12 episodes

What is this? Since the beginning I have been asked this question countless times. From family members peering over my shoulder to look at my earliest notebook scribblings, to investors, wary of sinking their cash into a project that is - at least in appearance - so ambiguous. But The Hamburg Design Review is not ambiguous. We have a direction. I come from a family of reviewers and writers. People who, like those who chase after storms, have spent their lives leaping into 4x4 vehicles and driving towards the horizon of the mind. Chasers of ideals and ideas, those who seek to fuse styles and bridge conceptual gaps. Ultimately, to find forms of public expression that are more innovative, and more inviting.The HDR is a forum for such expression, be it serious, or silly, or written, or visual, perhaps aural. Who knows and who could even say? Perhaps, if we are lucky, we will have all of these given to us, in one heady shot of the contemporary.So what is this? Now I ask you.I ask you to pick up the salt shaker and that little wedge of lime.Let us try this shot together.The Editor x.

Hamburg Design Review Hamburg Design Review

    • Fiction

What is this? Since the beginning I have been asked this question countless times. From family members peering over my shoulder to look at my earliest notebook scribblings, to investors, wary of sinking their cash into a project that is - at least in appearance - so ambiguous. But The Hamburg Design Review is not ambiguous. We have a direction. I come from a family of reviewers and writers. People who, like those who chase after storms, have spent their lives leaping into 4x4 vehicles and driving towards the horizon of the mind. Chasers of ideals and ideas, those who seek to fuse styles and bridge conceptual gaps. Ultimately, to find forms of public expression that are more innovative, and more inviting.The HDR is a forum for such expression, be it serious, or silly, or written, or visual, perhaps aural. Who knows and who could even say? Perhaps, if we are lucky, we will have all of these given to us, in one heady shot of the contemporary.So what is this? Now I ask you.I ask you to pick up the salt shaker and that little wedge of lime.Let us try this shot together.The Editor x.

    HDR Sketch Pod #4: Facial Recognition, Belpress (not what you think) and an Irish Cat

    HDR Sketch Pod #4: Facial Recognition, Belpress (not what you think) and an Irish Cat

    Once again, it's been a while. But gone are the days when one guy would stay home looking after the podcast while the other could go to work and support all three on a factory wage. Whatever. In this edition we ask: is there anything the IT team can't do? Can a cat have an accent? How does facial recognition actually work? And finally, what happens when an intrepid reporter gets bored on a family holiday? Thems the contents. This is the show. The big show. The Hamburg Design Review SketchPod 4 (four).  Running order: 00:32 (Facial Recognition), 06:17 (Irish Cat), 10:08 (Data Sync), 21:14 (Belpress), 25:32 (Ice Cream Crisis). 

    • 32 min
    Shadplex Part One: The Viewing

    Shadplex Part One: The Viewing

    Welcome to Shadplex, London's newest community-based 'community' living project. Come and bask in the reflected glow of fresh windows and chrome-detailed room-for-one balconies in this break clause-free and frozen interest rate-rich paradise. This is a place where agents of the estate can be themselves, clad in slimfit, viewing properties with abandon, ordering non-romano-style pizzas... even raising families in this holy image. But things aren't always what they seem. High in these semi-towers, these... these units, machinations are at play.  Afoot, even. For young father Joshua Oglesby, the extent to which things are afoot is about to become all too real. So... what do you think? Spacious, right?

    • 21 min
    HDR Sketch Pod #3: Radio Ads, Daytime TV and a hungover Mars Rover...plus some other bits

    HDR Sketch Pod #3: Radio Ads, Daytime TV and a hungover Mars Rover...plus some other bits

    Cast your tired mind back to those precious days, those most hallowed of days on which you convinced mum you were too ill for school. Sick, headache, dizzy - all masterfully faked, and why? So you could sit in an unnecessary blanket and watch daytime TV and soak in the waves of the radio. Culture, all of it. Look, let's keep this short, it's been a while since you heard from us at the HDR. I'd say "our bad", but it's not, it's actually all your fault. Anyway, even though you did...that, here's the long anticipated return of the Hamburg Design Review's Sketch Pod, number 3 - of which the running order can be found hence:
    CLBAITS1 - 00:26 / CouldSoundLike - 03:05 / CLBAITS2 - 07:05 / Bookcast - 08:24 / Mars Rover - 10:10 / CLBAITS3 - 18:02 / Frisky Finance - 20:06

    • 27 min
    Cracker Pull: A Christmas Unravelling

    Cracker Pull: A Christmas Unravelling

    Wow! For me? It's heavy....what could it be? Years of betrayal? The instant erosion of familial trust? Goofy sushi socks? Oh my god! It's the Hamburg Design Review Christmas Special! 
    That's right. After months of silence we're back with hot Xmas fire. Join our family in that tender space we all know so well, that little moment between the scoffing of a Christmas lunch and the discovery of some dreadful truths. As usual, IT'S ONLY LIVE ONCE, which isn't now, but it's still here with the HDR's standard musical background and lack of monetary sponsorship. Enjoy xxX. 

    • 19 min
    CSI: Chess Stuff Investigators - EP1: Zurich

    CSI: Chess Stuff Investigators - EP1: Zurich

    As far as Otto Meirtendel was concerned, his trip to Zurich, Switzerland, was about tagging along with chess's primary law enforcement body - routine stuff. HDR's special reporter would then half-arsedly pen a simple piece, file it, and collect his really quite generous rate of €0.57 per word (pre-tax). Little did he know the extent to which the road ahead of him would twist, turn and fragment, writhing kaleidoscopically until all thoughts (not least those of his aforementioned and indisputably ample remuneration) were blitzed...are mushed...will be yada yada.  
    This first episode covers Otto's arrival and rendezvous with the CSI's agents. As usual the story is bedded in a lush and newly clarinetted original soundtrack, ensuring your ultimate immersion. 
    Enjoy, HDR xxxx
     

    • 6 min
    Sorry, mate...I don't have any cash on me: Episode 1.

    Sorry, mate...I don't have any cash on me: Episode 1.

    A busy train rattles its way through London's subterranean dirt. On board, one man asks for any spare change and another tells a bold lie. 'Sorry, mate...I don't have any cash on me' (SMIDHACOM) is a story of lives intertwined and the uncomfortable  foibles of very minor personal finance. Episode 1: The Bag introduces us to Angus, a young man full of Snickers Duo with a bag full of £54,000,003.65, whose day (and perhaps life) turns around his brazen denial of fact. It's a story! There's our usual musical bedding, plus more real-world sound simulations! It's shorter! And there's more to come! 
    We hope you enjoy. HDR xxx

    • 6 min

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