Category Archives: Trance

Ironheart is making his New Dawn Collective debut with an epic middle-age embracing release titled Terra Mariana EP. The EP has been slowly teased single by single, the first tracks Besieged, and Armies, proving that this artist has a highly distinctive style that cant be mistaken as anyone else.

Now with the EP fully released, titled track Terra Marina, the full scope of Terra Mariana EP can be endured, giving more definition to this head-turning music project brand new to 2021.

The EP uses genres such as classical, folk, power metal, trance and dubstep alongside medieval soundscapes, (ranging from actual instruments used during the era to sounds inspired by film scores depicting the times.)

The fusion of this type of historical context with multiple angles of modern music culture has never been captured in such a fluid, balanced manner. Ironheart is awe-inspiring and innately gravaties a larger audience to the project that goes beyond EDM.

Terra Mariana EP was born out of a crucial moment in medieval history. The EP name itself is literally Latin for Marys Land, a region that was the last significant bastion of paganism in Europe until it fell under rule of the German Teutonic Order and the by-then Christian Danes.

Oozing with martial and liturgical flavors, Terra Mariana EP is an audial exploration of these historical events, from castle sieges, to conquests, to the brutal Christianization that took place at the end of the 12th century.

Listen to the tracks below.

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Ironheart brings a cinematic medieval experience to dance music with debut EP Terra Mariana - Rave Jungle

Dont let the track title fool you, because theres no shortage of fun in this rebellious tune that unites Armin van Buuren and The Stickmen Project. If at first glance this might seem an unlikely pairing, the truth is that the result of this junction is vibrant, lively and energetic. No Fun was released via Armada Music and is available on the usual platforms.

Electronic music phenomenon Armin van Buuren needs no introduction. After many years of leaving the world in a state of trance, Armin surprises now with another of his out-of-the-box collaborations, proving that he is not here to play safe but to cross all creative barriers. To bring his uplifting feeling, the Dutch artist joins forces with TikTok sensations The Stickman Project, the innovative act that had already performed one of his tracks. About this powerful junction, Armin van Buuren states that:

I loved the cover version The Stickmen Project did of my track Ping Pong. It sparked a flame of creativity within me, and I soon found myself in the studio with them to create this record. I hope everyone will be having a good time whenever No Fun blasts from the speakers!

Shrouded in much secrecy, especially when it comes to their identity, The Stickmen Project have been making a lot of noise recently. Using the various social media networks, especially TikTok, the group has been offering real audiovisual spectacles. Armed with stick and percussion they have been offering fantastic mashups of the most acclaimed songs, including one by Armin van Buuren and now they are teaming up with trance royalty to release a phenomenal track. On the collaboration, the mysterious The Stickmen Project add that:

Armin van Buuren is one of the most legendary DJs and producers of our time, and its been an honour to work with him on the raucous, rebellious anthem that is No Fun. We are so proud of this song and cant wait for the world to hear itthis ones for the renegades!

No Fun is no joke, its a powerful anthem dedicated to the renegades and all those who will jump on the dancefloor to the sound of this electronic fury. The lyrics say a lot to those who cherish their independence, freedom and total power of expression. The meaningful and powerful vocals lead this dance cut. If the voice sounds familiar, youre right, as these are the same edgy vocals from Blah Blah Blah. As youd expect, the percussion is potent and the bass takes up the entire backdrop, moving everyone around mercilessly. Its a raver track of its own and designed to blow away the most powerful sound system. Take a listen to No Fun below:

Image Credit: Armin van Buuren (press), The Stickmen Project (press)

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Armin van Buuren & The Stickmen Project pair up to deliver 'No Fun' - We Rave You

The Brooklyn Nets were playing without two of their three generationally talented superstars against the Orlando Magicon Friday night. Kevin Durant was resting due to a shoulder injury, and Kyrie Irving remains sidelined. James Johnson was thrust into a prominent role due to the lack of depth.

A 34-year-old veteran that was brought in to add some toughness and savvy to this roster, Johnson had essentially fallen out of the rotation, playing in only brief spurts. Johnson was given a chance to prove he should be in this teams short-term plans, and he took full advantage in the most impressive way possible.

Johnson recorded a double-double by scoring 17 points and hauling in 10 rebounds. The Magic may be very young, but theyve invested a ton of resources in their frontcourt. It was one of the best bench performances weve seen all year from a team that isnt exactly dominant in that area.

It also came during Blake Griffins questionable streak of play and the extended loss of Nicolas Claxton. Did Johnson successfully make a case for increased minutes? The Nets could stand to benefit from leaning on someone with his style of play.

Johnson may not have the most varied offensive game, but he can be automatic on floaters and jump hooks in the paint. The combination of Johnson and LaMarcus Aldridge inside has helped Brooklyn become one of the best mid-range teams in the game. The biggest roadblock to consistent playing time may be Griffin.

Griffin has a much higher offensive ceiling than Johnson, but he has played far below what has been expected of him this season. Until Griffin wakes up from whatever trance he is in, Johnson should get some minutes early in games. Even if he doesnt average a double-double, he can still score at an efficient clip.

Johnsons defense may not be amazing, but he can be a quality rim protector and on-ball defender for very brief moments. On a Brooklyn team that spent an entire offseason adding defensively-minded players around their three stars, Johnson should be able to fit right in.

He shouldnt be given time over Griffin and Aldridge, but he could end up wiggling his way into smaller lineups on the back of this game. If Griffin continues to play poorly, Brooklyn may need to make a very hard decision and insert Aldridge and Johnson ahead of him.

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Should the Brooklyn Nets give James Johnson a bigger role? - Nothin' But Nets

The Toronto Raptors havent played a single game this season with every member of the rotation fully healthy. Even as Pascal Siakam returns to the fold, Yuta Watanabe has yet to play in a game this season due to a calf injury. Considering the momentum he picked up at the end of last year, this situation is nothing short of disheartening.

After joining Toronto last year on a two-way deal following some brief cameos in Memphis, Watanabe played so well on both ends of the floor that he earned a full NBA contract in the middle of the season. Watanabe was billed as another versatile two-way player this team could lean on.

Watanabe averaged 4.4 points and 3.2 rebounds per game last year while making 44% of his shots overall and 40% of his 3-point attempts. At 6-9, Watanabe made his biggest impact as a defender, as his combination of hustle, effort, and adaptability helped make him one of the few pleasant surprises from last years Tampa debacle.

Watanabe appears to be close to returning as Nick Nurse pegged him for a debut sometime around the next few days. When he returns to this roster, how will his talents best be utilized?

Whats become abundantly clear over the last few weeks is that Svi Mykhailiuk cant be taken out of the rotation. On a team that lacks elite shooting, Mykhailiuks ability to get hot without a high volume of shots is invaluable. Cutting the minutes of Precious Achiuwa or Chris Boucher may sting, but this may be a way to ensure both Yuta and Svi get time.

Watanabes improvement as a shooter contributed to his uptick in minutes last year, and he should lean on that skill to carve out a role with the 2021-22 squad. Toronto doesnt need Watanabe to change the scope of the rotation, but a few more 3-pointers and perimeter steals could help snap this team out of whatever trance theyve been in.

Watanabe might have more height than some of his teammates, and he could play the 4 spot in a very limited capacity should Toronto have no other choice, but his main role will be playing like a traditional wing and playing more perimeter defense than hanging around the paint.

Filling your roster with 3-And-D players is a prudent concept, and Watanabe could be an ideal fit for this struggling team.

Watanabe by himself will not completely turn the offense around, but he will be a big help when it comes to improving what has been a suspect defense of late and providing offensive spacing due to his 3-point shot. In his limited role, thats just about all the Raptors can ask of him.

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Raptors: What will Yuta Watanabes role be when he returns? - Raptors Rapture

Saint Maud (2019)

Directed By: Rose Glass

Starring: Morfydd Clar, Jennifer Etle, Lily Frazer

Plot Summary: The debut film from writer-director Rose Glass, Saint Maud is a chilling and boldly original vision of faith, madness, and salvation in a fallen world. Maud, a newly devout hospice nurse, becomes obsessed with saving her dying patients soul but sinister forces, and her own sinful past, threaten to put an end to her holy calling.

I know I am terribly late to the party, but get me stiff drink and lets get into the staggering work that is Saint Maud. The film is currently streaming on Hulu, and I thought it was high time I watched it. Here is my well past hot-take. Whatever you may think about A24, you cannot deny that they give decent budgets to projects that would never ever get a chance to be greenlit elsewhere. Having watched Saint Maud twice now in prep for this review, I admit that each time the film presents something wholly new and unnerving. Glasss debut is nothing short of a morbid work of art that both challenges and rewards its viewer. Its clawing and grotesque but, in my opinion not without merits. Its themes and motifs are expertly woven throughout and are as timely as they are haunting. Glass is also good at conjuring tension and, I found myself utterly gripped.

Swedish actor Morfydd Clar gives nothing short of an Oscar worthy performance, and frankly, had this not been horror, she would likely be nominated if not outright won. She is tasked with carrying both the narrative and emotional weight and does it with a breeze that makes it feel effortless. Its only after multiple viewings when you start to see the layers and nuances in her performance. Though she doesnt have the flashy role, Id argue that Jennifer Etle as Amanda the dying patient has harder role. It must be incredibly difficult to play a cancer patient without going full ham. Being a pro, Etle finds that sweet spot of matching Clars energy but not taking it too far into caricature.

Saint Maud is a movie that will keep you in a trance and left me in cold sweats by the end. A chilling and moving work that ushers in Rose Glass as a new creative powerhouse.

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Big film nerd and TCM Obsessed. Author of The Ultimate Guide to Strange Cinema from Schiffer Publishing. Resume includes: AMCs The Bite, Scream Magazine etc. Love all kinds of movies and television and have interviewed a wide range of actors, writers, producers and directors. I currently am a regular co-host on the podcast The Humanoids from the Deep Dive and have a second book in the works from Bear Manor.

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'Saint Maud' Review - 'A chilling and moving work that ushers in Rose Glass as a new creative powerhouse' - Geek Vibes Nation

Albrecht Drer (1471-1528) was the most intrepid traveller in the history of art. From his home city of Nuremberg he crossed the Alps more than once in treacherous conditions, staying in icy mountain shelters. The ship on which he sailed for six days to see a beached whale in Zeeland was almost lost in a winter storm. He lived in Venice in times of cholera, and possibly picked up malaria on a trip to the Low Countries where he was astounded by Aztec gold in Brussels and the Van Eyck altarpiece in Ghent. And all of these journeys were undertaken during outbreaks of the plague.

His travel journals are full of astonishing sights soaring comets, conjoined twins, the bones of a giant (which in fact belonged to a whale). He sees, and draws, girls in Dutch costume, Turkish merchants, African women. Boats lie at low tide in the port of Antwerp, fantastical castles rise on pinnacles above the river Rhine. There is a sheet of magnificent sketches of dozing lionesses, a blue baboon and even an alarmingly sharp-eared lynx in the new zoos of the Low Countries.

Alas, only the last appears in this long-anticipated exhibition devoted to Drers travels. To say that the experience in the Sainsbury Wing is baffling would be an understatement. Veering between wondrous, meandering and occasionally inexplicable, this is a show without a map.

It opens incredibly with two works that are not by Drer. And there are so many more to come: other painters portraits of Christian II of Denmark or the Holy Roman Emperor; other peoples saints and lions and river landscapes. Good as it is to see Bellinis Assassination of Saint Peter Martyr Drer visited the ageing Bellini in Venice it is always on view in the galleries upstairs. As is Jan Gossaerts The Adoration of the Kings, and Drer, who took a trip all the way to Middelburg, in the present-day Netherlands, to see one of his altarpieces, was less impressed by Gossaert.

There is no clear chronology and barely any discernible narrative. The show feels on the one hand congested too many passengers on board and on the other, lacking in the forcefield presence of the German master. A humdrum portrait medal of Drer, instead of a single one of his many self-portraits in ink, chalk, silverpoint or paint so spectacular, so pioneering, so original can only mean inevitable bathos.

Still, there are marvels by Drer along the way. He is up there in the Alps getting an image of the shelter down on paper: noticing the fragility of the ruined roof and the weirdly human profile of the foreground rocks. His print of Saint Jerome praying to a modest cross in a precipitous mountain landscape is so characteristically precise in its botanical fervour that you can tell the spruce from the pine and number all the different kinds of grasses.

But Jeromes frowning lion, in other visions, has a human face, luxuriant golden locks and elegant fingers for claws. In one image he even seems to have the elongated nose of the artist himself. Drer had not yet seen a lion in reality (when he did, the image would be supremely accurate). His beast contains at least something of himself.

And those fingers might be Drers emblem, as much as the celebrated monogram signature. For his art is all about pointing things out. The way a hand holds a book open, human fingers fanning like the wing feathers of a bird. The curious proportions of an infant, its head outlandishly large compared with its torso. The way a single eyelash, curling lustrously upwards, can make a powerful man look disarmingly childlike.

The mysteries of his art are even more apparent when compared with the works of surrounding artists. The excessive detail of Drers prints, for example, those dense anthologies of data and detail, swarming with figures and distant landscapes, yet irreducibly strange; the conjunction of topographical exactitude and free-flowing fantasy. Take the figure of Nemesis, standing on a fully allegorical globe, balanced upon a deckle-edged cloud that might be made of linen, so tight are the folds. But beneath her is the South Tirol in marvellous detail, as drawn on a trip to Venice.

Above all, there is the evergreen question of androgyny. From real sitters to imaginary saints, it is hard to know whether Drers heads are male or female, or some combination of both and if so, why? Everything may look so clear in the great print Melencolia I: the morose angel, the dejected cherub, the hourglass and the numerological chart, the whole clutter of allegorical symbols in definitive black and white. Yet who can solve the riddle of this scenario? Who knows what paralyses the angel and whether this thunder-faced being is male or female? The distant sea glimmers beneath a falling star. Perhaps Drer saw it on his travels.

This print, along with Saint Jerome and the celebrated A Knight, Death and the Devil the knight a man of steel in a German helmet, riding ever-onwards in a trance form the so-called master engravings. And prints make the majority of his works in this show justifiably, given that Drer took them across Europe, and they were everywhere prized. They also paid his way, on occasion, and helped secure a pension from the Holy Roman Emperor.

The travel journals include meticulous accounts, showing that Drer sometimes swapped prints for goods, including lengths of velvet and white cloth. He also sold portraits that were drawn on the spot, often in fugitive charcoal. These are dazzling: nearly lifesize images of Low Country patrons, quick with scintillating life. But best of all are the silverpoint drawings of his fellow artists Lucas van Leyden, all youthful acuity, and the beady-eyed Belgian painter Jan Provoost, who looks too urgent with thought to hold still for the length of the sitting.

After this gallery of portraits, which also includes dynamic masterpieces by Quinten Massys, the show becomes diffuse, concentrating on religion more than travel and forced back on digital presentations. It lacks a climax. Nothing in the last room feels conclusive or aptly dramatic. This being so, and the price of entry being so high, it seems worth suggesting that anyone contemplating Drers Journeys might stare hard at the colossal magnification of his engraving of Saint Eustace outside the door, to accustom the eye to this fiercely incisive artist. The horse and five hounds all waiting while Eustace prays portraits of quivering vitality, kept in patient abeyance beyond anything human are staggering sights to behold. Which is, after all, what the art of Drer is all about.

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Drers Journeys: Travels of a Renaissance Artist review all over the place - The Guardian

Blue lights and lo-fi beats spilled across the stage as Great Dane began his set. Smiling at the crowd, he grabbed the mic and asked Yo, Denver how you feeling? It feels good to be back. I havent been back since pre-COVID. This is like a religious experience right now. Cervantes Other Side is a ritual space for Thursday night dancing a weekly event inviting anyone ready to shift into the weekend.

Great Dane brought to Denver a vast array of styles from his musical repertoire. His artistic roots in hip-hop remained constant through the set, integrating heavy bass and ambient psych-wave. His work is highly influenced by DIY aesthetics, having an independent philosophy on music production. There was no limit to the genres he mixed, creating an electric and fluid dance floor. His impressive use of transitions and variety kept the crowd grooving throughout. Vocals from pop songs moved smoothly into hard-hitting snare beats and trip-hop. He mixed psychedelic trance and instrumental samples, throwing in a hip hop hit every couple of songs.

Photo courtesy of Great Danes Facebook

Hip hop, deep bass and melodic overtones were all major elements within his set. Great Danes dramatic transitions took the listener on a rollercoaster through sound and space. Ambient melodies flitted together, moving into entirely new tempos and stylistic ranges. Great Dane managed to intersect all the best dance music into one overlapping, independent style.

Heavy bass vibrated the wooden floor as Great Dane dropped newly released tracks as well as older beats. The crowd cheered as Drop Top a previously released, popular single played. Great Dane grabbed the mic on various occasions to rap along to his beats or announce an unreleased song. His engagement with the crowd and dedication to his production were inspiring. Great Dane danced as hard as the crowd, nodding his head to the rhythm, bumping to and from. His fingers strummed an air piano as techno instrumentals played. His body never stopped moving to the beat.

Photo courtesy of Great Danes Facebook

Lets go, Great Dane shouted to the crowd as hip hop blasted from the speakers and red lights shone down to the stage. As the night continued, the floor turned into an electric dance party. Great Danes vast array of elements created a perfect outlet for creativity and movement. The show ended on a high note, bringing together a mix of house and dubstep. The crowd continued to move to the high-intensity performance, shuffling and clapping together.

Although Great Dane has released a variety of albums and singles, his skill and diversity were undeniable live. His set displayed his musical range and ability to keep a street-style attitude. The broad range of his musical performance was impressive and exciting to watch. The beginning and end of the set were indicators in and of themselves that the show was a creative journey. His performance was a great presentation of his dedication to the diversity of music.

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Review - Great Dane Brought Hip Hop and Style to the Other Side - 303 Magazine

There was a point in the early 00s when William Orbit was poised to go interstellar. He was one of the great pop architects of the Y2K era, the Mark Ronson or Jack Antonoff of his day. He produced Madonnas Grammy-sweeping Ray of Light, with its magnetic techno-lite, in 1998; Blurs 13 a year later; and made hits for some of the biggest films around the new millennium: Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Charlies Angels: Full Throttle, The Next Best Thing and The Beach.

The latters lead track, Pure Shores, recorded by the British pop group All Saints, was the second most successful UK single of 2000. Echoes of its breathy acoustica and bleepy-bloopy electronica can still be heard in the charts; it was recently championed by Lorde, who said the song was an inspiration for this years much anticipated album Solar Power.

Occasionally, Orbit, 65, will be in his local branch of Whole Foods in Kensington, west London, and Pure Shores will waft over the speakers. These days, he will think: Oh yeah, its all right this track, I get it now. At the time, it had taken so long to make that he thought it was pure shite. When you really slave over something, it takes years until you can really listen to it with pleasure. That or a couple of bottles of wine, he hoots.

In the 80s, Orbit had been in the synth-pop band Torch Song and started Guerilla Studios, working with some of the edgiest acts of the decade Gary Numan, Cabaret Voltaire and Laibach among them. The following decade, he made house music as Bassomatic. But by 2000, as chillout boomed in popularity, you couldnt move for Orbits ambient-pop twinkliness. Indulging his other great love, orchestral music, Orbits classical-electronic fusion album Pieces in a Modern Style went to No 2 in 2000, off the back of a successful remix of Samuel Barbers Adagio for Strings by the Dutch trance DJ Ferry Corsten.

Orbit was so successful that, between 2002 and 2005, he took up residence at the Leonard hotel near Hyde Park, where he recorded Bonos vocals for U2s song Electrical Storm. I had some serious money and I bought a big fat house in Connaught Square and did it up and I couldnt bear to move in, he says. So the hotel that I particularly liked, I just moved in there. It was like: this is the life. This is like the Chelsea hotel [in New York], but in London.

He could have been a superproducer turned star, the UKs Rick Rubin by way of Moby. But that didnt quite happen. It should have, he nods sagely, long grey hair falling around his face.

When we speak, Orbit is in another hotel room, in an upmarket health resort in Austria, where he has gone to get toned up a bit. He has pushed his body to the limit to finish his new album, his first since 2014. It is a triumphant full stop after a tough period, about which he is surprisingly candid. I did my rocknroll excess thing about four years ago, when I was 61, he says. I waited that long. I went a bit over the top, learned my lesson. I did go a bit crazy. Drugs will do that to you., you know, if youve got a certain predisposition to being in the clouds, as I suppose I do

Today, Orbit seems more down to earth. He is terrifically gossipy, in a foppish, conspiratorial way, firing off stories about working with Pink (one of the grumpiest singers, but one of the best), hanging out with billionaires (theyll be like: is your dog helicopter trained?) and why he is considering buying a Gandalf staff (my limbs dont work because theyre shit).

He talks at length about Madonna, with whom he made three albums her unique musicality, her toughness, how she is a better arranger than him and about whom illuminating anecdotes tumble out of nowhere. We were at the Hit Factory [studio in New York] once and I walked in on her on the lav she hadnt locked it, says Orbit. Shes doing a No 2 and Im like: Oh God, Im so sorry. She said: William, look, I was brought up in a family of six kids with one loo, so dont sweat it.

The first time they worked together, on Ray of Light, killed me, says Orbit. I was in a crisis with my family, which I put on hold. I remember getting very ill that winter; at the age of 43, I was done in physically. It took months to complete. Madonna, who was a new mum at the time, cracked the whip. As hard as it was, it was an atmosphere in which he thrived. I flourish under that, he says. Shes a fabulous producer. When it says produced by Madonna and William Orbit, people dont always give her the credit for that. But shes as responsible as me.

After his initial string of successes, however, Orbit became a chart-pop shill for Ricky Martin, Mel C and Chris Brown (and those are just the songs that were released). I got into this songwriting scene in America and I thought: Im not suited to this, he says. The inner voice was saying: You did Ray of Light, why are you doing remixes now? You should be the don. I didnt listen. My inner voice got suffocated by my own misguidedness and I felt increasingly impotent to do anything about it.

He made a couple of his own albums, but they really fell off. I didnt get returns to my calls. Its been yonks since Ive made any proper statement of my own, rather than trying to do a song for some pop artist whos got 10 other people on speed dial.

In the end, he got more and more frustrated, believing that I was useless and washed up. The last album he worked on with Madonna, 2012s EDM-fuelled MDNA, was a commercial and critical failure. It was disappointing, says Orbit, adding that he thinks ageism had a profound negative effect on its reception.

Britney Spearss 2013 album Britney Jean arrived shortly afterwards. Executive-produced by will.i.am, the album received lukewarm reviews, little to no promotion and felt strangely impersonal, despite claiming to be the opposite. Orbit worked on its opening track, Alien, in which she compares herself to a lonely extraterrestrial. In light of what we now know about her conservatorship, did the album feel similarly controlled?

That end of the pop spectrum is more controlled, if you like, says Orbit, who says that they made Alien remotely. Heres the difficult thing, because Im friendly with Will and with Britney. All Ill say is that there was a frisson there. If I work with an artist, they are the goddess, they are the boss. If I want to be the boss, Ill make my own records. Youre here to be in the service of a true pop star if you dont have that attitude, you shouldnt be in the game.

Eventually, Orbit took a turn for the worse. Four years ago, he moved back to England from Los Angeles and got in with a party crowd. He took up painting, but mainly cocaine. Instead of worrying about my career, I could just be a hedonist, he says. Id never done coke before and in a short space of time Id be the guy that could do the most. And then I went to some festivals and I did LSD, mushrooms, MDMA, coke, some hormones that everybody was experimenting with. Codeine. I wasnt aware of what I was doing and I ended up having a psychotic episode.

Even that wasnt enough to stop him. I cringe when I think about it. I was in a bad space, but not terminally so. Then it got to the point where I started smoking tons of weed eight joints a day. It never agreed with me and I became manic.

As a result, last March, I had a second breakdown, he says. He was lying in the street, convinced he was a secret operative tasked with saving the royal family. He was sectioned. Fortunately, once the drugs were out of my system, I finally got back to being normal and out I was, he says, with a what-a-wally tone.

Almost as soon as he was released from psychiatric hospital, though, the first UK lockdown was announced. I was deeply disappointed with myself and there was fucking Covid at the same time, he says. His new manager put Orbit in touch with a rising alt-pop singer called Maeve and Orbit taught himself how to use Pro Tools on his laptop, via online tutorials, to produce some tracks. He hadnt made any music for ages and, bit by bit, I started to enjoy it. Now, a new Orbit album is almost finished: The best thing Ive done in 20 years! he enthuses. Youve caught me at a turning point. You can have a turning point at any age and this is mine.

But first there is an EP, out next month, for the electronic label Anjunadeep. It feels like what he should have made after Pieces in a Modern Style: symphonic trance crescendos, some chillout meanderings, a major ambient-rave tune. The Canadian-Colombian artist Lido Pimienta appears on vocals, hinting at the direction that his full album might take next year (guest singers aplenty).

He is not worried about being an old man in a young guns world; he is energised to see that his sound is having a moment once more. Ambient music has gone mainstream, he says. Radio 1 have got into chill Im doing a Wind Down mix for them. Somebody sent me a link to one of my tracks [in a video] on Instagram and it said: Music for calming dogs on Bonfire Night.

He is genuinely thrilled, fizzing with enthusiasm. I realised that I had to grow up a bit, he says. Ive just left my adolescence. Its great being 65 its easier than being 40, because youre an old dude and you dont have an agenda any more. Its a young game, the pop music game. But I think theres room for one Bill Nighy. Its not like its a crowded field.

Perhaps not an agenda, but he does have hopes for his music, at least. I want this very much and to reinvent is very hard, says Orbit. When youre young, you dont realise this at the time, but everything is handed to you. I like a challenge. I desperately want this music to be heard. Nothing will stop me now.

William Orbits Starbeam EP is released on 1 December on Anjunadeep

This article was amended on 19 November 2021. Electrical Storm is a song by U2, not an album as previously stated.

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Madonna, drugs and helicopter-trained dogs: the dark, starry life of William Orbit - The Guardian

Spoilers decloaking off the port bow!

It's been just 10 months since Michael Burnham's indecisive yo-yoing between should-she-stay-in-Starfleet and should-she-go on "Star Trek: Discovery."

Ten months since we discovered a young Kelpien with self-confidence issues stranded on a planet comprised almost entirely of dilithium accidently caused the deaths of millions of members of almost every spacefaring species in the galaxy.

And while the last season took a nosedive into absurdity in the second half, it did have one of the strongest starts of any new season of any "Star Trek" show. The first episode alone, "Hope Is You, Part 1" was one of the best episodes we've ever seen and it continued for a short while at least, which was wonderful to see.

Needless to say, we were cautiously optimistic for the fourth season premiere on the streaming service Paramount Plus. And tragically, we have to report that it's an uneven, contrived and somewhat clichd offering that leaves us feeling disappointed to say the least, but also not significantly invested in any of these characters.

Here's how to stream Star Trek: Discovery in the U.S. and check out our streaming guide for Star Trek if you're looking to expand your Trek palate.

This winter, "Star Trek: Discovery" season 4 is going up against well, just about everything. In just two weeks, "Lost in Space" returns for the third and final season on Netflix. "The Expanse" returns on AmazonPrime Video for its sixth and final season in three weeks. And in a little over a month, "The Book of Boba Fett" airs on Disney Plus.

Those three shows represent consistent high-quality, well-written science fiction and with these alternatives on offer, "Discovery" is going to have to work hard to keep up. Sadly however, judging from what we've seen already, it's not going to. If this were the Premiership, "Discovery" would be just one loss away from relegation.

It's not a crime to wish for cerebral sci-fi and "The Expanse" for example is certainly that. Moreover, it's addictive and it's a page-turner; I absolutely, positively must watch the next episode as soon as humanly possible, because I need to see what happens, because I want to know how the characters survive. This is most definitely not the case with the fourth season opening episode of "Discovery." It feels like it's been deliberately dumbed down and produced for a super-easy-to-satisfy audience. Even "Star Trek: Prodigy" which is made specifically for children doesn't underestimate its audience quite as badly as "Discovery" does.

If you recall, the first few episodes of Season 3 of "Discovery" dealt with Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) landing on the planet Hima almost a year before the USS Discovery showed up, as a result of fluctuations in the massive jump undertaken at the end of Season 2. We got an awesome introduction to the city of Mercantile and an equally awesome introduction to Cleveland Booker (David Ajala). Then not long after, the Discovery crashed on a planet known as the Colony and Tilly (Mary Wiseman) and Saru (Doug Jones) found themselves at phaser-point in an alien saloon with a nasty character called Zareh (Jake Weber).

That was all brilliant, unquestionably some of the Very Best of "Discovery." The disappointing dilithium-destroying-delinquent story arc didn't really start until half way through. But this first episode of Season 4, entitled "Kobayashi Maru" is somewhat unevenly paced.

It mulls along, quite happily, quietly culture building for just under an hour then, 30 seconds before the end, WHAM! And we're not talking about '80s pop music sensation. Or even '60s diptych pop art. No, instead we're handed a cliffhanger of profoundly out-of-proportion scale that jars spectacularly against the rest of the episode and to be perfectly honest, is far too much of a big deal to be used in the very first episode. It also means that the Another Anomaly story arc has started straight away and that really wasn't necessary. But we'll get to all that later.

Related: 'The Expanse' dials the space drama up in full trailer for Season 6

After a nearly two-minute recap of the events of the last season, we see the USS Discovery spore jumping to a point in space and Booker's ship launches form the shuttle. It performs a seemingly unnecessary disassemble-reassemble maneuver as it flies over Discovery's saucer section, which feels like it's been put there for our entertainment, rather than realism and heads down to the planet below.

What follows, to all intents and purposes, is a rehash of the beginning of "Star Trek Into Darkness" so at least the writers room is borrowing from Paramount's own IP this season. While not a first contact situation, this feels almost like a second contact situation, since diplomacy had broken down long ago between the people of Alshain IV and the Federation. Perhaps that's the influence of "Lower Decks," but more than likely not. This is an attempt to rebuild relations now that using dilithium is no longer dangerous.

After some not-unamusing cultural misunderstandings, the already-suspicious Alshains open fire on Burnham and Book who flee into the surrounding woodland. It seems the indigenous population have a symbiotic relationship with other lifeforms and are able to utilize butterfly-like creatures in order to fly. And fly they do, while still shooting and somehow still missing the two dimwitted diplomats.

Related: 'Lost in Space' Season 3 trailer shows the Space Family Robinson in danger

It could've been a fun set piece, but it drags on far too long and as such falls victim to too many clichs. For some unexplained reason, the Alshains are able to follow the undynamic duo for many miles as they flee in a transport pod, but the moment Burnham and Book cower behind a tree stump, they're utterly flummoxed. Clearly, they have no clue what a flanking maneuver is. An implausible plan is hatched, the planet's magnetic field-based sensor-satellite array is reactivated and finally the Alshains can advance up to and beyond the tree stump.

Before disappearing into the night sky, Book and Burnham beam over the promised dilithium, despite the attempts to utterly annihilate them, because that's what Starfleet does. And naturally, the moment Burnham bounds back onto the bridge of the Discovery, the leader of the Alshains, hails the Crossfield class ship and more or less apologizes. Smiles all round then.

The opening credits haven't changed very much, there's a few new graphics in there including Book's ship and an updated NCC 1031-A, plus the same utterly astounding number of producers. In fact, it feels like there's even more than before; the list of producers, co-producers, executive producers, co-executive producers, consulting producers and supervising producers takes up over half the length of the credits sequence.

We cut to what looks like a high council meeting of some sort on Kaminar in what is the first example of one of the highlights of this episode: extensive culture building and taking worlds we've seen before and adding a hole new dimension to them, after all it's been just shy of a millennia since we last saw the Kelpien homeworld. Moreover, this is the first season of "Discovery" and, in fact, the very first "Star Trek" series to air after filming with the Stagecraft LED virtual wall technology developed by ILM, Pixomondo and others and pioneered for the first season of "The Mandalorian." So we can expect some beautiful VFX set designs and this scene is one of those.

The dialogue serves largely as exposition as Saru (Doug Jones) explains to the high council how a "burn" will definitely not happen again and that the Kelpien's should look to once more reach out into space. Before long we cut to the USS Discovery and Burnham is anxious about delivering a speech to celebrate the reopening of Starfleet Academy with the President of the United Federation of Planets present. The chemistry between is Book and Burnham is boiling over with potential, yet the dialogue always seems to let them down, as it seldom feels natural. Plus, no normal couple smiles quite that much.

The President, Laira Rillak (Tara Rosling) takes over and talks to those gathered about the gallantry of the Discovery crew, so lots more smiles all round. We learned during the earlier scene on Kaminar that five months have passed since the events of the concluding episode of Season 3, so yes, there probably would still be quite a lot of this sort of thing going, after all, the "Burn" did last approximately 120 years.

This episode is guilty of a little fan service and that's fine as long as it's kept to a minimum, but to this fan, whose favorite series is "Enterprise," the announcement of the Archer Space Dock, along with a few seconds of the familiar closing theme, was rather nice. After El Presidente's speech, she thanks the Discovery's crew personally and Burnham tiptoes off to talk to now-Lieutenant Tilly.

Her promotion to first officer last season, from ensign, was controversial to say the least, since from a practical standpoint and especially one if you've actually served or are serving she simply didn't have the knowledge, training or experience for such an unprecedented jump in rank. So almost like the producer's felt it necessary to close the lid on this, Burnham reassures Tilly that she was ready.

Then the emergency transmission comes in for the set piece that will tie everything together. Deep Space Repair Beta Six has lost reactor control thrusters plus gravitational stability is also compromised and it's sending a distress call. However, whatever affected the station also knocked out the subspace relays in the area and they cannot wait for any vessel to reach them at warp so the USS Discovery must go.

At which point President Rillak insists on joining the mission and immediately sets up a predictable and somewhat clichd "who's in command here" confrontation at the crucial moment, on the bridge of the Discovery, during the rescue mission. Naturally, Burnham objects, but she's ultimately overruled, immediately setting up a nice and prickly relationship.

Then the strangest thing happens as the USS Discovery makes its spore jump; at about 23:20 in the episode, a new sound effect has been addedand well, it just sounds silly, almost like a comedy whistle that doesn't do anything for the credibility of the spore drive, which needs all the credibility it can get. Hopefully, it will be removed from future episodes, a little like how the producers got trigger happy with the phaser charge-up sound effect in the episode "Project Daedalus" (S02, E09) until the novelty wore off.

Upon reaching the station, an "Interstellar"-style rotation-match maneuver is required in order for the Discovery to mount a rescue. You'd think in the 32nd century they'd simply be able to use the tractor beam, but no adequate reason is provided as to why this isn't possible. Using the transporters is mentioned, but there's too much interference, naturally.

We cut to Kwejian, Book's beautiful homeworld, for some more culture building. He's returned to take part in his nephew Leto's (Luca Doulgeris) coming of age ceremony and it's a nice set piece, although it's now painfully obvious something is going to happen, but the sheer scale of it is still a shock. His nephew is given the traditional amulet containing the sap of the root of a sacred tree and the blood of his family, which is never taken off. However, Book no longer wears his and his brother Kyheem (Ache Hernandez) explains that it's a story that he will share another time.

At this point we return and remain with the dilemma aboard Deep Space Repair Beta Six. We cut back and forth from the Discovery bridge to Engineering and back to the station where Tilly and Adira (Blu del Barrio) are aboard. The set piece is enjoyable and successfully builds a little tension as one attempt after another to get the survivors off the doomed station fails for a variety of reasons. Naturally though, the President disagrees with almost every decision Burnham makes and the predictable confrontations occur. Meanwhile, the station and the Discovery are both being bombarded by asteroid debris thrown at them by the gravitational distortion, now positively identified as the cause of the damage to the Deep Space outpost.

One thing to note here is that as Tilly and Adira beam from the Discovery bridge to the Repair Beta Six station, their clothes change from standard uniform to a more rugged, away mission outfit and if you look closely, for a second Adira can be seen slightly surprised and checking out their new look after they materialize, so it's evidently deliberate. Are we to assume then, that in the same way beaming technology has replaced stairs as we saw in the Season 3 penultimate episode "There Is a Tide..." (S03, E12) it's also replaced dressing yourself? What's next, beaming food into your stomach to save you the time of actually having to eat it..?

There's an unexpected cut to Kaminar where an interesting conversation takes place between Su'Kal and Saru as the young Kelpien can easily see the former starship captain's desire to return to Starfleet, the Discovery and his friends. It's a nice scene, with good dialogue that hints fairly heavily at what's to come.

Through a combined effort of using the escape shuttle, Burnham's emergency EVA, the President's persuasive skills and an excessive amount of technobabble, the survivors barely make it aboard the Discovery just as the space station is destroyed and the Federation starship itself is also struck by a particularly large piece of frozen asteroid. Unfortunately, the captain of Deep Space Repair Beta Six is killed by falling debris on the bridge.

What follows is the seemingly predictable pep talk from the President to Captain Burnham. However, thankfully, it's not quite what we were expecting. Rillak uses the famous Kobayashi Maru no-win scenario to explain to Burnham that sometimes we might believe we've lost, especially if people have died, but if people have also been saved, then it shouldn't be considered a loss the lesson is acceptance. And then she reveals the real reason she's aboard; turns out the next generation of starships are under construction that feature what she calls the "pathway drive" and the prototype ship is the USS Voyager NCC-74656-J that we first caught a glimpse of in the episode "Die Trying" (S03, E05) and she's evaluating the shortlist for the center seat.

However, she says Burnham isn't ready, which puts her nose right out of joint. It seems she cannot adequately accept all potential outcomes of a command decision. "It's a matter of experience really," she says. "Your acts of bravery are irrefutable, but they are also huge swings of the pendulum and in the time of rebuilding, there is a very fine between a pendulum and a wrecking ball," she adds thus fulfilling the required role of a command character that Burnham can square off against.

We cut to the bridge as sensors have detected something strange in the Kwejian system. Book is already there and explains that his ship was struck by something on his return journey. The image is put up on the viewscreen and we see the gasping faces of many of the bridge crew, then Burnham then Book and finally the viewscreen itself. Kwejian, Book's beloved homeworld, once lush, fertile and full of symbiotic plant and animal life a bit like Pandora in "Avatar" is now, to all intents and purposes, has been reduced to a burning cinder.

And that's the end of episode one. It's a surprise that the producers went full Alderaan in the Season 4 premiere episode and such a decided, obviously included for sheer shock value, jars considerably against the rest of the episode. It's extremely unlikely that this scale of end-of-episode cliffhanger will be maintained each week, so why put it right at the beginning? Better to commit planetary genocide later in the season, surely. After the Season 3 premiere episode was all about saving the trance worm, was this a conscious decision to go in the polar opposite direction and kill them all along with everything else..?

Rating: 5 / 10

The first episode of Season 4 of "Star Trek: Discovery" is available to watch now and subsequent installments will drop every Thursday on Paramount Plus in the U.S. However, in a move that's upset rather a lot of people, "Discovery" has been removed from Netflix in all non-US/Canada regions and will not be available until Paramount Plus launches in wider European regions next year. This will not impact Canada's availability (on CTV Sci Fi / Crave) or the US region. "StarTrek: Picard" and "StarTrek: Lower Decks" will continue to be on Amazon in non-US/Canada territories.

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The 'Star Trek: Discovery' season 4 premiere is not one of its strongest starts (review) - Space.com

Lets start off with some trivia. When was the last time the Apple AirPods got a design change? The answer is - never. Since the first generation fit into our ears back in 2016, the AirPods retained the same bud with stem design.

In fact, in these five years since, there have been three iterations of Apple AirPods, culminating into this - the third generation. The understanding being people dont necessarily upgrade wireless earbuds and headphones every year.

With the arrival of these third generation Apple AirPods, the wireless earbuds range for Apple now starts with the AirPods 2nd gen, which are still on sale for 12,900 and tops out with the AirPods Pro that have a sticker price of 24,900. These 3rd gen AirPods sit snugly in the rather wide sticker price gap, at 18,500.

Same, yet very different

The Apple AirPods 3rd gen sees the biggest design change, inspired by the more expensive AirPods Pro wireless earbuds. For all intent and purposes, the dimensions and the contours are the same as the more expensive sibling. The only differentiating factor being that the Pros get the silicon eartips whereas these dont, like their elder sibling.

The fit will still depend on your ear shape and comfort levels, but we have a feeling the chunkier new design should help these fit larger ear canals better - and stay in place.

That is one way for Apple to distinguish within the ever widening line-up as well. Perhaps that was needed, because the similarities with the AirPods Pro comes down to even the indents on each earbuds stem for the pressure sensors for touch commands and IPX4 water resistance.

Also Read: Apple will soon let you repair your iPhone, Mac at home

The white colour remains consistent, as it has over the years, with hard plastic that adds to the solidity to the overall build. If Apple had introduced the latest AirPods in some additional colour options, that wouldnt have been exactly out of place.

A Space Grey or Space Black AirPods would have their own charm. The Apple AirPods 3rd gen do get the wireless charging case with support for the MagSafe wireless charger, if you have that for your Apple iPhone.

As far as dimensions go, the Apple AirPods 3rd gen case is slightly less wide than the AirPods Pro case.

Better sound with computational audio at work

The Apple AirPods 3rd gen doesnt get active noise cancellation or a transparency mode. But these do take advantage of new acoustic drivers and amplifier hardware - these arent the same as the ones in the AirPods Pro. They get the sound signature and the overall fullness very close to the AirPods Pro, while compensating for the ambient noise that will still stream in, to a certain extent.

It is immediately noticeable how much better the bass is and the sound overall has a dollop of dynamism that the previous generation didnt have.

What hasnt changed is the neutrality of the sound. Youll immediately recognise the AirPods-esque sound and flexibility. It will be as brilliant with podcasts as it will be with a trance music playlist - dialling up whats needed when it is needed. To get this from earbuds that have an open design isnt easy, and we suspect Apples focus on computational audio (weve seen this with the HomePod Mini too) is reaping rich rewards.

The H1 chip continues to do its bit with real-time Adaptive EQ. The Spatial Audio compatibility is a nice add-on to have, considering Apple Music and Apple TV+ have enough content for you to enjoy the directional sound experience. It is nice that the Apple AirPods 3rd gen sound very similar to the AirPods Pro with Dolby Atmos content on Netflix - and while being the most inexpensive in a line-up that includes the AirPods Pro and AirPods Max, it doesnt sound any inferior.

Health-tracking in the future?

Apple has replaced the IR sensor with a new skin detection sensor, and the expectation is itll be more accurate in detecting the differences between your ear or the dark corners of your trouser pocket. We never noticed the previous generation AirPods stumble at this step, but this hardware upgrade could very well give Apple the basis to add health tracking features to the AirPods in the future - it is a rumour that refuses to go away.

More runtime on a single charge

The Apple AirPods 3rd gen is the best in terms of battery stats. These will last around six hours on a single charge with Spatial Audio off. You shave off one hour if thats on. This is more than 4.5 hours that the AirPods Pro last. The charging case on the Apple AirPods 3rd gen adds up to 30 hours of listening time before everything needs to be charged again. This is again more than 24 hours that the AirPods Pros case manages. As does the second generation AirPods.

Mind you, do not think youll be able to reverse charge by placing them on the back of your iPhone 12 or iPhone 13 - the case has been designed to specifically prevent that from happening. Youll feel a very slight magnetic tug if you glide the Apple AirPods 3rd gen case just over the back panel of your iPhone, but nothing strong enough for charging to work for hours on end.

The big question: Apple AirPods 3rd gen or AirPods Pro?

The thing is, the Apple AirPods 3rd gen is getting very close to the AirPods Pro in what matters the most - sound. That means youll need to start weighing in on what additional features mean for you. Noise cancellation. The silicon eartips option for better fit. Apart from that, the spec sheet is on an even keel. Also, the noise cancellation on the AirPods Pro is one of the better implementations youd find on wireless earbuds, and most rivals are unable to get this close, apart from Sony and Samsungs recent wireless earbuds.

In most likelihood, youd be better off saving some money and buy the Apple AirPods 3rd gen instead of the AirPods Pro. The new custom audio hardware is worth every bit of money you spend on these wireless earbuds, instead of the rivals. And the chucky design makes it a better fit even without silicon eartips, at least for most ears. Does it work for you, too?

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Apple AirPods 3rd gen: An upgrade inspired by the more expensive AirPods Pro - Hindustan Times