Podcast roundup: Our picks for the week, from Entitled Opinions to Switchblade Sisters and Broken Record

Podcasts have seen a rapid upsurge in popularity in recent years. From true crime to design, popular culture and modern relationships, fiction to in-depth reportage, podcasts have proliferated to the point where no matter how esoteric the subject, there’s bound to be a show that deals with it. Amid this cornucopia of audio delights, however, how do you pick the podcast that’s most worth your while? This is where our weekly curated playlist steps in; it’s a lowdown on the best episodes from a selection of podcasts that deserve a listen. Ready to tune in? *** — Entitled Opinions (about Life and Literature) A centennial tribute to Lawrence Ferlinghetti About the podcast: Hosted by Robert Harrison on Stanford University Radio, Entitled Opinions features interviews and long-form conversations with guests about issues that range from literature and philosophy to politics and sports. About the episode: In a break from the usual format, Harrison reads excerpts from American poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s Time of Useful Consciousness, published in 2012, for the entirety of the episode. Ferlinghetti, the author of A Coney Island of the Mind, co-founder of the legendary City Lights Booksellers & Publishers and a prominent voice of the poetry movement that began in the 1950s, turned 100 years old on 24 March this year. Runtime: 44 minutes Listen to the episode here.

— THE ADAM BUXTON PODCAST EP 93 - CHARLOTTE GAINSBOURG About the podcast: British comedian Adam Buxton talks with interesting people. “The rambly conversations are sometimes funny, sometimes more serious with funny bits.” The intros and outros are recorded while Buxton walks his dog Rosie in the East Anglian countryside, and the episodes are interspersed with self-composed jingles. About the episode: Buxton talks with French-British actor and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg about pretentious hotels, overcoming her diffidence as a singer, Kanye West’s music, her parents — Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin — and being a parent, collaborating with Beck and film director Lars Von Trier, and more. Runtime: 75 minutes Listen to the episode here.

—  Broken Record The Return of Vampire Weekend: Ezra Koenig with Ariel Rechtshaid About the podcast: An editorial collaboration among record producer  Rick Rubin, author Malcolm Gladwell, and former New York Times editor Bruce Headlam, Broken Record brings long-form conversations with musicians, who talk about their life, inspiration, and craft. Amid digressions, arguments and back-stories, the guests also play their music. About the episode: Vampire Weekend returned this month with their first record in six years, Father of the Bride. Band leader  Ezra Koenig and producer Ariel Rechtshaid stop by Rubin’s Shangri La Studios in Malibu to talk about how they have been labouring over the new album, re-working some songs hundreds of times before finally feeling like they got it right. Koenig also plays tracks from the record, which topped the Billboard album chart upon release. Runtime: 60 minutes Listen to the episode here.

— Switchblade Sisters ‘An American Werewolf in London’ with ‘American Psycho’ and ‘Charlie Says’ Writer Guinevere Turner About the podcast: Switchblade Sisters look at genre flicks from a female perspective. Every week, film critic April Wolfe sits down with a female film-maker to discuss a classic genre movie — horror, exploitation, sci-fi and many others. About the episode: Writer, director and actor Guinevere Turner (American Psycho, The Notorious Bettie Page) discuss John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London. The duo talk about how groundbreaking the film was in terms of its combination of comedy and real horror (and, of course, the transformation scene). Turner also talks about her own process, and how her childhood spent in a cult inspired her newest film Charlie Says. Runtime: 54 minutes Listen to the episode here.

—  No Such Thing As A Fish Episode 269: No Such Thing As Singing The Sport About the podcast: A podcast from the QI offices where the writers of the BBC show discuss the best things they have found out this week. Hosted by Dan Schreiber along with James Harkin, Andrew Hunter Murray, and Anna Ptaszynski, the show is as insightful as it is funny. About the episode: Live from Salford, Schreiber, Harkin, Murray and Ptaszynski discuss how news was sung aloud in parts of Europe in the 16th century, canine height restrictions, finch bite quotients, length of a baby T-Rex’s hands, and the Manchester Of The East. Runtime: 39 minutes Listen to the episode here.