The Big Listen ended production in May 2018. While this site is no longer updated, all the content remains available for archive purposes.
This is the final episode of The Big Listen. Boo! Hiss! Our show is going off the air (read more on that here) and we’re shifting our focus to other projects. So this is last you’ll hear from us. But we’ve so enjoyed getting to share all the great shows we’re listening to with you. Thank you for spending some time with us.
What's On This Week’s Show?
- I Only Listen To The Mountain Goats — A lot of us have a favorite musician or band. Mine is Dolly Parton. But while I love me some Dolly, there’s no way I’d be able to make a podcast with her. But that’s not how Joseph Fink felt. He had no problem asking his favorite musician, John Darnielle, to be his co-host on a show devoted to Darnielle’s band, The Mountain Goats. Together, Fink and Darnielle explore every song on the album, “All Hail West Texas,” diving into everything from lyrics to time signatures. And each episode, they invite a musician friend to give their take on the song. So you hear Mountain Goats covers from artists like Amanda Palmer, Andrew Bird and Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! The result is the ultimate fan podcast.
- Inbox — Over the course of your life, you’ve probably had at least a dozen email addresses. And I’m going to go out on a limb and say that at least a couple of those have been super embarrassing. Comedian Nicole Drespel (of Broad City fame) can relate. Not only has she had deeply mortifying email addresses, but she’s also sent more than her fair share of ridiculous emails. And all things email — from Amazon confirmations to reenacting Gchats of yore — make perfect podcast fodder.
- Full Service Radio — If you walk into the lobby of the Line Hotel in Washington, D.C., you’ll notice it doesn’t look like other hotel lobbies. For one, there’s a radio station in the middle of it. That studio is part of Full Service Radio, an internet radio station and podcast outfit run by Jack Inslee (who previously built a radio station in two shipping containers at the back of a Brooklyn pizza joint). Full Service produces 33 shows a week made by local D.C. hosts and each one is piped into guests’ room.
- Very attractive listener recommendations: Somewhere In The Skies and Writing Class Radio
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