1. Berkeley Voices
This podcast from UC Berkeley’s Office of Communications and Public Affairs is hardly new, but host and producer Anne Brice, M.J. ’12, keeps Berkeley Voices feeling like the kind of thing a listener would do well to keep up with—or catch up on. Previously called Fiat Vox, the pod relaunched in 2021 with a new name and a fresh approach. Its more than 130 episodes to date are a testament to not only Brice’s interviewing and production chops—it’s giving Michael Barbaro-meets-Terry Gross vibes—but also the variety of interesting work being done by Berkeley’s best and brightest. Naturally, there are episodes on the Big Issues of the day. Think: climate anxiety, CRISPR gene editing, the housing crisis. But Berkeley Voices especially delights in going where listeners least expect. You’ll learn about Chinese art forgery, nonhuman social memory, and Wikipedia resistance. You’ll learn about cults and dinosaurs and friendship. Not to mention all the history, with fascinating insights into the Montgomery Bus Boycott, American immigration policy, and the Great Migration. With bingeable episodes often running around 20 minutes, it’s never been easier or more satisfying to keep up with Berkeley’s voices.
—Esther Oh
2. P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance
Vanessa Díaz and Petra Rivera-Rideau, M.A. ’06, Ph.D. ’10
After Hurricane María devastated Puerto Rico in 2017, a SoundCloud trap artist from Vega Baja began to emerge as the unlikely global spokesman for the island’s grief. In P FKN R, the cultural scholars behind the popular “Bad Bunny Syllabus” trace Bad Bunny’s rise from Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, a working-class college student bagging groceries, to the most-streamed artist in the world. Drawing on archives and interviews with producers, activists, and journalists who witnessed his ascent, the authors decode the ubiquitous cultural references and political symbolism present in his work. Bad Bunny’s political stands—from stopping his European tour to protest against the governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rosselló, to critiquing colonial fiscal policies, austerity and gentrification in his lyrics—become hooks to examine Puerto Rico’s ongoing struggles over its sovereignty. Far from celebrity hagiography, the book examines his stardom as a lens through which contemporary Puerto Rican politics come into focus—while of course celebrating the unmistakable sazón that made Bad Bunny all but impossible to ignore.
—Nathalia Alcantara
3. Notes on Being a Man
By Scott Galloway, MBA ’92
Podcaster, entrepreneur, and NYU marketing professor Scott Galloway has made a career of having big opinions on everything from tech monopolies to happiness. His latest book is no exception. Capitalizing on momentum around the so-called “masculinity crisis,” Notes on Being a Man is equal parts memoir, social commentary, and—one might argue—moral panic.
The concerns he raises are real; young men are at increasing risk of suicide, addiction, and radicalization. But for all his progressive beliefs, Galloway’s prescription is remarkably conservative. He romanticizes the disciplined, uniform masculinity of the mid-twentieth century and urges a return to the ideals of “protect, provide and procreate.” Where Notes fails is by presenting this primarily as a male crisis. After all, many of the concerns he cites apply just as much, if not more, to young women. The book fails to ask, who might be hurt by a return to traditional gender roles? And, conversely, if men are losing ground in certain areas, who might be gaining?
—Leah Worthington
4. Wonder Man
Starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II ’11
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, a former Cal track athlete and architecture student, stars alongside Academy Award-winner Ben Kingsley in this unconventional and charming Marvel production. Mateen plays Simon Williams, an aspiring young actor who has somewhat Hulk-like superpowers he doesn’t want. He’d rather be a superstar than a superhero. Kingsley plays Trevor Slattery, better known in the Marvel universe as “the Mandarin.” Here, Slattery is an aging thespian who may prove to be mentor or menace to Williams, buddy or betrayer. The action, subdued by Marvel standards, is set against a world in which superheroes are viewed by authorities as public enemies. Williams is being surveilled by Agent Cleary of the Department of Damage Control, played by Arian Moayed. Mateen, whose other credits include Black Manta and The Trial of the Chicago 7, more than holds his own with the legendary Kingsley (Ghandi, Schindler’s List). One scene in particular, where the two trade cherished monologues, captures a pure love of acting. This is elevated fare for Marvel fans. Streaming on Disney+.
—Pat Joseph
5. In the Hour of Chaos: Art and Activism with Public Enemy’s Chuck D
From UC Press
This new volume from University of California Press grew out of a course at UCLA led by Chuck D, frontman of Public Enemy, the hip hop pioneers famous for such socially conscious tracks as “Fight the Power,” “Don’t Believe the Hype,” and “Bring the Noise.” The result is a collection of conversations between “Professor Chuck” and various rap scholars and authors, including UCLA historian Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams, hip-hop feminist Joan Morgan, author of When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost, and Jeff Chang, Berkeley alum and author of the 2005 hip hop history, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. (All three also blurb the book.) The focus of the book is art as activism, the tone academic, but also adulatory; in his blurb, Kelley calls Chuck D “a stone-cold genius in every sense of the word.” Public Enemy fans and rap aficionados who want to delve into Chuck D’s contention that hip hop was the “Black CNN,” or learn how “Fight the Power” sprang from the Isley Brothers, or examine the Black Panthers’ influence on the group’s public persona, will be rewarded. Those seeking a more critical lens will have to look elsewhere.
—P. J.
6. Xiu Mutha F**kin’ Xiu: Vol. 1
Xiu Xiu
This isn’t your average cover album. Neither contractually required nor overplayed and trite, Xiu Mutha F**kin’ Xiu: Vol. 1 is a continuation of Xiu Xiu’s experimental rock ethos. Noisy, grimy, and dark, the album takes on everyone from Roy Orbison to Throbbing Gristle to satisfyingly chaotic effect. It’s a lot of sound coming from just three people, including Angela Seo ’08, a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and former lawyer who joined Xiu Xiu at the behest of bandleader Jamie Stewart.
Their third cover album (after paeans to Nina Simone and the music of Twin Peaks), Xiu Xiu’s latest serves as both honorific and experiment. What if Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell on You” were played twice as fast and overlaid with the kind of frenetic, wailing guitar reminiscent of your underground punk bar? How would The Runaways’ “Cherry Bomb” sound warped by electronic bleeps and bloops evocative of 90s dial-up? The effect is as unsettling as it is cool—Lynchian, one might say.
—L. W.
