Top Podcasts of the Week: How a Mormon Colony Became a Haven for Cults, Cartels and Murder | Podcasts

Selections of the week

The Music and Meditation Podcast
BBC Sounds, all episodes available from Monday
The Grammy- and Mercury-nominated soul singer NAO discusses her twin loves for music and meditation in a podcast so unstructured it feels like a free-form listening experience. There are anecdotes, guided breathing exercises, interviews with meditation experts and musical interludes of bespoke compositions by the BBC Concert Orchestra – all adding up to an extremely soothing listen. Alexis Duggins

ghost church
Widely available, weekly episodes
Nominally, the subject of this new series is American Spiritualism – the century-old American religion that follows the Bible and believes in fellowship with the dead. Or what host Jamie Loftus dubbed “Ghost Church.” Loftus is a charming, open-minded, and fun guide, traveling not only to a Florida camp full of psychics, but also to her own past and beliefs. AD

Less ordinary lives
BBC Sounds, weekly episodes
“I have a secret that I was special: I robbed banks in my spare time.” Tom – a former Olympic cycling hopeful who robbed 25 banks before the FBI caught him – guest stars on Mobeen Azhar in the first of an intriguing series that seeks the extraordinary life stories of people of similar appearance. ordinary. Hollie Richardson

not lost
Widely available, weekly episodes
When Brendan Francis Newham’s radio show and relationship ended, he started a travel podcast, in which he tries to get invited to dinner parties in different places. It begins in Montreal, then embarks on an unpredictable and highly entertaining journey, meeting a priest who does magic, a woman who lives in a wine barrel, and an electric bear fence. Hannah Verdier

Deliver us from Ervil
Widely available, weekly episodes
How did Colonia LeBaron go from a Mormon community to a place where organized crime thrived? Host Jesse Hyde delves into the Mexican city’s history since the 1950s, tracing the story of cult leader Ervil LeBaron through interviews with his followers — and his teenage wife — that add up to a story intriguing part of a utopia that turns out very badly. excluding tax

There’s a podcast for that

This week, Danielle Koku choose five of the best musical podcastsfrom a nostalgic hip-hop hit to a show highlighting the evolution of Latin American music

Dissecting the Podcast
Cole Cuchna is all about the details in Dissect, dedicating each season to a single album before breaking down its lyrics, production, cover art and more for our listening pleasure. It’s “nerding out” to the highest degree, but for good reason. The most recent season is a deep dive into Bo Burnham’s satirical hit Outside, while previous seasons have ventured into the late Mac Miller’s Swimming in Circles, Childish Gambino’s Because of the Internet and Beyoncé’s Lemonade. In the era of cut-and-paste pop, but it’s endearing to listen to artistic analyzes that seem far from disposable.

Popcast
A detached attitude towards discussing music doesn’t tend to make for an interesting podcast. Thankfully, this New York Times series does a great job of educating you without pretending to be neutral. Hosted by veteran critic Jon Caramanica, it covered everything from Reggaeton’s global expansion to Adele’s recent comeback, discussing trends from an American perspective. If you’re the type to time your podcast for your commute, this one will have you traveling in an hour, making you feel like you can tie together various cultural threads in a neat little arc.

Don’t alert the Stans
Journalist Nicolas-Tyrell Scott, publicist Sope Soetan and self-confessed album nerd Eden Mckenzie host this talk show, in which they aim to keep the music’s often angry fans at bay. Instead of reactive music takes like those served up by the highly decorated Joe Budden, they’re fans of deeper, hour-plus dives. In addition to telling Twitter memes for a quick laugh, the trio contextualize ongoing debates and larger themes. They’re also not afraid to talk about female rappers, without the arrogance and misogyny often directed at them.

Alt. latin
Felix Contreras and Cat Sposato stick to the tradition of storytelling that underpins much of Latin American culture in their NPR series. They take a historical approach to celebrate the past glory of Latinas in punk, for example, before looking forward and seeking out their modern reincarnations. In Encore: The Meteoric Rise of Latin Urban Explained, listeners are treated to an introduction to the movement as we see it now. In 24 easy and airy minutes, it not only explains the rise of “papi” references in pop, but also the racial and cultural differences that dictate who has visibility in these spaces.

Rhymes like Dimes Podcast
For hip-hop fans who also love nostalgia, and there’s something sweet and familiar about this show hosted by two brothers and an old friend. South London-based music journalist Yemi Abiade is joined by his brother Peter and their pal Moe to deliver weekly gender talks, with the kind of polite criticism for which Britons are much admired. If you need a quick explanation of why the UK grime scene doesn’t need American validation or an introduction to the eternal battle between lyric-obsessed ‘oldheads’ and young giddy present in most subcultures, this is the show for you.

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