Podcast: Dissect

Are you a fan of contemporary pop and hip-hop? Make Spotify podcast Dissect—on which host Cole Cuchna delves into the nuance, meaning, history and context of recent records, the sonic literature of our time—your next listen. Season 8, out now, explores Childish Gambino’s 2013 immersive multimedia musical project Because the Internet, while previous seasons analyze albums by Kendrick Lamar; Kanye West; Frank Ocean; Lauryn Hill; Tyler, the Creator and Beyoncé. –C. Moon Reed

Music: Fleet Foxes: Shore

A glance at the track lengths on Fleet Foxes’ fourth album—almost all between two and four and a half minutes—suggests it, and a listen confirms: Robin Pecknold has simplified his songwriting on Shore. Where 2017’s Crack-Up featured unpredictably complex arrangements—some eclipsing the six- and eight-minute marks—its 2020 follow-up whittles down to the Foxes’ essentials: timeless melodies, lush instrumentation and Pecknold’s piercingly pure voice. The world is complicated enough right now; this is just what we need. –Spencer Patterson

TV: Away

The urge to explore frontiers beyond our homes is understandable right now. Fortunately, we have Away, a 10-part space drama starring Oscar winner Hilary Swank as Emma Green, commander of the first manned mission to Mars. She leads an international crew of four on a three-year assignment, while trying to find space/life balance with the family she has left behind. The science is fun to watch—the astronauts drink vodka shots in zero gravity—but it’s the personal drama that tethers this yarn. In these diminished, sequestered times, Away reminds us of humanity’s potential for expansiveness. Netflix. –Genevie Durano

TV: Pen15

Real-life best friends and adult comedians Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle play preteen versions of themselves in the year 2000, surrounded by actual middle schoolers. The duo dug deep into their nerdy tween years to write these awkward coming-of-age tales based on their intimate and often horrifyingly embarrassing memories. Painstakingly portraying the experience of growing up in the early aughts (like talking to their crushes on AIM using a dial-up modem), Pen15’s second season should resonate with any girl who has ever tried to climb the social ladder—and failed. Hulu. –Leslie Ventura

Book: Airline Visual Identity 1945-1975

There was once a time—before 9/11, before the coronavirus, before no-frills bargain carriers—when the act of flying somewhere was considered glamorous and exciting. Passengers even dressed up for the occasion, unthinkable in our current era of masked, high-altitude bus rides prefaced by a complimentary body cavity search. This lavish coffee-table book by M.C. Hühne recalls the sexiness of that era through vintage magazine and travel agency-poster advertising, and it’s a must-own for fans of mid-century design and Mad Men. (And yes, Las Vegas is in that mix, where it belongs.) $70. –Geoff Carter