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The Motoko Files (RadHaus Audiobook Edition) Review by George Miler
Motoko Redivivus The following review by George Miler is an update to his review of the other available version of The Motoko Files As I recall, it was only a matter of days after reviewing The Roboter's Motoko Files (Motoko Files: Cyber Prophecy by The Roboter) that I was apprised of the fact there were two versions of it. This is the Radhaus version featuring Rebekkah Hilgraves. I still do not want to spoil it by revealing the ending (maybe it’s too much to mention the spiritual exaltation). Then again, everyone knows how a play by Shakespeare ends, yet theatergoers attend a new production of it anyway. this is because an additional level of appreciation has been added, one of experiencing the performance of the play itself, the talent and skill of the actors, and the director’s interpretation. Therefore nothing suffers by repetition. Instead it is made new again, and sometimes better. This is what has happened here. Rebekkah’s impeccably measured cadences and significant pauses and the sheer wealth of emotion that she brings to this is worthy of classical drama. It is not out of place in a cyberpunk dystopia either. Indeed not. You can feel Motoko’s connection to the Grid. This listener becomes as much a part of it as she does. I also experienced Motoko’s existential crisis in a way that I missed the first time. Then I was a mere spectator. Now I’m involved, living the experience with her. And I followed the story with greater attention – not always easy because I suffer from attention deficit disorder – because I was riveted by the human dimension. In Motoko’s frame of reference, the experience was imported from her to me by Rebekkah. If the Ghost in the Shell is the organic trace lingering after the cyberization made necessary for the survival of the human race following “the Big One”, Rebekkah’s is the voice of that ghost, proving that, when life must cling for support to a system of silicon and cold light, the human heart lives on. George Miler, November 29th 2015 Editor's Note: This is a special audiobook edition narrated by Rebekkah Hilgraves. Inspired by the science-fiction and cyberpunk literary genres, this RadHaus.us special edition album includes the complete narrated audio book with a music soundtrack taken from the album “The Motoko Files: Cyber Prophecy” by The Roboter Rebekkah produces the "At Water's Edge" radio program every weekend. For more information and to listen online, visit atwatersedge.fm - Rebekkah also works on voice projects for hire - RadHaus.us for more information. Her Bandcamp page is: rebekkahhilgraves.bandcamp.com |
The Motoko Files: Cyber Prophecy - Review by George Miler
"Electrifying!"
A Review by George Miler, 7/8/2014
O.K., so NOW the hair on my arms is standing up. This ought to be the Cyber Prophecy bit; I’ll say why in a sec. This track is “Fragmented Memory.” Servomechanisms actuate, there’s a slow low grinding growl in back that adds to the bleakness of the ultramated megacity, but what gets me is the refined suspense created by the high sustained strings. They turned my nervous system into one big antenna, tunable and receptive to anything that came next. This must be the undecided fight-or-flight or friend-or-foe our animal brethren feel when they seem to growl at nothing in the darkness. Every system is on high alert, quivering, expectant, waiting, uncommitted, but at a critical point, some kind of cusp where the topology can change for bad or good. You just don’t know. From there it’s on to…
“The Cyborg Factor.” The story is developing. These are not tracks as much as they are episodes, but I don’t feel like giving anything away yet. It’s meanstreet-dramatic until the prototype-synthesizer beeps hoist you into the far future and into a robot dance of self-discovery. I’m guessing but I imagine that the protagonist Motoko is realizing that she’s a cyborg. More than that, a cyber-cop. My policy for listening to new music is to follow a raw protocol, which means ignoring the promotional penumbra that comes with a new release so that I don’t form any pre-judgments or inflexible expectations. The track titles are tantalizing enough, such as…
“Restore From Cloud,” which makes me think Motoko is recovering her memories after her personal data, existentially personal, are lost. My own dicey-dodgy file extraction (the fault of my VLC player; in the download folder the music files are arrayed in perfect order, which meant listening to each track one at a time instead of as a playlist, which is best for reviewing anyway) must have been a synchronic-coincidental foreshadowing of Motoko’s dilemma, which verges on the Dicksian.
I’m so involved now that I’m worried about her. Will her cyberization help or hinder her in re-possessing herself? The following two tracks, “Investigation” and “Origins,” give you a hint. (I won’t be surprised if I’m off by more than a few degrees.)
For those listeners who are impatient for the facts (rather than impatient with the facts), the audiobook begins at track 28 in the well-modulated tones of Steven Barber. I was doing my own investigation at this point, immersing myself in the Borders Edge Music page and the other links that came up. The details are there, the credits well-deserved. This is the second album by The Roboter and includes the short story to which the tracks are the background score. Motoko does do a self-diagnostic after she wakes up and realizes that she is a cyborg.
For those listeners who are impatient for the facts (rather than impatient with the facts), the audiobook begins at track 28 in the well-modulated tones of Steven Barber. I was doing my own investigation at this point, immersing myself in the Borders Edge Music page and the other links that came up. The details are there, the credits well-deserved. This is the second album by The Roboter and includes the short story to which the tracks are the background score. Motoko does do a self-diagnostic after she wakes up and realizes that she is a cyborg.
“Firewall” (08) sounds like the workings of a completely connected global net, an audible cyberspace (Kuutana has left a signature here) -- and a creepy one invaded by an avatar known as the Platinum Prophet.
I endeavor to avoid spoilers, but the music and story complement each other very well (no wonder, since they’re written by the same author). Both are above average, a contribution to the genre, but my bias is toward the music, (the cool sigh of the flute in 12: “Dragon’s Den” followed by
the lush Japanese concerto as Motoko recalls the Cherry Blossom Festival;
the ominous 10: “Alternating Currents”; 07: “Underground Attack,” which calls back every cyber-horror movie ever made) especially during Motoko’s self-diagnostic where those incomparable strings frame the entire album by galvanizing the listener while disconnected images flash in her head. This sense of powerful mystery is revivified in such tracks as “Unintended Consequences” so the mood is maintained throughout. I recommend that the whole album be experienced in its entirety.
I think that The Roboter has brought something new (or maybe old) to the manga scene. With all due respect to Ghost in The Shell and its many anime adaptations, a certain tension is missing, a tension between the known and the unknown. As taut as a wire, release is the only remedy. But I don’t want release. Even after Motoko regains her identity, the search is on for the Platinum Prophet, a mystery beyond the mystery of the truth of her soul. This elusive feeling is electrifying. Practicing magicians have informed me that their spells are not efficacious without that “tingle.” As long as you have it, life is never boring.
George Miler
I think that The Roboter has brought something new (or maybe old) to the manga scene. With all due respect to Ghost in The Shell and its many anime adaptations, a certain tension is missing, a tension between the known and the unknown. As taut as a wire, release is the only remedy. But I don’t want release. Even after Motoko regains her identity, the search is on for the Platinum Prophet, a mystery beyond the mystery of the truth of her soul. This elusive feeling is electrifying. Practicing magicians have informed me that their spells are not efficacious without that “tingle.” As long as you have it, life is never boring.
George Miler
Album Name: The Motoko Files
Title: The Motoko Files: Cyber Prophecy
Artist: The Roboter (Borders Edge Music)
Contributors: Kuutana (music) Steven Barber (audiobook narration)
This album contains original content only, music and story, written by the author. The following references are for illustrative purposes only (any semblances to people, organizations, or places real or imagined outside of the story are purely coincidental) :
(1) Blade Runner is a 1982 film directed by Ridley Scott.
(2) Ghost in The Shell is an original work by Masamune Shirow.
(3) William Ford Gibson is a Canadian author know for his novels in the Cyberpunk genre.
(1) Blade Runner is a 1982 film directed by Ridley Scott.
(2) Ghost in The Shell is an original work by Masamune Shirow.
(3) William Ford Gibson is a Canadian author know for his novels in the Cyberpunk genre.
credits
released 04 July 2014
Special thanks to:
- Steven Barber for his wonderful voice narration of the short story
- an09 at DeviantArt for sharing her amazing cyborg art photo-element used in the image cover.
- Jean-Luc Charron for final album artwork
Special thanks to:
- Steven Barber for his wonderful voice narration of the short story
- an09 at DeviantArt for sharing her amazing cyborg art photo-element used in the image cover.
- Jean-Luc Charron for final album artwork
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