23 New podcasts you must listen to this February

Pod Bible aims to be the essential guide to podcasts. To keep your download list full of the best podcasts, and help you find the next podcast sensation, we’re bringing you the latest releases in our New This Month feature.

Welcome to 2022 podcast disciples and welcome to the first New This Month article of the year. This is the longest list I’ve done so far – I was betting on January being a slow month for podcast releases, but I was very wrong. The last two months have brought us BBC projects galore, the latest narrative podcast from QCODE, and several new true crime shows – including the newest project from one of the most popular podcasts of all time…

Enjoy!

New Pods

Shattering Gleam

Lots of the best music podcasts take a close look at songs and albums from different viewpoints – whether that is the personal preference of a celebrity, (Soul Music) or the specific nuts and bolts of putting a song together (Song Exploder). Shattering Gleam is slightly different, and perhaps is best described as a culture podcast. Host and music critic Sasha Geffen explores how pop stars have re-shaped gender through music: from Prince’s falsetto to Beyoncé and Britney’s robotic tuning. I like the idea of a playlist of the songs spoken about, but it’s a shame it’s on US-only app Pandora. Listen now >>

The Trojan Horse Affair

This is a big one: this 8-part investigative podcast series jokingly describes itself as an “elaborate student podcast”, but it’s actually the latest project from the team that brought us Serial and S-Town. One night in Birmingham, Brian Reed (the host of S-Town) was approached by ex-doctor and journalism student, Hamza Syed, who wanted help with a story for his Masters degree. He wanted to uncover the truth about the ‘Trojan Horse letter’ that caused the UK government to launch investigations into the supposed ‘radical Islamisation’ of schools in Birmingham in 2014. Despite the fact that this letter was unsigned, undated, incomplete, throughout all the official inquiries and heated speeches in Parliament, no one has ever bothered to answer the basic questions: Where did the letter come from? Who wrote the letter? And why? Brian and Hamza team up to investigate. As might be expected from this production team, this is a gripping and fascinating listen. Listen now >> 

Last Known Position

The latest fiction podcast from production company QCODE  follows a privately funded team of experts as they try to find a flight that suddenly vanished over the Pacific Ocean. Last Known Position stars Gina Rodriguez (Jane The Virgin) as submersible pilot Mikaela Soto and James Purefoy (A Discovery of Witches, Rome) as a grieving billionaire. It describes itself as “the next revolution of suspense and terror” and from the trailer voice to the music score, it really feels like a Hollywood production. The sound design is uncannily realistic and this is definitely worth listening to on headphones for the full effect. As somebody that can get jumpy over sounds I’m not expecting, I did appreciate the content warning that “it may seem like sounds are coming from the sides or behind you” – and it still made me jump! Listen now >>

Fake Psychic

Another new investigative podcast, this time from the BBC. Vicky Baker looks at the ‘stranger-than-fiction’ story of Lamar Keene, a renowned psychic in America during the 1960s who became known as the Prince of Spiritualists. Then one day, he turned his back on spiritualism, and wrote a memoir where he confessed to being part of an underground network he called the “psychic mafia”. He wanted to blow the whistle on the whole industry. But how much can we trust the revelations of a self-confessed conman? Similar to other recent BBC shows, this mixes documentary with drama – although the drama plays quite like the radio classic The Archers in style.  Listen now >> 

Learning From Genocide

Learning From Genocide is a podcast from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust that comes with a content warning of ‘upsetting stories of genocide and violence’. We hear a number of first-hand accounts from people directly affected by recent genocides. The show starts by looking at the Holocaust and Nazi persecution, and moves onto the more recent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur. All seven episodes of the show were released in January to coincide with Holocaust Memorial Day, but I would recommend spreading out your listening so you can fully appreciate each story. Listen now >> 

Fairy Meadow

Another new investigation from the BBC, this one looks at a personal tragedy and the repercussions. In 1970, three-year-old Cheryl Grimmer disappeared from Fairy Meadow beach in New South Wales, Australia. This is mostly the story of her older brother, Ricki, who was the one looking after her when she went missing. We hear Ricki talking through his decades-long search for answers, and the emotional impact it had on him. BBC News Correspondent Jon Kay has been investigating the case since 2016, and over eight episodes we get a really exclusive and in-depth podcast. Listen now >> 

The Stitch Up, Lonel(i)ness, and In Touch with Ruby Rare…

This is like three podcasts for the price of one! As part of Broccoli Productions’ Documentaries stream, they’ve released some one-off episodes and a new show, each looking at different topics: In The Stitch Up, Bea Duncan looks at the fashion industry and how it prioritises profits over people and planet; Lonel(i)ness has Jaja Muhammad ask what we mean by loneliness, what causes it, and how we can at least tackle the stigma of ‘lonely’ if we’ll never fully be rid of it; and In Touch with Ruby Rare is a new short series drawing on sex educator Ruby’s own personal and professional experience. Listen now >> 

Wild Things: Siegfried & Roy

This has been showing up in many newsletters, and is perhaps already as popular as its subjects. Okay, that’s a slight exaggeration, but Wild Things is one of the new podcast offerings from Apple TV, and is making a splash. It looks at the lives and hidden truths of the illusionists Seigfried & Roy, who performed 30,000 shows for 50 million people and generated well over $1 billion in ticket sales with their animal magic shows, until Roy was attacked on stage by a tiger in 2003. Listen now >>

Other new podcasts for your list:

The Way They Were – Gráinne Maguire and Chantal Feduchin-Pate love discussing their own odd ex’s, but they love remembering weird celebrity couples even more. Each week, they’re joined by a celebrity guest to discuss the celebrity romance they never got over, from Brangelina, to Bennifer, and Mick and Marianne. Listen now >> 

Reclaimed & Rewritten – Produced by award-winning publication gal-dem,  this six-part podcast seeks to unearth the mysteries and the stories behind the devastating Tulsa Massacre of 1921. February is Black History Month in the USA, and this is a great way to learn about the state-sponsored massacre, and what actually happened to the community of Deep Greenwood. Listen now >> 

Getting My Dad to Say I Love You – Chris Martin (not Coldplay Chris Martin, by comedian Chris Martin) has been inspired by his own relationship with his father to interview guests, including Romesh Ranganathan and Roisin Conaty, to find out what type of relationship they have with their parents. Perhaps it might help Chris to convince his dad to say those three words, “I Love You” too! Listen now >> 

Go Love Yourself – Star of the Great British Bake Off Laura Adlington has launched a show that aims to empower people to feel good about themselves and their bodies. Laura and best friend Lauren Smith talk about body image, confidence, and growing up in the age of low-rise jeans, diet culture and Bridget Jones. As well as exploring their own journeys to self-acceptance, the pair give practical advice on caring a lot less about what other people think. Listen now >> 

Room 5 – Another BBC production: One afternoon changed everything for Helena Merriman as she was given a shock diagnosis. Now she’s speaking to other people who were changed by a diagnosis. This is an intimate series that uses immersive sound design to help shines a light on misunderstood conditions, and asks how we cope when our bodies and our minds no longer behave as we want them to. Listen now >> 

This Is Dating – “Come for the cringe, stay for the connection.” This show from PRX lets you listen in on first dates. What saves this from being really awkward – even exploitative – is the input from a behavioural scientist pre and post-date. Listen now >>

Ghosthoney’s Dream Machine – Social media trailblazer Ghosthoney, aka Tyler Gaca, has made a podcast with a difference. These short narratives describe the magical worlds that occupy Tyler’s dreams. Tyler is also taking listener’s suggestions for stories! Listen now >> 

New Seasons:

CHAMELEON – Season 3

CHAMELEON: Hollywood Con Queen took us through the story of one of the weirdest and wildest scams in history – a supposed major film project, in Indonesia that never existed. Season two, High Rollers, looked at an FBI agent and a group of businesspeople in Las Vegas who all pretended to be money launderers. Now, the con-themed podcast is looking at a story from 2003, when two half-starved young men turned up in a small Canadian town, saying they’d be living in the woods. Listen now >> 

Deep Cover – Season 2

Deep Cover is a podcast from Puskin Industries that has a simple premise – it focuses on people who lead double lives. Season two, Mob Land, is back with a brand new podcast cover. It’s 1986, and a high-rolling lawyer named Bob Cooley walks into a federal prosecutor’s office and says that he has information that could bring down the mob… Listen now >> 

Human Resources – Season 2

If you’ve heard me on the Pod Bible Podcast,  you’ll know that Human Resources is one of my favourite podcasts. It explores the British involvement in the transatlantic slave trade and how it permeates our society and culture today. Season 2 starts off with a focus on the most British thing imaginable – the Royal Family – and the profits they made from enslaved people. Listen now >> 

Asylum Speakers – Season 6

The podcast that used to be called The Worldwide Tribe is back with a new name for the sixth season. In Asylum Speakers, Jaz O’Hara speaks to people with lived experience of displacement, as well as the people working on the front line supporting them. In the first episode of this series we hear from Hassan Akkad, a BAFTA award winning filmmaker, activist and writer from Syria, who chose to work as an NHS hospital cleaner during the worst days of COVID. The two chat after a family meal and the conversation is a really nice insight into his life. I also love the theme music of this podcast! Listen now >> 

Out There – ‘Things I Thought I Knew’

Another of my often recommended podcasts, Out There shares stories that explore big ideas through our relationship with the outdoors. Up until now, the podcast has worked on a rolling basis, but they’ve done something of a re-launch with this themed series. ‘Things I Thought I Knew’ looks at harnessing the power of nature to uncover truths about our humanity and our world. In the first episode, Sarah Dealy tells us about her time in ‘wilderness therapy’. Listen now >> 

Other new seasons for your list:

Conflicted – Season 3

This podcast from Message Heard has an ex-Al Qaeda jihadi turned MI6 spy (Aimen Dean) and a former monk turned filmmaker (Thomas Small) looking in depth at some of the most nuanced and complicated aspects of war in the Middle East. The long-awaited third season starts with the continuation of their bonus episode on Afghanistan. Listen now >> 

Marvel’s Wastelanders – Season 3

A fictional ‘audio epic’, Wastelanders is the official tie-in podcast that builds on the Marvel universe through audio stories. Season 3 focuses on Black Widow, and is set in New York “almost thirty years after The Day the Villains Won (aka V-Day)”.  Listen now >> 

dot com – Season 2

Dot com is the podcast documentary series about the people of the web. After looking at Wikipedia in the first season, dot com: Redditland takes a close look at the social media website that has been called the front page of the internet. Listen now >> 

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If you listen to these podcasts, please tell us what you think! Tag us on social media @PodBible. Read more of our New This Month editorials for the newest podcasts to listen to.

Do you have a show for our new podcast list? Email  info@podbiblemag.com with the show description, release date and artwork. We will share as many launches as we can.