Now Playing: March 2022

Our March contributors have recommendations for your eyes and ears in the the latest edition of Now Playing.

SG Huerta

Last night I listened to Modern Baseball’s entire discography out of order because I needed to feel something, or maybe relive my entire teenage life in the span of just a couple hours. If I’m being honest, though, I probably listen to their first full album, Sports, once a week.

Michael Meyerhofer

Despite the million or so streaming networks out there, these days I spend most of my time watching stuff on YouTube. That includes plenty of political channels to get my blood boiling, of course, but I also love all things astronomy. One particular channel, Cool Worlds, has been capturing my attention ever since I saw a video called “The First Civilization to Emerge in the Galaxy.” It’s similar to a short story or a video poem, hypothesizing what kind of spiritual, political, and psychological turmoil might be experienced by the very first intelligent civilization to emerge in the galaxy, and what titanic efforts they might undertake just to communicate their existence to future civilizations millions (even billions) of years in the future. The science and visuals are phenomenal but what really got me is how deftly it addresses how loneliness and knowledge are tangled together like strands of DNA.

Caitlin Lydon

I'm in a constant state of re-listening to the old Reductress podcast Mouth Time. I think they stopped making new episodes in 2017, but I remain a dedicated listener to whatever is left. It is wildly funny and truly insane, I love it so much. I'm listening to an episode called “We Cheat on Our Boyfriends and See What Happens!” for the millionth time right now, and it has yet to get old.