Stay ConnectedClever talk about pop culture.
Bigmouth is pop culture talk for discerning grown-ups. Music, TV, movies, books or something else entirely – we’ll enthuse, argue, squabble and pick over the bones of what’s happening in the world of the stuff we love.
Presented by WORD magazine veterans Andrew Harrison (ex-editor of Q, Select and Mixmag) and Siân “Stan” Pattenden, a graduate of the Smash Hits and Select Mag Schools of Excellence.
Copyright: © 755122
Revealed in the tea leaves of pop culture this week…
LEST WE FUGGEDABOUDIT: Does Martin Scorsese’s elegiac epic The Irishman put the capstone on mob movies forever? And who’s best in it: Bobby de Niro, little Joey Pesci, Al ‘The Animal’ Pacino or Stephen ‘The Scousefather’ Graham?
ME AND MY SHADOW: Trip hop originator DJ Shadow rails against the digitally-saturated present on ‘Our Pathetic Age’. Modern hip hop masterpiece or old man shouting at iCloud?
THE SPECIAL FKA: The fragile, suspended, subliminal soul-poptronica of FKA Twigs – what’s her album ‘Magdalene’ saying about life as a woman in 2019 and does she need to say it a bit louder?
AUTUMN ALMANACS: We choose our favourite albums for the season of mists, mellow fruitfulness and is it time to put the heating on yet?
Joining Siân and Andrew are this week’s special guests, Guardian TV and podcasts writer Hannah Verdier and alternative rock journo Martin Aston, author of The Story Of 4AD.
Produced and presented by Andrew Harrison and Siân Pattenden. Audio production by Alex Rees. Bigmouth is a Podmasters production.
Get every episode of BIGMOUTH a day early, plus the famous EXTRA BIT, when you back us on the crowdfunding platform Patreon.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Spelling themselves out on the ouija board of pop culture this week…
DÆMON DAYS: Does the prestige BBC/HBO adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials do justice to one of the greatest and most philosophically challenging books in the young adult pantheon? Or what?
MUSWELL HILL COMMUNICATION: We finally got that Michael Kiwanuka album. Does it deliver on the modern epic soul front?
REDRUM HE WROTE: That sequel to The Shining that nobody ordered is here. Does all plot and no mystery make Doctor Sleep a dull sequel?
THE IMPOSSIBLE STREAM: Apple think they can reinvent TV the way they did music, phones and, erm, not watches. Are the streaming shows on Apple TV+ enough to make you quit Netflix?
Joining Siân and Andrew are this week’s special guests, film writer Linda Marric and Spotify’s top dog of original content, Rob Fitzpatrick.
Produced and presented by Andrew Harrison and Siân Pattenden. Audio production by Alex Rees. Bigmouth is a Podmasters production.
Get every episode of BIGMOUTH a day early, plus the famous EXTRA BIT, when you back us on the crowdfunding platform Patreon.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Tumbling out of the pop culture piñata this week:
THE BECH-DEATH TEST: Does the all-new all-female Terminator Dark Fate bring the much-rebooted “killer robots from the future” saga back online? Or is the story trapped in a repetitive subroutine?
HOLY JESUS CHRIST ALMIGHTY: Kanye West has got God, but what will God think about that? And will Mr West’s holy-rolling gospel-powered album Jesus Is King save the souls of our heathen panel?
BLACK COMEDY: Eddie Murphy’s magnificent starring turn as filthy cult comedian Rudy Ray Moore (the Benny Hill of blaxploitation) makes new biopic Dolemite Is My Name one of the most extraordinary things on Netflix right now. And Wesley Snipes isn’t bad either. Does it whitewash the world of pimps and hoes, or are we seeing a real story of American reinvention?
Joining Siân and Andrew are this week’s special guests, comedy writer Sarah Morgan and Balearic-brained DJ and Bigmouth regular Anthony Teasdale.
Produced and presented by Andrew Harrison and Siân Pattenden. Audio production by Elsie Bath at Soho Radio. Bigmouth is a Podmasters production.
Get every episode of BIGMOUTH a day early, plus the famous EXTRA BIT, when you back us on the crowdfunding platform Patreon.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Bubbling out of the pop culture percolator this week…
NO SQUID PRO QUO: Has Damon “Lost” Lindelof done justice to Watchmen – the Citizen Kane of wearing your underpants outside your trousers – with his “remix” of the concept for HBO/Sky? And do we have any idea of what the hell is going on?
KEEP IT DUSTY: What guest Lucy O’Brien discovered as she updated her definitive biography of Dusty Springfield.
STRIFE IN TOKYO: New high-end crime drama Giri/Haji on BBC2 – there’s a dead yakuza in London and detective Kelly Macdonald is having no luck on her dating apps. Will we keep watching?
A PSYCH FOR SORE EYES: The complete works of Dukes Of Stratosphear, the exploding plastic psychedelic cosplay experiment by XTC, are re-released in psurround psound.
CASH RUINS EVERYTHING AROUND ME: Does The Laundromat, Steven Soderbergh’s all-star comic dramatisation of the Panama Papers financial scandal, repay on its investment? And why are its principle subjects suing Netflix?
Special guests Lucy O’Brien and Melody Maker veteran David Stubbs join Siân and Andrew this week, with a special cameo from comics fiend and Remainiacs escapee Dorian Lynskey.
Produced and presented by Andrew Harrison and Siân Pattenden. Audio production by Alex Rees. Bigmouth is a Podmasters production.
Get every episode of BIGMOUTH a day early, plus the famous EXTRA BIT, when you back us on the crowdfunding platform Patreon.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Inside the tumble dryer of pop culture this week…
REPENT, HARLEQUIN! Is there more to Joaquin Phoenix’s turn in the hit Joker origin moviethan half Taxi Driver and half King of Comedy? The movie has divided critics – will it divide our panel?
FIRE UP THE QUATRO: Does the biopic of original beleathered rock vixen Suzi Quatro convey the supercharged excitement of her doing Can The Can? And do we actually need biopics of every single pop star?
NO MORE KILMISTER NICE GUY: A major reissue programme for rock’s most horrible band Motörhead commences with their two 1979 albums Overkill and Bomber. Special guest Justin Quirk explains their unique and deathless appeal to a blankly confused Andrew.
WHAT A WAYSTAR: In a unique, spoiler-sodden post-credits sequence Andrew and Siân discuss the nerve-shredding finale to Season 2 of Succession. Could we believe what we were seeing and is it officially the Best Thing on Telly Ever (for now)?
Special guests Iestyn George of NME, GQ and Golf Punk fame and men’s mags man about town Justin Quirk are Siân and Andrew’s oppo’s this week.
Produced and presented by Andrew Harrison and Siân Pattenden. Audio production by Sophie Black. Bigmouth is a Podmasters production.
Get every episode of BIGMOUTH a day early, plus the famous EXTRA BIT, when you back us on the crowdfunding platform Patreon.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
On this week’s pop culture perusal fest…
THE GREAT BARRIER, GRIEF: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ extraordinary new album Ghosteen leaves our panel floored and yet somehow elated. How did he turn unimaginable personal pain into something so beautiful?
THE ROAD OF XS: Many saw Michael Hutchence as just a likeable accumulation of rock star clichés – but was there more to him and to his personal tragedy? And can new biopic Mystify open up the story?
I WAS A TEENAGE TRUMP: Does the camp-meets-social-comment extravaganza The Politician – first fruit of Ryan “Glee/Pose” Murphy’s multimillion dollar Netflix deal – bring us closer to the tormented world of feverishly ambitious rich kids? And do we want it it?
BURY, MY HEART: As Elbow pile into the vicissitudes of Brexit Britain on their eighth album Giants Of All Sizes, we ask where spiritual unifier Guy Garvey fits into our divided nation.
Esquire magazine deputy editor Johnny Davis and Mojo/Times writer Sophie Harris join Andrew and Siân to sort it all out.
Produced and presented by Andrew Harrison and Siân Pattenden. Audio production by Sophie Black. Bigmouth is a Podmasters production.
Get every episode of BIGMOUTH a day early, plus the famous EXTRA BIT, when you back us on the crowdfunding platform Patreon.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
It’s a special Bigmouth this week as we’re joined by Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys AKA Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark as they mark their 40th anniversary with their ‘Souvenir’ box set – half greatest hits, half Pharaonic treasure trove of all the things they’ve made (including the really weird stuff).
ARCHITECTURE AND MORALITY AND SIÂN AND ANDREW: Dive in for a fascinating conversation that takes in the ups and downs of an “accidental” pop career, how Kraftwerk changed their lives, how Paul’s mum nearly derailed OMD entirely, the love/hate relationship between Liverpool and Manchester (and why Joy Division were so amazing), the critical reappraisal that means their ‘difficult’ art statement ‘Dazzle Ships’ is now among their best-loved albums… and how Kraftwerk (them again) invented Atomic Kitten.
Produced and presented by Andrew Harrison and Siân Pattenden. Audio production by Alex Rees. Bigmouth is a Podmasters production.
Get every episode of BIGMOUTH a day early, plus the famous EXTRA BIT, when you back us on the crowdfunding platform Patreon.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
We’re joined by Guardian telly and podcasts queen HANNAH VERDIER and Telegraph/Guardian TV writer MICHAEL HOGAN to read the tea leaves of pop culture. On the agenda…
FROM A VESPA TO A SCREAM: What it is with men and mod? Sky Arts’s Mod Weekend opens a window into the world of Weller worshippers and digs into the history of the thin-lapelled cult that won’t die. Is the world ready for Bradley Wiggins on Mod?
OUT OF PSYCH, OUT OF MIND: Cosmic inner-spacemen of Kettering Temples return with their third album Hot Motion. Will the panel turn on, tune in or drop out?
DECREE NASTY: Does Nick Hornby’s bite-sized marital counselling comedy State Of The Union (now on BBC2 and iPlayer) convince us that Rosamund Pike and Chris O’Dowd could really be a couple? Is it funny? And what’s with the outrageous anti-middle-aged-music-journalism propaganda?
Produced and presented by Andrew Harrison and Siân Pattenden. Audio production by Sophie Black. Bigmouth is a Podmasters production.
Get every episode of BIGMOUTH a day early, plus the famous EXTRA BIT, when you back us on the crowdfunding platform Patreon.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This week Mojo mag news editor IAN HARRISON and Empire/ScreenWords/Jewish Chronicle film writer LINDA MARRIC join us to feel the bumps on the skull of pop culture. On the agenda…
CRISPY AMBULANCE CHASERS: Early Factory Records relics go on show in London as the Chelsea Space’s Use Hearing Protection exhibition displays the artefacts bestowed with the first 50 FAC numbers. What set Tony Wilson’s empire apart from the post-punk pack?
RUDE AWAKENINGS: It’s 40 years since the dawn of 2 Tone and celebrations are afoot. What were the best of the rankin’, skankin’ Midlands Motown’s output and can Ian still draw a Walt Jabsco on his schoolbook?
ONE GIANT STEP FOR BRAD: Does spaceborne dad-and-lad intriguefest Ad Astra confirm Brad Pitt as the modern James Coburn?
POLLUTING THE STREAMS: Why on earth did Netflix greenlight the putrid Lost-with-millennials miniseries The I-Land and how much more of this crap can we expect as the streaming wars escalate?
Produced and presented by Andrew Harrison and Siân Pattenden. Audio production by Sophie Black. Bigmouth is a Podmasters production.
Get every episode of BIGMOUTH a day early, plus the famous EXTRA BIT, when you back us on the crowdfunding platform Patreon.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
This week we have special guests Miranda Sawyer - author of Out of Time, she writes for the Observer, appears on Radio 4 and much much more – plus ex-Word magazine writer and Bob Dylan boffin James Medd to discuss the pop culture issues of the day.
PALE AILES: Will Sky's The Loudest Voice plump Succession as the latest Citizen-Kane-for-our-times? Starring Russell Crowe as Fox News founder Roger Ailes and Sienna Miller as his wife, this aims to lift the lid on the controversial figure pre Fake News and #MeToo. But do heavy prosthetics simply... get in the way of a good story?
BOOM-CHAQUE: New French movie Shock of the Future stars Alma Jodorowsky as proto-electronica pioneer Ana, a frustrated jingle-writer intent on making her own way in the music business. Huge racks of 1970s audio equipment! The Roland CR-78! Loads of cigs! What's not to like?
AINT NO MOUNT HIGH ENOUGH: Metronomy Forever is the new album from indie emo dance-crew Metronomy - hence the name. On the heels of the Hot Chip album, are we expecting more sad dad bangers from head honcho Joe Mount? This album has 17 tracks. 17!
CAM SLAM: The Capture is the BBC's new hot crime drama. Yes. Starring Holliday Grainger and Callum Turner, we enter a world where CCTV is King - but is it a reliable witness or is someone manipulating the live streams? And why are there so many posh people in it? Tune in and find out.
Presented by Siân Pattenden. Audio production by Alex Rees. Bigmouth is a Podmasters production.
Get every episode of BIGMOUTH a day early, plus the famous EXTRA BIT, when you back us on the crowdfunding platform Patreon.
See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
