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Movie: Star Wars – Rogue One (A Star Wars Story, Lucas Film 2016)

Hope, Rebellions are built on hope! This is one of the main statements from Rogue One, the first anthology movie from Disney. Back in 2015, Disney started a new triology with “The Force Awakens”. It tells us how the story goes on after Episode VI. The new movie is not part of the new triology, it’s a standalone movie with it’s own completed story.

“Rogue One” tells us the story how the rebellions capture the plans of the first death star. If we look back to the opening crawl from “A New Hope” we know the sucess by the rebellion but what we don’t know is how? “Rogue One” was produced by Gareth Edwards (Godzilla, Monsters). Edwards tells us in an interview that he was a fan since his childhood and after the first screenplays back in 2014 he feels like a kid again. You can feel these kind of enthusiasm in almost every scene in the movie.

If someone has read my review for “The Force Awakens” last year you already know that I’m not a big fan of the first new Star Wars movie by Disney. One of my main issue with the new movie was the story. It feels like a copy of Episode IV “A new hope”, but everything has to be bigger. I’m still critical with the new triology because I don’t belive that Disney can tells us a good continuation after “The return of the Jedi” (Episode VI). For me, the strategy with the new anthology movies makes much more sense. “Rogue One” starts the series now…

With an completly new cast on the rebellion side and some fimilar characters. The new main character was played by Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones). A rebellion soldier and criminal. She is the daughter from Lyra (Valene Kane) and Gelan Erso (Mads Mikkelsen). Her father was mainly involved to create a new super weapon for the empire. In the opening scene we see how Gelan was captured by imperial officer Orson Krennic (Ben Mendelsohn). Krennic is responsible to complete the new space station, called Death Star. After the opening scene the movie jumps many years forward and shows us an adult Jyn Erso, first captured by the empire and later by the rebellion. The rebellion, led by Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly) intercepted a message from Gelan Erso, that the new super-weapon is almost finished. Jyn should find out what the empire plans next and how his father was involved. She was accompanied by Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) and an re-programmed imperial droid K-2SO played by Alan Tudyk (Firefly – TV Show). That’s how the mission starts. I won’t tell all the details and the full story in this review because you should watch it by your own. What I can say is, that the movie has some very special moments! One of my favourites, is the first scene with Grand Moff Tarkin. Yes, we know that original actor Peter Cushing died in 1994 but to see him (CGI) again creates a very special atmosphere. No one, exceptional of Vader, creates this kind of darkness.

Next, I want to tell you something about the look and feel of “Rogue One”. As I mentioned at the beginning, “Rogue One” tells us the story before “A New Hope” (Episode VI). We all know that “A New Hope” was created in the 70s with a simple look and feel if you watch the movie nowadays. In my opinion “Rogue One” looks brilliant! All the locations feels real, the costumes looks like the same time frame as “A New Hope”. Of course “Rogue One” has special effects, but these ones are excellent. As an example you can pick up the first test shoot by the death star to destroy Jedha. The screening and the music effects are absolutely amazing. Producer Gereth Edwards succeeds to create a standalone movie that fits perfectly between Episode III and Episode IV.

Conclusion: After “The Force Awakens” my expectations were not so high, but this changes after the first teaser trailer of “Rogue One”. One of “Rogue One” strengthen is his independence. You don’t have the feeling to look at a copy of a movie like “The Force Awakens”. Of course the story is not very special and the events are known because we all know how “A New Hope” ends but the presentation is very great. “Rogue One” is a war movie and maybe one of the darkest Star Wars movies since “The Empire strikes back” and that’s the reason why I like it as much. By now I’m more hyped by the anthology series and I also look forward to the Han Solo movie in 2018. If the movie provides one feeling, than it’s – Hope! A new hope also for new Star Wars movies!

Music: Ben Lukas Boysen – Spells (Erased Tapes Records, 2016)

I never heard before about Ben Lukas Boysen. The berlin based composer has released a bunch of records before “Spells” and “Gravity” landed as acclaimed electronic producer HECQ. He released nine albums since 2003, exploring everything from ambient to breakcore. Friend and fellow Erased Tapes artist Nils Frahm mixed and mastered both new albums. You can hear that collaboration in every moment of “Spells”.

Frahm is a mastermind on the piano and Ben shines with his live improvisation. “Spells” sounds fresh from the first tone, because its combined the programmed piano on the one hand and the live instruments on the other. It started with “The Vail”, an slow piano driven opening track that you might believe that the time stands still. The following “Nocturne 3” catches these feelings and let you dives deep in this atmosphere. “Spells” starts slow until “Golden Times I” pushes carefully in speed and loudness. It’s definitely one of the highlights on “Spells”. In some cases “Spells” remind me about the classical elements of A Winged Victory For The Sullen and the electronic parts of the outstandig last record from Jon Hopkins. The secound half of “Spells” follow the roots of the first, classic combined with modern electronic elements. While “Nocturne 4” builds slowly at the beginning, it punches in the middle with a similar climax then “Golden Times I”. “Keep Watch” slows down the speed again and works with typically mordern classical elements. The string camber sound feels fantastic on this one. “Spells” feels great as debut record and pushes my expactations ahead for a follow up in the future. If you love the sound of piano driven music, you have to explore this record!

Music: Andy Stott – Too Many Voices (Modern Love, 2016)

The first time I have explored Stott’s music was in 2012. I have read a track review on pitchfork. It was about his new track “Numb”. His first collaboration with Alison Skidmore, his ex-piano teacher. It was that kind of a track you are into it since the first seconds. At the beginning the echo vocals from Skidmore generates a very special mood and after the first third, Stott follows with his industrial dub bass.

In the same year Stott releases “Luxury Problems” on the manchester based label Modern Love. It includes the mentioned track “Numb” and a bunch of other great selections. It was also my album of the year 2012! Following this I explored more and more that kind of sound. Togehter with Miles Whittaker he also collaborates under the name Millie & Andrea and that’s not less spectacular. “Drop the Vowels” is a very rough dub techno record. Not easy to handle at the first time but very enjoyful later. In 2014 Stott release the follow up to “Luxury Problems” it calls “Faith in Strangers”. For me it has not the same effect like “Luxury Problems”. Not a bad record at all but my expectations goes in another direction. “Faith in Stranges” seems to smooth and to poopy in my ears. I like the dark elements of Millie & Andrea combined with the vocal work from “Luxury Problems”. But I have to say that I don’t spend so much time on this release. For his new record “Too Many Voices” I act a little bit carefully. The albums first indicator “Butterflies” doesn’t make it much better (my initial thoughts). Stott has never written before a track like this. It sounds very R&B stylish and poppy. For me the second outtake from “Too Many Voices” does make it much better. “Selfish” is a beast of a track! It’s exactly that great damaged dub style from Millie & Andrea that I loved in 2014. This is also the reason why I love the new record much more than the predecessor. My first reference here is Oneothrix Point Never. There are some elements in it where you think about the craziness of the last OPN releases. In the album context “Butterflies” sounds great and led you into this new collection. “New Romantic” shines with a great flow however the following up “First Night” is more like a monotonous dub bass track. In “Forgotten” Stott plays with melodies and loop killing effects. But one of my highlights from side B is “On My Mind”. It beginns with a rough bass and flows in a similar melody like “New Romantic”. The closing point sets the album title track “Too Many Voices”. At the very latest point you can feel Stott’s inspration source, the fourth-world pop of Japan’s Yellow Magic Orchestra. It’s a vision of the future as was once imagined; artificial, strange and immaculate (Boomkat).

Music: Roly Porter – Third Law (Triangle Records, 2016)

Back in late 2015, Bristol based composer Roly Porter released his first piece of new music since is briliant last output “Life Cycle of a Massive Star” from 2013. Porter was one half of dub tech/industrial duo Vex’d. Since his first solo records Porter enters a more experimantal style in his music. It has definitely a lot of sub-bass and modern classical elements in it. Some people call it simple Dark-Ambient.

Porters new one could be his heaviest by now. This observation already takes place on the first track of “Third Law”. “4101” could be easily on the latest Haxan Cloak record. Heavy, dark and totally frightening! On “Third Law” Porter works more with switching elements like on his last one. Some parts are very loud and heavy and others are more quiet and spooky. This leds to an interesting journey. From the punishment of “Mass” and “Departure Stage” to the lumbering cacophony of “Blind Blackening.” This kind of music was created for good headphones! “Third Law” is intensive and frightened at the same time. It could be also a fantastic soundtrack for the next alien movie. “Third Law” trades emotion for physical power and presence. Porter combined on the new one the aggression of his early materials into the maturity and otherworldliness of his solo work, and the result is definitely astonishing. One of the years top list records in 2016!

Movie: Star Wars – The Force Awakens (Episode VII, Lucas Film 2015)

We all know these kind of words: “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”. The beginning of each Star Wars chapter. It’s a while since we read these lines. After the sale of Lucas Film to Disney at the end of 2012 they also announced a new Star Wars triology started in 2015. The news generate a massive hype for this new Star Wars chapture. But there are also critical statements about the Disney deal.

Does it looks like Episode I-III? If we look at the tickets and merchandise sales for the prequels they were definitly a success. The critics for Episode I-III drawn another picture. If you look at IMDB you know what I mean. As a fan of the old triology IV – VI you don’t like the massive CGI effects and the comedy elemets of the prequels. In january 2013 Disney announced that JJ Abrahams produced the new Star Wars movie “The Force Awakens”. Abrahams also produced Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness. Is he the right one to re-boot this famous brand? I don’t remind any other movie that produced a hype ahead of it’s release like this one. Since Disney showed the first teaser in 2014 it was 100 million times re-watched. The pressure and high expectations to “The Force Awakens” were massive. To massive?

With Star Wars “The Force Awakens” we’ve got new main actors Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Finn (John Boyega) and also old known heros like Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) and Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher). The new actors takes a central part of the movie. We started with Rey: Rey, played by Daisy Ridley is a scrap collector on Jakku. She earned her subsistence with the collect of spare parts from old space ships. She lives on Jakku and count the days until her family comes back. I’m definitly a fan of the acting from Daisy Ridley. She makes a great job about expressions and feelings for her new role as Ray. The second main actor is Finn played by John Boyega. He was trained to be a Stormtrooper. On his first fight, that’s the opening scene of the movie, he decides that he don’t want to kill for the First Order. The First Order is the succession of the Empire. The movie acts round about 30 years after “The return of the Jedi” (Episode VI) and describes the rise of the First Order with leader Kylo Ren. Kylo Ren is looking for a map with the exact resistance of Luce Skywalker – the last existed Jedi. At the beginning of the film – Pilot Poe Dameron acted by Oscar Isaac gives the information to a droid called BB8 to hide the resistance in front of Kylo Ren. That’s how the story for Episode IIV starts. For me, the story in Episode IIV is one of the main issues. It looks like a re-boot from Episode IV “A New Hope”. Here are some examples: The opposition have plans and doesn’t want that the First Order / Empire takes it – Rey’s adventure starts on a desert planet, like Luke’s and Anakin’s does – Han Solo is again in smuggler troubles – The Empire / First Order creates s ultimate weapon called Death Star / Star Killer Base – The new weapon has one initial weak spot – A new Father / Son story between Han Solo and Kylo Ren (Ben) like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker. There are many others but these are the flashy ones. The movie also have some logical issues like the scene with the bounded Ray and the usage of the force for the first time. But that isn’t very bad – it’s still a science fiction movie, so no one expected a realistic one. And humor? Don’t get me wrong, Star Wars was never a comedy movie but it has these elemets of great jokes and cool sayings. On this Episode the jokes weren’t terrible at all but it looks a little bit inflated. On the other hand there are also some great points for “The Force Awakens”. For me, the first part of the movie in general. The introduction of the First Order / Kylo Ren and Ray on Jakku. The look and feel of the new Episode. It looks more like a classic Star Wars Episode. Less CGI effects, more original costumes and realistic places. It looks great. Another good thing: The old main cast and space ships. It was a nice moment when the camara shows the old Millenium Falcon once again in action. And yes, Han Solo and Chewbacca are home. These points are very important and helps the movie to skip some weak moments.

If you look this movie as a fan of the old episodes (like me) you can pick some great moments. On the other hand this episode will never be a classic one because the movie isn’t independently enough to bring you back in 1977. If you only want to watch a si-fi movie with a high entertainment value you are definitly in the right place. The thing is, it’s not possible to connect all supporters from the prequals and the old triology. That’s one problem of “The Force Awakens”. The other one is his missing own identity. For me it’s not a bad movie and I have a great time in cinema, but I expact more from a Star Wars movie. My hopes are not gone with Episode IIV but I expect more with Episode VIII. And there are some open questions!

Music: Anthony Naples – Body Pill (TEXT Records, 2015)

Anthony Naples is a musician and producer currently based in Berlin. His music is often described as a raw and left field mixture of House and electronic music. His debut release “Mad Disrespect” was an underground succes and in the early months of 2013, three 12″ were released in quick succession – most notably a slightly abstract four-track EP on The Trilogy Tapes imprint.

I became aware of Naples in a DJ Set from Four Tet. It was his Ray Ban Boiler Room set from last year. He played the track “Perro” an simple but hypnotic house track. A couple days later he uploaded the set on soundcloud but there was no signal about a detailed tracklist. There were also many requests about the tracklist but no words about the played tracks. There were also 1-2 months passed away until a still twitter announcement by Four Tet. In this post he announced the track id and the upcoming ep by Anthony Naples. At the beginning of 2015 Naples released his debut album on Four Tet’s label TEXT Records. “Body Pill” was a rough pice of house music with a litte touch of ambiente. Not that kind of typically club house music. It is definitly more experimental and you need a little time to get into it. It’s a short pice of music the album runtime is about 30 minutes but there is a good variant of tracks. Maybe his debut is not quite as good as his past ep’s but it is still a great record. In my opinion this producer is just in the early stages, so we will see what comes next by him. Until then you can listen to one of his greatest tracks below “Perro”.

First Spin: Rafael Anton Irisarri

I have never heard before about Rafael Anton Irisarri. Irisarri is an American composer, multi-instrumentalist, electronic music producer, interdisciplinary artist and curator. His music is similar to artists like Tim Hecker and Lawrence English. It’s a kind of ambient and drone music. Very unique and very special!

On October 23 he will released his new album called “A Fragile Geography” on Room 40. I’m getting the tip by a good friend of mine! He shared the first track of the record on facebook. Thanks for that! Resident Advisor wrote a view words about the record: “A Fragile Geography was two years in the making, and marks a difficult in transitional period in the American producer’s life. Not only did he move from Seattle, where he was a staple of the local electronic music scene, to upstate New York, but he was robbed in the process and lost almost all of his gear. The record is also said to reflect “the tensions of contemporary America, contrasting passages of great beauty and calm with harrowing waves of density and pressure.” As with past records under Irisarri’s given name, A Fragile Geography will come via Australian experimental imprint Room40.“ Below you can hear the track “Empire Systems”. What a massive drone tune, can’t wait to listen to the whole record..!

Music: Four Tet – Morning / Evening (TEXT Records, 2015)

Kieran Hebden is a very busy men these days. He works as a producer for his long time colleague Jamie XX and for his first solo record “In Colour”. He also plays extended DJ sets on festivals around the world (Dekmantel, Boiler Room…). For his second music project called Percussions (more club oriented like Four Tet) he also releases new tracks in the last months. Now he is back with a new main release as Four Tet.

It’s his first release on the independet online music store bandcamp. There was no press hype and no marketing campaign for the new record. The new record Morning / Evening is very different from his latest releases. It only has 2 tracks with a playtime of 20 minutes for each one. That’s one thing. The other thing is the music himself. On Morning / Evening Kieran goes back to his roots. Hebden is half-Indian on his mother’s side and for the first time, he says, his music finds him considering his roots. And these influences you can listen to just from the beginning of the record. It sounds a lot like a Bollywood record from Side A (Morning Side). And that’s very difficult to get into it. But don’t get me wrong it is not terrible but it’s miles ahed from his latest releases. The second track (Evening Side) has another feeling but also these Boolywood elements in it. But this track has a great gain in intensity. The last third was amazing – these percussions are great – Kieran Hebden at his best! In my opinion it’s not his best record and miles away from his master pice “There Is Love In You” (Dominio, 2010) but with the new release he explores a new format. I’m not sure if his music is ready for these long tracks but we will see what comes next.

TV Show: Sherlock (BBC One, Season I – III)

The old detective stories from Sherlock Holmes and his colleague Dr. Watson were often filmed in the past. There are two newer movies by Guy Ritchie with Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law as Dr. John Watson. But one of the main differences between the movies and the new tv show is the time period. While the movies represented the original time era from writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle the new BBC TV Show plays in the modern times of London.

This scenario brings a lot of new possibilities for the stories of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Another difference is the format. Normally a TV Show episode provides a length of 40-60 minutes but the Sherlock episodes has the lengh of a feature film (90 minutes). I would like to introduce just the basics of the show and avoid some spoilers. The main actors will be played by Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek Into Darkness, The Imitation Game) as Sherlock and Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, Fargo) as Dr. John Watson.

At the beginning of the series the main characters set up a commune in london city. The new home of both, the traditional 221b Baker Street. The stories are mainly based on the writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with a modern touch. At the beginning of the show they introduced the main characters. Holmes a intelligent young man with the ability to known things much earlier then his colleagues and Dr. Watson an old war veteran with a trauma. The great strengh about Sherlock is the interaction between the main characters. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman interact perfectly together. But that’s not all. Sherlock has also an older brother called Mycroft played by Mark Gatiss and he works for the government. In some cases he needs the help of Sherlock to solve problems. The small desputes of both brothers were represented very enjoyable. But every hero needs a miscreant. In this way it was played by Andrew Scott as Jim Moriarty. I will not reveal to much about Moriarty but what I can say is, he is definitly crazy! And there is also room for a small love story between Sherlock and Mooly Hoper played by Louise Brealey, a pathologist at St. Bart’s Hospital occasionally assists him in his cases. It is very clear that Mooly has feelings about Sherlock, but he is not very interessted in love.

One of the main problems of the show is like every other good tv show: If you are into it you can’t stop to watch it. Yes the format is different you’ve got 3 episodes per season, but that’s all and you have to wait more than 2 years for another season because the main cast has also other movie projects. But this year there are good news for Sherlock fans like me. In December Sherlock comes back to the program with a special episode. This episode is excluded from the main story and acts in the vicorian era of london. I’m very exited about the setting. Hopefully this new epidode can cut down the time until Season 4 comes out.

Concert: Berlin Atonal 2015

This was my first time at Berlin Atonal Festival and it was totally impressive. Unfortunately I have missed it last year. I was a little bit frustrated because the line up from last year was very good (for example artists like Miles, Vessel, Roly Porter and Tim Hecker). But this year I don’t miss it!

I would like to start my short review with a quick overview about the organisation and location. First, organisation: In front of the main building there was a nice area to hang out and taste all the different kind of street food offers. There were more than 6 different stations. I have tried the gorilla burger and it tasted very good. It was no problem to stood outside because it was a late summer day in august. Next up, the location: In the past years I’m attended to many concerts and visited different locations, but this one was totally outstanding. From the outside this old heating plant doesn’t looks very special. It’s just a big industrial concrete building. It is much more impressive if you go into it. There were 3 different areas: the main stage, the stage null and the schaltzentrale. If you go into it you can see at first a few spotlights and an old projector with different screenings at the first floor. The whole decoration was very minimalistic and simple.

In this case it makes totally sense because the atmosphere is very special and unique. If you go up to the second floor you can reach the schaltzentrale and the main stage. The schaltzentrale is a small factory control room with a bank of modular synths stationed. It was used for intimacy live sessions. Very unique!

And than, the main stage. From there you can see how big this location actually is. There is nothing else besides the bar on the left side and the stage in front of the building with the large projector. But now, my concert impressions: The doors opened at 8 pm with Ryo Marukami an minimal techno artist. I don’t know him before, but his performance was not bad. Maybe I should give that kind of music another try in the future. After that I also give me a short break until my favourite artist Alessandro Cortini started his set at 10 pm.

His set was impressive as expected! He presented one of his previous records “Sonno” live. And yes, it was fantastic. The combination between the tracks and the screenplay works perfectly together. It was also nice to hear how the tracks works live. Up next was Sheckleton, but at this moment I feel my legs the first time. It was no fun to stood more than 2 hours on concrete. And yes I’m not more in the 20s! Shackleton’s show was more beats oriented. More effects and no screenplay. I knew a few tracks of him and there were also not bad live.

The last one I have seen was Berlin DJ and producer Rene Pawlowitz alias Shed. The first time I have listened to Shed was in 2010. At that time he has released “The traveller”. The approach from Shed was totally different to Shackleton. The set was heavy bass oriented and also minimalistic in light effects. It was definitely nice to look at. At the end of his set it was round about 2 am in the night and I was totally exhausted because I feel my painful legs and feets again, so I have decided to end up here. Berlin Atonal was definitely a great experience because you can not compete it to any other festival. I’m looking forward to the next year…