July's best podcasts include a tragic tale from the depths of the Amazon and Steve Buscemi talking crime
A protest for the demarcation of Indigenous land and over the disappearance of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Getty: NurPhoto/Cris Faga)
As the number of podcasts available continues to rise, so too, it would seem, do the episode run-times. More and more shows are putting out episodes that last for an hour or more, requiring an enormous time commitment from their listeners.
In the wake of this, I have come to truly appreciate the art of the short episode.
This month's collection offers many podcasts that pull off this feat expertly, transporting us to people's worlds in the length of time it takes to commute to work.
Beef drops us right into the middle of everyday drama around the country. Big Time keeps you on the edge of your seat as you are immersed in quirky crimes. Even the emotionally wrenching Missing in the Amazon manages to tell its wild story in easy-to-digest episodes.
And that allows us to consume even more podcasts — always a bonus, I think!
Missing in the Amazon
Guardian
The Javari Valley is an enormous, largely impenetrable swathe of rainforest in the far west of Brazil. Coming in at 85,000 square kilometres, the region is nearly as big as Portugal, and is the largest refuge for Indigenous tribes living in isolation from the outside world.
It is also where British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous advocate Bruno Araujo Pereira went missing in 2022.
Pereira worked tirelessly with Indigenous groups to protect the wild region from poaching, illegal mining, and trafficking, and Phillips was writing a book about what was going to be necessary to save the Amazon, known as the lungs of the world.
British freelance journalist Dom Phillips has written for The Guardian and The Washington Post. (Reuters: Paul Sherwood/Handout)
"Told by the people closest to them," Missing in the Amazon is hosted by Tom Phillips, a Brazil-based journalist who worked alongside Dom Phillips, and includes long interviews with the pair's families. The result is a podcast that's both movingly personal and as gripping as a thriller.
Over six parts, we get taken on a journey that is just as windy and murky as the remote waterways the guides have to traverse, involving organised crime, disgruntled local fishermen, and even former Brazilian prime minister Jair Bolsonaro. Once a close ally of US President Donald Trump, he is now on trial for an alleged coup attempt during the last election.
This podcast acts as a tribute to the people who devote their lives to protecting this vital area, Phillips and Pereira included, but also as a stark warning about the state of the Amazon.
And it shows how the only hope left lies in listening to, trusting, and empowering Indigenous people.
— Katherine Smyrk
Pump up the Jams
MIK Made
It's a tried and true format: picking apart popular songs on a podcast. Song Exploder is perhaps the best and most successful example (how many podcasts have their own Wikipedia page?).
But now we have an Australian contender: Pump Up the Jams, from ARIA-winning musician Josh Pyke and musical comedian and seasoned podcaster Cameron James (ABC's Finding Drago; Total Reboot).
It's brand new — with only a handful of episodes released to date — but it's already taken on some of recent history's greatest, and strangest, earworms.
That includes All the Things She Said by Russian pop band t.A.T.u. (who were queerbaiting before we had a word for it) and the song that's more popular in Australia than America, Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus.
Wheatus frontman Brendan B. Brown even joins Pyke and James to talk them through the inspiration behind the song, and its lasting impact, sharing how it stemmed from growing up in a town shaken by a Satanic, drug-induced ritual teen murder.
Every song on Pump Up the Jams is approached from a distinctly Australian lens, with Pyke in particular applying his insider knowledge of the industry and deep understanding of music. In the episode about Black Fingernails, Red Wine by Eskimo Joe, he talks about the song's release coinciding with his first major tour, in support of the Perth band, and his first time attending the ARIAs as a nominee.
Meanwhile, James approaches songs from the enthusiastic perspective of a music fan — one who went on a date to see Eskimo Joe and briefly saw the eyeliner-clad aesthetic of its frontman Kav Temperley as a style inspiration.
It all adds up to a reminder of how music soundtracks our lives, with listeners invited to reminisce about who they were when these classic pop songs dominated the airwaves.
— Hannah Story
Beef — Background Briefing
ABC
All around the country, from our big bustling cities to tiny regional towns, people have beef. Not the meat kind, but the other, pettier version.
Beef, a new four-part series from Background Briefing, dives into the day-to-day gripes that can seem insignificant, but then end up taking over your life. Roaming all over the country, host Thomas Oriti and ABC local reporters deliver fascinating tales of people's personal beefs, and reflect on what they tell us about the wider world.
The most fascinating is episode three, which tells the tale of pensioner Ian Williams, who decided to take on one of the big Australian banks, risking having to pay millions of dollars in legal fees, because he was sick of big corporations pushing him around.
There's also a deep dive into rifts within the online repair community — a group of people dedicated to helping people fix their own stuff; a tiny town ripped apart by their opposing feelings about the humble (or destructive) wombat; and a man who legally changed his name to Big Rob taking over his local town's council.
The stories are cheekily told, but never make fun of the everyday people they centre upon, invoking feelings of outrage, horror, and victory as you listen to their trials and tribulations. Come for the glorious gossip about people you will never meet, stay for the simple way they reflect our society.
— Katherine Smyrk
Baby Shoes
DM Podcasts
"For sale: baby shoes, never worn." It's a quote wrongfully attributed to Ernest Hemingway, and held up as one of the saddest — and shortest — stories.
A new podcast that takes its name from the story, Baby Shoes, is neither sad nor short.
It's the creation of Alex Lee (Win the Week) and Humyara Mahbub (co-creator of Why Are You Like This): two 30-something friends who poke fun at the relentless advertising directed at young mothers.
A catchy theme song — and interstitial jingles — by comedian Tom Cardy lay out what to expect from each half-hour episode: "Montessori pacifier, dirty diaper steriliser, monitor with AI, mumma's gonna buy."
Lee and Mahbub take listeners through the things they're thinking about buying — or maybe have bought already — and the posts they've seen online from other mothers that set bizarre and unachievable expectations for others.
Those seeming "must-haves" include a plastic bib for vomit, a $100 silk pillow case to stop baby hair loss, and a hip hop goose toy, which politely tells a child with its hand around its neck: "Please don't touch me. I can't breathe. Let me dance."
Baby Shoes offers a super interesting insight into how much women's algorithms change after they become pregnant, with advertising and social media hoisting a whole new raft of insecurities upon child-rearing, super-online millennials.
Even as someone without children, what's most compelling is hearing about the pressure and guilt that plagues mums who would just like to get some sleep, and maybe five minutes to go to the bathroom on their own.
— Hannah Story
Big Time
Apple TV+
What does Hollywood actor Steve Buscemi have to do with a Melbourne party rental business?
Said business is the subject of an episode from the podcast he hosts, Big Time. Since March this year, Buscemi has been delivering tantalising tales about crimes that have gone slightly … wrong. Like many of his films, these stories have an irresistible combination of intensity and farce.
Known for his roles in Reservoir Dogs, Fargo and The Big Lebowski, Steve Buscemi turns his talents to the world of podcasts. (Getty: Jason Mendez)
Recent episodes (that all sit at a very palatable 20-30 minutes) feature some bizarre goings-on from Los Angeles's early-2000s medical-marijuana boom, and an Irish property developer with a strange tale of kidnapping.
But most intriguing for local listeners is the story of a party rental business turf war in the Australian suburbs. It starts as a bit of friendly competition between companies that hire out jumping castles, pinball machines, and other party paraphernalia. But soon enough, there are Molotov cocktails, threats of bushfire, faked identities, and an 18-month manhunt.
It's all delightfully told by Australians with broad accents that seem all the more silly after Buscemi's dulcet tones, particularly when they say things like "he's done a runner".
— Katherine Smyrk