Last year I did a lil write up of some of my favorite podcasts I'd listened to that year, so I figured I'd do the same for 2025!
Life With Althaar - it took a bit for this show to get its hooks into me, but HOLY MOLY. Most episodes are the length of feature films, but they absolutely fly by. I love this show and I know I will love it more when I eventually relisten to it.
Arden - I was delighted when I ran a poll asking what shows to relisten to this year and Arden was one of the top 3. It's so goddamn good. What more is there to say? I love Arden. I'm really hoping for season 3 news soon.
Under the Electric Stars - I haven't stumbled across a lot of cyberpunk shows, but UTES is certainly one of the top ones for me. It's got a large and fascinating cast of characters and top-notch world building. Plus how sick is that name???
SINKHOLE - sinkhole. Another outstanding cyberpunk show that had me vibrating mildly with each subsequent episode and ready to relisten by the time I was halfway through.
Mil-Liminal - I am not much of a horror girlie, but Mil-Liminal really clicked with me. The stories are chilling, but there is a warmth that comes from Caro's narration that makes the podcast incredibly charming.
The Greatest Matter - I haven't seen much about this in the Tumblr audiodrama ecosphere, but I feel like it will really click with folks. It's a Victorian gothic mystery set in Dublin. It's got spiritualism! A plucky lady journalist! Gruesome murder! And also great audio design and acting!
The Sound Museum - an absolute banger of a first season, this was just a ton of fun all the way through. The finale snuck up on me soooooo fast, I'm not ready for it to be over yet!
Exercises In Sound - I just love what this show is doing. I love when creators make a Choice and just fuckin go for it, and every episode is a new Choice. Voice De-Clicker - All Clicks is audio poison, but I love that they did it. I love that sometimes things are deliberately awful, or uncomfortable with intention. Also Character A is a Small Dog is an instant classic.
TWO THOUSAND AND LATE - what can I say? I love watching a train wreck unfold.
The Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy - I turned 42 this year. I HAD to fit this one in! And it was honestly a delight. H2G2 has been a love of mine since high school, and I was stunned to find that there are SIX series including one produced in 2018, and it still had much of the original cast! I think I had only found the first two series when I first listened, all the way back in 2000. This was my birthday present to myself, and I love me for doing it.
The Harbingers - I don't really think I need to tell Tumblr to listen to a Gabriel Urbina show, but if you needed me to tell you that, I'm glad I told you! I also relistened to Unseen this year, and The Harbingers is a wonderful companion to that delightful podcast.
Mission: Rejected - I have had a fondness for Mission: Rejected for a few years now. I'm always happy to see a new episode in my podcatcher, and I just adore the EMF crew. I love how absolutely silly this show gets, while still managing some very good drama mixed in.
Stories From Ylelmore - SFY got "special treatment" status this year - new episodes get listened to in the last hour of my workday - because of how much I want to be able to focus on it and I'm almost never bothered after 5pm. It is, of of course, a gem of a podcast itself, but the way ItMe puts that sauce on "link in the description" at the end credits never fails to disappoint. It's the little things.
Honorable mentions go to Breathing Space, Travelling Light, The Green Horizon, Metropolis, October Jones and Fish With Legs, and World Gone Wrong, all of which I listened to this year and were absolutely wonderful, but got write-ups last year. Everything I said then is still true.
