Monocle on Culture

To celebrate the release of Public Service Broadcasting’s *The Last Flight*, we explore the world of concept albums. Robert Bound speaks to the band’s J Willgoose, Esq about the making of the album, which explores aviator Amelia Earhart’s final takeoff. To continue the theme, Monocle’s contributing editor Andrew Mueller digs deep into weird and wonderful LPs, while writer Natty Kasambala and Will Hodgkinson,  music critic at ‘The Times’, share their favourite concept albums.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Making a masterpiece begins with a vision. And where else to start than with the beloved Italian marque Maserati’s new powerful, all-electric sports car: the Gran Cabrio Folgore. As summer turns to autumn, we engage the roof, connect the charger and hit the road. Join us. Featuring Maserati’s head of design Klaus Busse and sculptor Valeria Greco.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We discuss two new films in this week’s episode. ‘The Goldman Case’ dramatises the 1976 trial of revolutionary left-wing intellectual Pierre Goldman and is a thrilling retelling of a momentous event in French legal history. Plus: we speak to the directors behind the new documentary ‘Sugarcane’, which follows an investigation into the Canadian Indian residential school system. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Monocle’s Andrew Mueller finds out about Soviet-era rock’n’roll in Ukraine ahead of the release of ‘Even The Forest Hums: Ukrainian Sonic Archives 1971-1996’. Plus: we discuss a new biography about filmmaker Agnes Varda and hear from Serbian performance artist Marina Abramovic. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Robert Bound is joined in the studio by writer and ‘Monocle on Culture’ regular Will Hodgkinson to discuss his new book, ‘Street-Level Superstar, A Year With Lawrence’ . The book tells the story of Lawrence, the founder of the band Felt, and later, Denim. Is he the greatest pop star that never was?

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Robert Bound is joined in the studio by writer David Peace to discuss his new book, ‘Munichs’. The novel tells the story of the 1958 Munich air disaster, in which 23 people – including eight Manchester United players and three officials – were fatally injured when their plane crashed. Peace’s dramatisation is a tender story of stoicism, sadness and strength. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We explore the new film ‘Sing Sing’, which follows a group of incarcerated men taking part in the Rehabilitation Through the Arts theatre programme at a notorious prison. The film stars Colman Domingo alongside a cast largely made up of the programme’s former participants. Robert Bound sits down with director Greg Kwedar to find out more about the making of the extraordinary film. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Natasha Tripney reports from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and selects the top theatre picks at the monthlong event. Plus, Robert Bound heads to ‘Hafla’, a celebration of Middle Eastern culture at the New Bond Street headquarters of Sotheby’s.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Film critics Caspar Salmon and Leila Latif join Robert Bound in the studio to review A24’s latest film, ‘Tuesday’, directed by Daina O Pusić. Julia Louis-Dreyfus stars as a mother whose daughter, played by Lola Petticrew, has a terminal illness. A difficult situation becomes more painful – and far stranger – with the arrival of death in the form of a talking bird. Plus, our critics share their favourite films currently in cinemas. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In our summer film special, we find out about three great big-screen releases. We hear about a happiness agent in the Bhutanese Himalayas in ‘Agent of Happiness’, explore the moving new Netflix film ‘Daughters’ and jump into the chaotic world of an Irish-language rapping group in ‘Kneecap’.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.