Valhalla Island

Again, late on the scene. About a year ago I went though a podcast stage, I tried to find something cool through the iTunes Music Store, I ended up listening to Christians telling me how to raise my children (lock them up and don’t let them out until they’re 40, too much sin in the world, it’ll scar them).

I’ve found that finding good podcasts, unless you have a lot of spare time, come by recommendation only. A couple of brilliant ones have come up recently and because things aren’t nearly as good if you can’t share them with someone, I thought I’d share them with you. There’s only three and I think each appeals to different taste.

Hi my name is Mark

My long time favourite. It’s a music podcast so if you don’t like the music you probably aren’t going to like this podcast. Although, in a 20 minute podcast typically only one or two songs are played, sometimes a song isn’t played at all. Everything else is Mark Hoppus (ex Blink 182, Plus 44) talking about being in a band, touring, recording, post production, sometimes calling friends and relatives, sometimes talking to his recording partners James Ingram and Chris Holmes. It’s always entertaining. He also interviews other bands.

I’ve found some of my now favourite bands through this podcast, Stellastarr* for one. The production value is high, as you would expect from a professional musician with his own recording studio. Each episode is a good length, around 20 minutes.

The Hivelogic Podcast

The entertainment level on these isn’t quite as high. Of the three, this is the serious one. That’s not to say they’re boring but they are highly technical. Every episode is an interview with some kind of famous web nerd. I found the interview with Dave Thomas (of Pragmatic Programmer) to be highly interesting and inspiring. The conversation flows smoothly and production is clean. Hivelogic episodes tend to be quite long, around 50 minutes. Considering the content, I find this length perfect. If you have a short attention span it’s probably not for you.

The Garrett Murray Podcast

I have to thank Joey and Indranil for introducing me to this. The night I found out about it I listened to the latest 7, the next day I listened to the remaining 10. The problem with finding new things this way and listening from the latest to the earliest is that it tends to get worse as you go on but nonetheless, this is a very, very good podcast.

It’s a comedy podcast with two hosts, Garrett Murray and Shawn Morrison. I would guess that around two thirds is scripted and the other is just improv. There’s been many moments while listening to this podcast that I have laughed out loud and not been able to stop. They talk about a lot of things, New York, fashion, crazy people, garbage, it’s just hilarious. It’s really hard to describe how good this podcast is with words, you just have to listen to it.

On top of all that, the music used is delightful and it splits up the segments beautifully. Nearly every podcast falls down with music choice, Garrett Murray’s doesn’t and I love it.

The three podcasts I listen to are well produced and well edited. It’s almost impossible to listen to a podcast that isn’t and that’s the major problem I’ve had with other podcasts. This, for example, is unlistenable and is just clogging up the internet’s tubes. The quality and content of these three has inspired me to create my own podcast but that’s just another one of those things I don’t have time for.