audio dramas to listen at the end of the world (#3)
the audible version, aka the radio shows lingering at the edge of apocalypse
Recently, I had this lovely conversation with my friend Arielle, a soundscape extraordinaire, about how we desperately need more funding, mutual aid, and creative spaces for sound. Whether that’s music, DJing, production, or the radio; the last century-ish has slowly been crushing the life of audio creatives. As with other art industries, there are these massive corporations intent on controlling or destroying everything beautiful out here. It’s really hard to create and succeed the way you want, especially if you don’t want to sell your face or make videos as well.
I’ve always been really into radio. I think it’s such a phenomenal extrapolation of fireside storytelling; it’s really cool what you can create with your voice, a microphone, and a single idea. It’s even cooler to see what ambitious and immersive projects a team of talented people can create together.
Arielle’s always inspired me as I’ve ventured into sound; hosting my own radio shows, exploring music-making, or even creating a transition I’m really proud of. So when they asked for audio drama recommendations, I was like TOTALLY! And then I decided to make the latest installment to Books to Read At The End Of The World. Without further ado; here are the audio dramas!
(1) Midnight Burger
Leif: THIS MOLOTOV COCKTAIL IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY COMMUNISM!
Picture this - it’s the depths of quarantine in Phoenix, Arizona and restaurants are being shuttered by the dozen. Gloria’s taco spot faced the same fate, so now she’s looking for a job, any job in the food service industry. So, she comes across a Craigslist ad for a waitress at an unassuming diner called Midnight Burger and arrives exactly at 6 pm. What Gloria is about to find out is that she’s interviewing at a cosmos-blipping, time-traveling, dimension-spanning 6500 sq. foot multiversal anomaly… and the diner’s barely functioning like a good restaurant.
Midnight Burger is really good! It’s a comedy science fiction that’s always playful, never pretentious, and sometimes incredibly profound. Someone described it as a lighthearted version of Black Mirror, or an episodic space opera dressed ever so lovingly as an Aesop fable. It has so much heart; it tenderly holds the characters’ journeys and it watches existence with such wonder. The sound design is immaculate and immersive, the writing is witty, the characters are so real and the story is something you come back for. This is a newer discovery for me; there are three seasons and I just powered through the first one in two days.
Back to the story - Gloria is immediately ensconced into the strange band of characters who love in equal measure. Ava, a snarky theoretical physicist, and the ultimate hater supreme; Leif, a Midwestern-ish fry cook who has lived many, many lives; Effie & Zebulon, a pair of ultra-religious Arkansawers speaking through a circa-1880s sentient radio; and Caspar, our lovely Type-A server who has worked at the diner for… no-one knows. We’re brought along on adventures both massive and minuscule; like overpowering an AI programmed to argue like your ex, a standoff in a dystopia where corporations force working-class citizens to be walking, talking ad-space, hosting a memorial for a dying robot, or hurtling towards a supermassive black hole. I literally cannot describe how good this gets.
Midnight Burger is the audio drama I dream about writing. Heck, it’s a story I dream about telling! In these apocalyptic times, it’s really beautiful to follow a witty, fun sci-fi tale that skates dangerously close to disaster but emerges through the wreckage with love and joy for the world. Midnight Burger gives me hope, and I know it would do the same for you too.
(2) Birds of Empire
New Dakota, 15,000 CE. Thousands of years after the Earth strikes back against civilization, claiming our highest towers and our sprawling cities through terrifying climate disasters; humankind has returned to prehistory. The old world is dead; remembered vaguely through oral narratives and mythology.
Now, in New Dakota, four tribes roam; The Wolves of the Plains, The Rams of the Mountains, The Bears of the River, and the Birds of the Trees. The first season of this fantasy drama is out right now - The Dawn Age follows four young people from each tribe as they navigate the brink of empire.
This audio drama is lush, explosive, and imaginative. In my opinion, this audio drama isn’t meant for bingeing. Each episode details such separate worlds, that it can be jarring to jump from a power struggle for the Queen of the Wolves to following a budding psychic protecting the Bears from a raid. Yet, there are threads that bind each world tightly together, like the trade wars or the impending drought, that always reminded me that we don’t exist in vacuums. Each of our lives has a massive impact on the planet, on our communities, and on each other.
I love when post-apocalyptic stories make a full circle and become anachronistic historical tales. In Birds of Empire, it’s so interesting to see Earth/America in a precolonial era. The story’s helmed by people of color and it’s interesting to see what they choose to bring or leave in this world. Qabilesi (tribalism- which isn’t an English word, but there’s no comparable translation) rules supreme here; with these tensions between each tribe. The caste system really is the heart of each tribe’s power system - especially for the Birds. The darkest/funniest thing that happened was the advent of money and the slow trickle of silver coins across New Dakota.
I listened to this over the course of a month during the winter and I remember standing, almost in a trance, chores forgotten, as a series of violent, anachronistic events happened. The world has been remade many times, and the world will be remade again. I can only hope that we find ourselves in a better reality… but I think things will just be different. Not worse, not better, different.
(3) Mumbai Crime
I’ve just started this one so I don’t have too much to say! I’m currently listening to Season 3 of Mumbai Crime, which follows Sapna Sinha, a working-class salesperson, in New Delhi. Her family’s been struggling, and suddenly, she’s offered all the riches she could imagine, as long as she passes this billionaire’s Seven Tests. This sounds super promising, especially because it’s been adapted from a super popular novel The Accidental Apprentice.
One thing that’s super notable about Mumbai Crime is that it’s recorded entirely in the field; in the streets of Mumbai. I feel like it’s a really cool expansion in guerrilla radio making. This is one of the podcasts where I really itch to see how it’s made; I’d love a behind-the-scenes video or an in-depth interview showcasing the work required to make this.
This story is one I’m excited about it - seeing how it deals with social issues in Mumbai and explores Sapna’s Faustian bargain. It’s a story about corruption and capitalism; asking us what we would do to be safe. How far would you go to be rich? I know that things will spiral uncomfortably out of control - but I believe in Sapna. She may not emerge from this unscathed, but I know she will emerge.
(Let’s see if I feel that way when I finish this!)
(4) Welcome To Night Vale
A list of audio dramas to listen to at the end of the world would not be complete w/o Welcome to Night Vale! I discovered this when I was a teenager and I fell deep into the lore. I think I reached halfway through the 217 episodes before I fell in love with nonfiction podcasts. This really showed me the possibility of audio storytelling, reflecting my lifelong love for horror, science fiction, community radio, and weird shit.
The show is framed as a community radio show for Night Vale, a strange little desert town where ‘all the conspiracy theories are real’. It’s hosted by Cecil Gershwin Palmer, a morbid gay man who is one of four people who survived an internship at the radio station. It’s an episodic behemoth; the One Piece of audio dramas. Episodes can vary wildly, but there’s always a music break called ‘The Weather’. The strongest part of this is the plot arcs and running gags - who doesn’t love The Glow Cloud? - while the format is always such an interesting thing to look at.
I feel like this show is a perfect long-listen if you’re surviving the apocalypse and need weeks of entertainment to get by; it’s comforting as hell. It’s so sweet to see Cecil fall in love with Carlos. It’s fun to meet all these strange residents and see them evolve. It’s lovely to see the community come together to drive out that evil corporation. It’s great to rely on The Weather.
Honorable mentions: Bloodthirsty Hearts, Alice is Dead, Limetown, If I Go Missing The Witches Did It, Sandra, The Horror of Dolores Roach, Carrier, Ars Paradoxica & more.