[Podcast Review] Coverville

So far I've only reviewed WoW related podcasts, so I thought I'd mix it up this week and appeal to the music nerds.

Brian Ibbott is reportedly the "nicest guy in all of podcasting". While I haven't had a whole lot of personal dealings with him, I certainly can't disagree. So far, he's played my request on the show, written back to me shortly after I sent him an e-mail with my show idea, and is following me on Twitter. That is one nice guy.

Coverville, as you might imagine, is a podcast dedicated to covers of songs. And we're not talking karaoke at the local bar kinds of covers, these are real, honest-to-goodness reimaginings of the songs. Brian chooses versions that will appeal to a very broad range of listeners, rather than, say, the hardcore metal version of "Over the Rainbow". For example, I am not the biggest fan of Dolly Parton, but I've got to say that the Dolly episode is one of my favorite so far. Her version of Stairway to Heaven is a must listen.

There are several formats for shows. The Cover Story takes one artist and presents covers of their songs and songs that they've covered. There are Originalvilles, where Brian plays the original versions of songs whose covers were more popular. Listener request shows. You get the idea. It's a fantastic mix of songs you know by artists you don't and songs you've never heard of by artists you know. Brian has a huge knowledge base and clearly has a passion for the topic.

The only thing I would change would be to selfishly make the episodes longer. But, realistically, since episodes are released 3 TIMES A WEEK!!!!, that's more total content than most of my podcasts put out. The length of each show is actually pretty perfect, keeping whatever the topic at hand is from getting dull or over done. I just wish Brian Ibbott could be my personal dj every day. At least I have the archives.

[edit] I forgot to mention the awesome-est part of Coverville. In the show notes, Brian provides links to places where you can buy the songs played during the episode. It's a fantastic way to find new bands.

[Podcast Review] How I WoW

How I WoW might be a bit of a misnomer. Their tag line is "@ the intersection of Real Life and World of Warcraft". This is a more accurate description.

Patrick and Shawn began as (and are still) regular contributors to The Instance. They've branched off to make what I find to be a very entertaining, if not entirely WoW-centric, podcast. It's an interview based format with guests who are WoW players, very often those who are also what I will call "WoW Web Celebs".

It's still a young podcast, especially in terms of number of episodes. Their 1 year anniversary show is episode #17. The earlier ones are definately a bit rough. Both Patrick and Shawn are a bit overly concerned reigning the subject back in to WoW and a time limit. Later episodes become a bit looser and, consequently, more enjoyable.

While some of the more hardcore WoW players might argue that most interviews don't have too much to do with Warcraft, but I find that to be to their credit. It is "How I WoW". It's people who game and how it fits into their lives. The longer format allows the guests to really be themselves, which is extremely enlightening.

If you don't have enough time to listen to anything but the most hardcore podcast, there are still a few episodes that are must listens. Episode 1 has Scott Johnson, who is always fascinating. Turpster is on episode 9, and without Mike Schramm from WoW Insider to reel him in, he really gets to run a bit wild. It's fantastically funny.

This isn't to say that the other episodes aren't worth listening to. They're all wonderful, and the format just gets better and better as Patrick and Shawn become more comfortable with their positions as hosts. Felicia Day is precious and makes me question things about myself (Sorry, honey) and Curt Shilling's episode is great for us baseball fans to see this whole other side of him.

I need to mention the two part anniversary show. The first half (Episode 16) has a bunch of the most popular guests from the past years' podcasts all on together. It is a laugh riot. The second part (#17) is interesting in that the person interviewed does not play WoW. But it's Jonathan Coulton, so that makes it awesome. It works because so many machinima set to his songs have been made using WoW footage, and he is a huge nerd at heart. If you're a fan of JoCo, it's a good listen.

How I WoW is a great listen. Highly recommended for it's entertainment value.

[Podcast Review] The Instance

This is the first in my series of podcast reviews spawned by my new found love of podcasts. Most of them will be World of Warcraft related, but the rest will be pertinent geek life.

I'm going to start right off and say that I love The Instance. I'll admit, I'm a bit of a fangirl of Scott Johnson. I read all his comics, listen to all his podcasts, read his blog. But I digress...

Scott Johnson and Randy "Deluxe" Jordan have fantastic chemistry. They balance each other perfectly. This does a lot to do attract the high numbers of listeners that they have that don't actually play World of Warcraft. If Scott goes off on a rant about this or that, Randy is there with the hard facts to bring him back again. Randy and Scott can be on opposite sides of an issue, but it never decays into an arguement. After so many episodes together, they've developed a rapport and inside jokes have developed. I mean, who would have thought that Scott's wrestling name in high school would be the same as the band that Randy played bass for?

It's very clear that both of them have a passion for the game and truly enjoy playing. It is not a podcast that's going to teach you how to get that extra 5 points of DPS in 25 man Naxx. It's more concerned with making sure that you get the most out of the game no matter what your play style is. They strive to make sure that listeners know what's going on in the game and with Blizzard in general so that no one misses out on anything. Most refreshing is that unlike some WoW players, they never loose sight of the fact that it is a game and should be enjoyable, otherwise it's not worth playing.

The format consists regular segments for every episode covering the biggest news, WoW rumors, and questions from listeners. Episodes generally run about an hour and a half, but if the particular episode happens to be jam-packed, Scott and Randy are more than happy to let it run long to cover everything. I have to say, this is a rarity in WoW podcasts. Many others tend to be a bit too tied to their "time limit" and will cut off topics without letting them progress to their logical conclusion. However, they also know when someone (like a guest... ahem, Turpster) is wandering a bit too far off target and Scott and Randy are excellent at reigning them back in without stifling conversation.

Regular contributions from listeners like Patrick (from How I WoW), Mean Gene, Buxley, and others provides a variety of information for listeners. These segments contain information in little snippets that if they were the basis of the podcast would bog it down in number crunching and urls. There's the Mod of the Week, PvP tips, twinking tips, and many others that come and go from week to week. This might be one of The Instance's best qualities: Anyone can contribute. My favorites, by far, are the WoW parody songs. Those get stuck in my head, and I sing them for days.

The Instance has the highest production values of any WoW podcast I've yet heard. The segments submitted by listeners vary in quality, but all are better than many whole podcasts I've heard. This does a lot to make it enjoyable. There aren't any sound problems to distract from the content. A lot of smaller podcasts suffer this fate, I feel, making me not want to listen even if I am completely interested in the subject matter.

The Instance has been described to me as "listening to a couple of your close friends talk about WoW." It's true, Scott and Randy feel like friends to me now. I follow both of them on Twitter. (You can follow me too!) But I've got to tell you, it's way more interesting than listening to my friends talk about WoW. And while the expansion and all the new content had a lot to do with it, The Instance has really gotten me "into" WoW again. I'm even thinking about overlooking my distaste for leveling alts just to join the guild they started, Alea Iacta Est. I find that even though the podcast is all about playing WoW in whatever way you find enjoyable, it makes me want to be a better WoW player.

So, thanks, Scott and Randy, for setting the bar so high for other WoW podcasts.