Pod-Alization: Asexual; The Brits Aunt & Uncle; Murder in A Small Town

This week, we recommend three podcasts that are all looking for something different: human connection, family closeness, and safety from violence. Plus, the weekly recommendations from Earbuds Podcast Collective.

First up is Ace of Hearts. Host Maddy Goshornl, who is asexual and has little to no experience in the dating world, explores modern dating by bringing in a variety of perspectives, stories and interactions that people have had because of a certain identifier. Every episode, Maddy will interview a few individuals of different genders, disabilities, nationalities, orientations and many more identities that can make us feel divided. For the crowd who thinks gender and sexual orientation is simply black and white, here's a podcast that swims in grays.

The host unites us back together by talking about something we all want: Genuine Connection. So, join Maddy every Tuesday as they interview people from all walks of life to talk about looking for love, and how it’s always tough…just in different ways.

Then we fly "across the pond" to check out a brilliantly quirky U.K. podcast. Michael & Hilary Whitehall's hit podcast, The Wittering Whitehalls, just returned for its fourth season. Despite Michael famously having "no idea what a podcast was" when they started out, The Wittering Whitehalls  has over five million downloads and "has topped the Apple Podcast Charts."

The hilarious yet wise problem-solving podcast invites listeners to feel a part of the Whitehall family banter, where they can put forward their own questions, thoughts and problems. From tattoos to teachers, and romance to careers – each week, Michael & Hilary will get stuck in, offering their wisdom, advice and occasional outrage on a variety of topics.

Michael & Hilary have firmly established themselves as a comedy duo, with season four promising more of the same beloved dynamic. Expect Michael's off-topic rants and name-dropping showbiz anecdotes alongside Hilary's never-ending optimism and witty remarks, plus the occasional special guest along the way...

Check out this podcast. I found it refreshingly different. It is, of course, uniquely, British, and is full of sharp humor, sage advice, and restrained outrage.

Our third recommendation perhaps discredits Jason Aldean's recent controversial country musical hit, "Try This In A Small Town."

iHeartMedia and Aliza Rozen’s AYR Media have just released “The Murder Years,” a new, scripted drama series inspired by true events. Hosted by “90210” star Gabrielle Carteris, the eight-part series centers around a number of bizarre, mysterious deaths in a small, sleepy town. Was it a curse? A stroke of bad luck? Or something more sinister?

In the eight-part series, Carteris (playing the role of “Nancy Clark”) is a woman who reinvestigates the murders that defined her high school years in the 1980s. Some claimed these killings were a streak of bad luck, while others said they were tied to an ancient curse. Forty years later, as the students who lived through these terrifying years revisit their past—the music, the clothes, the gossip, the murders—it seems the “curse” might be returning to this sleepy town via a new round of unexplainable, bizarre, and violent deaths.

“The Murder Years” premiered last week, with new episodes every Thursday, and is distributed by iHeartPodcasts. 

 Finally, to get more podcast recommendations that are carefully curated and exhaustively researched for specific listener tastes, check out Arielle Nissenblatt's Earbuds Podcast Collective where each week, five podcast episodes on a theme are curated by a different person. 

This week, it's Stories of Resilient Women.