Episode Reviews

The fifth installment of Ways of Hearing from Radiotopia's new mini-series platform returns to packing the kind of philosophical punch I felt on hearing about the concept of the six-parter. "POWER" takes on the modern channels of distribution we frequent as well as players rendered increasingly benign by streaming. Much like the slow food movement where the origin of produce is taking center stage, podcaster Damon Krukowski posits that there is more to music than the mere act of listening. The pursuit and capture of a new tune enhances the experience, and the ease of access purveyors like Spotify offer takes randomness out of the equation. Is a curated playlist from an algorithm really preferable to the joys and struggles of sifting through a bin of records? What are we losing in our quest for comfort? The question resonates not only with music, but all forms of media that are shifting towards a more streamlined approach.