Ralf Zeigermann: The Cartoonist Talks

The Cartoonist Talks Again.

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:48:42 GMT

It's about time, isn't it. The last podcast was almost a year ago and now it's time to end the laziness.

In this brand new podcast I'm talking to Zoe McCarthy, author of the book My Boyfriend is a Twat (Zoe can be found blogging here), and to Quarsan, Zoe's partner, who writes for Blairwatch (if he's not trying to convince Zoe to get some more satellite dishes and a shed). Heavy breathing throughout courtesy of Basil; when he's not breathing heavily, we're talking about Zoe's book, about protests by French farmers in Brussels, rockets targeting helicopters, Blairwatch, European politics, David Davis, and George Parker.

Download The Cartoonist Talks, Episode 9. Enjoy.

A Cartoonist Exclusive. Wire: Read & Burn 03. An Interview with Colin Newman.

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 20:12:07 GMT

All of a sudden, Wire is back; its next release is called Read & Burn 03 and it will be available to the public from 12th November onwards via posteverything.com or from your favourite record shop 'round the corner.

Photo: Fergus Kelly

Read & Burn 03: a new record by Wire. Those 4 songs are amazing. Totally different from the Send material, the songs develop more towards some kind of "Art-Pop-Rock", and this is Wire at its best. It's Pop, and it's not. Expect drones. Expect fuzzy guitars. Don't expect Send. Hey, it's Wire.

I had the opportunity to talk to Colin Newman, the frontman of Wire, about the new release, about Wire and about the future of Wire. And for the first time ever you can listen right here to excerpts of the new material before the actual release on November 12; enjoy the music.

You can download the podcast here [25mins, 19MB]. Alternatively, if the link still works (iTunes can be incredibly funny at times), here's the direct link to iTunes.

Photo: Marius Hansen

From Wire's press release:
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, Read & Burn 03 — the latest in Wire's series of 'research and development' vehicles — will be delivered to an unsuspecting world's door on November 12, 2007.

With a running time of over 25 minutes, Read & Burn 03 is a substantial chunk of audio and offers significant signposting in the third reactivation of Wire as a recording entity.

Having spent the four-and-a-half years since the May 2003 release of Send, their last full length studio album, consolidating and reappraising their back catalogue (by means of CD and DVD releases and re-releases of their '70s material) and for the most part remaining out of the public eye, Wire have nonetheless not been creatively idle. Although drawing on a resource pool of material developed over the entire post-Send period, Read & Burn 03 benefits substantially from a concentrated creative effort and newly defined aesthetic sense developed since mid-2006. Wire, ever multi-layered, ever redefined, is evolving yet again. No greater indication of the seismic shift in Wire's intentions can be given than the very fact that the first track on the band's first utterance for almost five years is nearly 10 minutes long!

Wire: Read & Burn 03 - Pinkflag pf16
23 Years Too Late (09:46)
Our Time (04:33)
No Warning Given (05:25)
Desert Diving (05:30)

Photo: Annette Green

Apart from that, there's not much left to say. Just listen to my podcast with Colin Newman.

Links:
Posteverything - order Read & Burn right there
The Wire Website
The Wire Mailing List
Wire @ Wikipedia
The Cartoonist Talks

Technorati: Wire, Read & Burn 03, Colin Newman, The Cartoonist Talks

The Cartoonist talks to George Parker.

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 07:36:20 GMT

This time I'm talking to George Parker, who has been working in the ad business for more than 678 years. He's a copywriter who used to be an art director in the early 60s, and he's won several Cannes Gold and Silver Lions, Clios, Effies and whatnot. Before I get carried away, read his official bio:

George Parker has more than 30 years of agency experience with prestigious Madison Avenue firms such as Ogilvy & Mather, Young & Rubicam, J. Walter Thompson and many others. He is the winner of hundreds of advertising awards, including Cannes Gold and Silver Lions, Clios, Effies and the David Ogilvy award. His blog AdScam was named one of the four best advertising blogs in the world by Campaign Magazine.

I had the pleasure of getting drunk with him in a pub on Tottenham Court Road a fortnight ago. Which should be reason enough to listen to this podcast.

You can download the podcast here or subscribe directly via iTunes.

George and I talk about the current state of advertising; about his book, about logos, and about clients and presentations. Enjoy.

And now for the usual links:
George Parker, Writer and Creative Consultant
Adscam
Adhurl
The Brand Republic weblog, MadScam (subscription, free)
His book, Madscam — Kick-ass advertising without the Madison Avenue price tag

The commercials were stolen from YouTube/Retromercials and the fabulous RetroJunk website. The background noise, reminiscent of Darth Vader, is courtesy of my fabulous operators' chair, a swinging 60's model from the waiting room of a dental practice. No advertising agents were harmed during the production of this podcast. Copyright © 2007 by Ralf Zeigermann and George Parker.

The Cartoonist talks to Franz Bielmeier.

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 13:19:19 GMT

This was fun. Franz is an old friend of mine and was a founding member and guitarist of Charley's Girls, who later became Mittagspause. In the late 70's he founded the Rondo record label (here's a link to the publications); these days he is busy working on various solo projects, most notably his Schwester Strahl series, a germanized version of the Velvets' Sister Ray. Which I find absolutely fabulous.

You can download the podcast here, or subscribe to my podcasts via iTunes. Since I'm slowly, but steadily running out of webspace, there's no m4a file this time, only the boring mp3. I'll insert the pictures that were supposed to go into the webcast simply here.

Franz Bielmeier, 1977. In the background Peter Hein.

Also, apologies to all my English, American etc. readers — this podcast is entirely in German, because it makes sense and there's nothing more stupid than two Germans talking in English to each other.

Oh, one more thing: Franz was so kind allowing me to upload one of his latest songs. So here's Invoc [MP3, 15MB]; 11 minutes of fantastic noise.

And now enjoy.

The usual links:
Franz Bielmeier | Mittagspause | Verschwende deine Jugend | Ratinger Hof

Franz Bielmeier today.

The Cartoonist talks to Githead and Wire, Part #3.

Sat, 24 Mar 2007 19:41:00 GMT

Yes, I'm back from Milan. At last. I hope. You never know.

In the final part of The Cartoonist talks to Githead, Colin Newman, Malka Spigel and I talk about various things: Malka's Lomography, Ratinger Hof, Wire, CMYK, RGB, Graphic Designers' jokes, and so on. In fact, I think this Part Number 3 is the most interesting of them all. Enjoy.

You can subscribe to my podcasts right here in iTunes. Or download the MP3 file here.

And now for some linkage:

Maya Newman on flickr
Wire
Wireviews
Githead
Verschwende deine Jugend
Ratinger Hof

Thanks again.

The Cartoonist talks to Githead, Part #2.

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 13:57:18 GMT

In the second part we're talking mostly about Rotterdam, about the new album, and about the Internet. In fact, it's Colin Newman who's doing most of the talking, which I really enjoyed.

In Part #3, which will follow next weekend, we'll talk about Wire, Ratinger Hof, MySpace, Lomography, and Jürgen Engler.

You can subscribe to my podcasts right here in iTunes. Or download the MP3 file here.

Some more Githead-related links:

The Githead Homepage
Githead on flickr
Posteverything

And now enjoy the new podcast. As always: many thanks to Colin & Malka.

Githead: official press photo.