, and to see life a little differently. Objects range from a can of cola, to a lamppost, to a subway seat, and you actually start to think about how your interactions with these objects may be construed.

16. This is Love

I wanted to leave this list with the most heartfelt, uplifting podcasts in a world too often filled with negativity. Along with Everything Is Alive, This Is Love win the award for most likely to make you sob uncontrollably. From the team that brought you episodic true crime podcast, Criminal, you’ll get weekly episodes detailing different examples of love and loving in the world.

For example, in the second episode, “Something Large and Wild,” I was blown away by how much I cared about the relationship between an avid swimmer and a whale.

The post The 16 Best Podcasts of 2018 appeared first on Discover the Best Podcasts | Discover Pods.

“[Startripper!! Is] a sci-fi adventure podcast about alien file clerk,” Mundy said to explain his upcoming show. “He’s just sort of a menial office worker and one day he has this realization after a bad weekend crunch, he’s just fed up and he decides to sell all of his stuff just by a spaceship that he is basically taking from his favorite Flash Gordon type character—but that show was meticulously researched, and he’s very adamant on letting people know that point. He just decides, go and have, you know, the time of his life.”

In speaking with Mundy, it was clear he has a frustration with the direction of some recent takes on pop culture franchises. Mundy brought up the recent Suicide Squad film as an example that does its characters wrong and does a disservice to its viewers: “I have read the Suicide Squad comics, and I think that Gail Simone has done a phenomenal job with those characters and they’re a joy to be around. And the Squad that we got in the movie was a bunch of assholes, and I can’t look at that without feeling betrayed—not just betrayed in terms of like, oh, I’m a fanboy, I deserve better. The characters deserve better.” Mundy touched on how certain characters were introduced just to be immediately, coldheartedly killed off, saying, “I don’t look at the disposability of characters as a virtue, because people are not disposable.”

With StarTripper!!, Mundy plans to subvert these trends. StarTripper!! will be a podcast that people can go to for escapism and fun, where they can always find something different from episode to episode. Unlike many audio dramas, StarTripper!! will be somewhere between serialized and episodic. Listeners will be able to jump in and out of listening without having to worry about missing too much of the plot, and episodes will vary in genre. “I’ve rambled at you a lot about the warm and fuzzies that I hope to instill in everybody when they listen to this show,” Mundy said, “but really what I want to touch on about StarTripper!! is that this is a show that’s going to be intentionally free to be whatever it wants to be. So there are going to be some funny episodes. There might be some scary episodes, there might be a couple episodes where not very much happens at all, and I won’t spoil anything , but these are all things that I’ve considered and I think that it’s all part of the package—you know, this is all part of the trip.”

Mundy is no novice to emotionally gripping stories, though. With his work on ars PARADOXICA, Mundy has run the gamut of emotions in storytelling. Some of his episodes include the bonus “ODAR & You!”, an in-universe training document for new recruits to the ominous government agency driving much of the podcast’s plot—but also “9: Decay,” the first episode in which the listeners hear the protagonist have an authentic emotional response to the sharp turns her life has taken.

“I’m always a fan of contrast,” Mundy explained. “I’ve written scripts over the years that have gone to some darker places to some more emotional extremes, and I don’t like to shy away from those because those were the most, the meatiest scenes and the scenes where the most happens. Um, but I, I love shows recently Penny Dreadful, which has this beautiful poetic tone about everything. All of [its] characters are, um not just these monstrous characters; they are also so there for each other. I don’t like seeing friendships get tense or break apart, although that is so much of where the drama comes from.”

One of the most exciting things about StarTripper!!’s announcement has been the casting of audio drama veteran Ian McQuown as the protagonist, Feston. McQuown is known best for his roles as Agent Green in The Bright Sessions and Trip in Deck the Halls with Matrimony, but has appeared in countless other podcasts in smaller roles. McQuown’s roles have been diverse, but when I asked Mundy about what new side of him listeners might find as Feston, Mundy laughed.

“That, that is a question. Um, well, uh, I’ll put it this way to start, um, hard to contain is how I would put it. Uh, it’s, it’s fantastic because he really is exactly the sort of a Feston that we want, because he’s a very physical actor. The best voice actors really kind of fling themselves into it, but also [their] head never moves from the microphone [. . .] I think that he is bringing all of that kind of wide eyed energy to the character.”

StarTripper!! will also be the debut for actress Giselle de Silva playing Proxy, the AI system built into Feston’s ship. “She is doing a phenomenal job. This is her first voice acting gigs. She is still currently a student and we just kind of met her through, you know, random chance [. . .]  Now our two principal actors have met and they now know what is going on with the other, I think that the relationship is going to become this really great organic thing.”

In discussing StarTripper!!, I’ve heard the project called everything from “extremely ambitious” to “super bizarre.” The concept and genre-bending nature are novel and exciting for the audio drama medium, but Mundy is excited to bring his vision to listeners. “I just want to write the show that I want to see, really. That’s kind of a principle that was instilled in me fairly early on in my creative arc as a person—that if you can just trust your own taste in something and believe that maybe you’re not crazy, that someone else [would, too]. You can rest on that idea of just making the show that you want to see and then taking it as far as you are comfortable taking it.”

StarTripper!! is set to premier this Summer, with the first two episodes released on June 2^nd. For updates, you can find StarTripper!! on Twitter or check the Whisperforge website.

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Then, I discovered ars PARADOXICA, a Whisperforge audio drama, and I finally had the time travel story I didn’t know I’d always wanted.

ars PARADOXICA follows Sally Grissom, a modern-day physicist who accidentally figures out time travel–sending her back to the year 1943. Initially, this makes for some lighthearted jokes and some cutting social commentary, as one would expect: Grissom is one of the most brilliant minds in a modern era with so much more technology and information available, but she’s still treated as a second-class citizen (and not any kind of reputable scientist) due to her gender. Add in a mysterious time-traveling bullet, the nation’s political climate in the era, and some gorgeous sound design, and you’ve got me hooked as it is. ars PARADOXICA doesn’t rest on its laurels when it so easily could, though. Instead, each episode winds up adding a new exiting, riveting, evocative layer to the narrative.

When I think of what to compare ars PARADOXICA to, I think of TV dramas like Westworld, Game of Thrones, or Mr. Robot: the kind of shows you can sit back and enjoy, but the kind you can spend hours theorizing about, too. The time travel mechanics are absolutely meticulous, tracked episode to episode by the podcast’s full writing crew (Daniel Manning, Mischa Stanton, Eli Barraza, Julian Mundy, Danielle Shemaiah, and Tau Zaman, as well as guest writers for special episodes), a staff of brilliant minds working together more seamlessly than most of those aforementioned TV shows. As the podcast progresses, it adds more intertwined plotting in the form of government conspiracies, dubious experiments using time travel. Handled by a different team, the different plot lines might feel convoluted or bog down the momentum. Instead, each thread feels integral to the understanding of ars PARADOXICA as a whole while raising the stakes. Add in the cipher message at the end of each episode and you’ve got a podcast Showtime and HBO should be taking some notes on.

ars PARADOXICA isn’t just high-stakes drama episode after episode, though. Most episodes are peppered with solid jokes, especially early on. As the plot becomes more dire, levity is added through bonus episodes like “ODAR & You!”, an in-universe training video for new recruits of the ominous agency Sally finds herself working for, or “Curses,” a guest episode written by the minds behind audio drama Greater Boston, in which Sally teaches her straight-laced, polite friends how to properly and emphatically swear up a storm. While Sally is explicitly aromantic and asexual (still a rarity in most media), meaning she has no interest in romantic love or lust, ars PARADOXICA has moving love stories as well as ruminations on friendships and found families. It’s a podcast that could have felt cynical and gritty, but always skews hopeful and humanistic instead. ars PARADOXICA is a story about “people searching for meaning in a universe that aggressively lacks one” and “the way power corrupts,” but it always reminds the listener it’s also about “the deeply human desire to fix our mistakes.”

And while most works might put all of their energy into maintaining a riveting plot, ars PARADOXICA never forgets that the soul of the story is its characters. Played by Kristin DeMercurio, protagonist Sally Grissom is funny and sharp, but she’s also deeply flawed and often tunnel-visioned about her work and her understanding of the universe. Grissom usually has one foot on the side of loneliness, one foot on the side of adamant solidarity, and she doesn’t seem to understand that you can’t balance on a tightrope when neither foot is on the rope in the first place. She’s deeply relatable, especially when her scientific expertise does her no good in interpersonal or inner conflict.

The supporting cast is similarly multi-dimensional, always growing and evolving alongside the plot. Katie Speed as Esther Roberts is dynamic, easily moving between sweetly emotional and bone-chillingly decisive. Robin Gabrielli as Anthony Partridge has all the necessary swagger of a charismatic genius in the ’40s while also delivering heartbreaking performances and some of the podcast’s best comedic moments. Arjun Gupta (who you might recognize from Syfy’s The Magicians) plays Nikhil Sharma, a more minor character whose complexity and subtlety often steals an entire episode.

ars PARADOXICA is currently at the tail end of its third and final season. At over 30 episodes and 18 hours of listening time, it’s a podcast that must be started from the beginning but can be savored over several weeks or binged over just a few days. Either way, it’s a story than can be–and should be–relistened to several times. You’ll want to repeat episodes not just to make sure you’re picking up on every detail the writers include, but also because ars PARADOXICA is a gorgeous story you’ll find yourself wanting to return to time and time again, wishing you had your own Timepiece just so make the story last a little longer.

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