Tag Archives: highway hypnosis
side-line music magazine review: hours
7 / 7
We last year reviewed the album Heat of Hunter Complex. The 2nd full length of the Dutch musician Lars Meijer holds onto the vintage electro-experimental touch and features pop elements.
Hours is the 2nd single taken from this album and the least I can say is that this is an excellent title song. The EP opens with the ‘original’ version revealing a cool vintage electro-pop style animated by fine bleeps and embellished with sweet vocal parts.
We next get 2 remixes of songs originally released on Heat as well. The remix of Serious Glass by The No is driven by a bombastic repetitive rhythm and vocals reminding me of shoegaze productions. It’s an interesting experimental pop music format. The minimal approach of the Highway Hypnosis-remix by Drvg Cvltvre is another interesting cut. Next to the minimal style there also is a rather evasive melody part totally achieving this remix. This is a beautiful song.
I regret there’re no remixes and/or alternative versions of Hours. I think it would have been a bonus for this EP. Hours wants to ‘persuade the listener to tune in to a strange mix of Tangerine Dream and John Carpenter film scores and ’81-’82 era Simple Minds’. It’s a rather strange definition claimed by Hunter Complex, but it probably says something about their potential sources of inspiration.
Conclusion: Hunter Complex composes a very own pop-style, which is merging retro-electro influences together with a pure experimental & minimal element.
chain d.l.k. review: hours
This new release is a digital single from the already reviewed last album from this outfit. As stated in my review, the musical outcome is ‘a sort of modern postcard from a distant era’ and is something that, perhaps for the nostalgic effect, is really easy listening in the best meaning of the word. The first track is the second single taken from Heat and is constructed as an almost classic synth pop track from the early ’80s with luminous melodic development. The really interesting part is the two remixes: the first one, from The No, is focused on the juxtaposition of an hard edge beat over the melodic lines of Serious Glass, while the second one, from Drvg Cvltvre, entirely deconstructs Highway Hypnosis taking it in darker and more evocative territories making and interesting use of noises as it doesn’t erase the pop allure of the tune. As almost every single this is a collector’s item, however the Drvg Cvltvre remix is something worth a listen and could even acts as a possible line of development for Hunter Complex. Nice.
Andrea Piran
project moonbase – pbm183: confusion (featuring highway hypnosis)
‘Some brand new 80s spookiness from Holland.’
lyrics: heat
heat
come on out into the open
and feel the heat
when you want to
I’ll be there
when you need to
I’ll be near
serious glass
looking back on Wednesday
you can waste a war
when the deal is long
mixcloud monday: hunter complex – lars meijer by gonzocircus (featuring an exclusive version of highway hypnosis)
Vorige maand verscheen de tweede plaat van Hunter Complex, genaamd Heat. ‘Een plaat waar de jaren 1980 nooit ver weg zijn’, schreven wij in Gonzo (circus) nummer 73. Achter Hunter Complex gaat de Nederlander Lars Meijer schuil. Hij stelde een mixtape samen met synthmuziek uit de jaren tachtig, maar ook met die van nu. Zijn we echt zo retro als Simon Reynolds ons doet geloven?
‘Het was eind jaren tachtig. Ik werd gebeld door Frits, de man achter het tijdschrift KLEM (Kontakt Liefhebbers Elektronische Muziek). Frits belde me om te zeggen dat Flashpoint op tv was, een film met muziek van Tangerine Dream. KLEM was niet alleen tijdschrift, maar ook een hechte gemeenschap voor liefhebbers van artiesten als Jean-Michael Jarre, Klaus Schulze en vooral Tangerine Dream. Ik hoorde niet bij die ‘community’ – ik was pas een jaar of 11 – maar ik werd wel gebeld. Met een old school VHS tape nam ik de film op en later distilleerde ik daar alleen de muziek uit. De combinatie van die dreigende, onheilspellende synths met de beelden van regenstorm in de woestijn maakte diepe indruk. Pas veel later vond ik de lp, maar de muziek daarop was net iets anders. Hier hoor je het origineel. Op deze mixtape probeer ik een link te leggen dus die prachtige soundtracks en synthwerken uit de jaren tachtig met die van nu. Er is een duidelijk overeenkomst tussen wat John Elliot van Emeralds en Outer Space doet, en hoe Jan Hammer zijn muziek voor Miami Vice maakte. Daarnaast hoor je de staccato midi-programmering van Stewart Copeland terug bij de mierzoete iPad-pop James Ferraro. Maar er is ook een duidelijk verschil. De geluiden komen misschien gedeeltelijk overeen met die uit de jaren tachtig, maar de tijdsgeest en de wijze van muziek maken is enorm veranderd. Een Roland D-50 of een Yamaha DX7 is net als een Fender Stratocaster ook ‘maar’ een instrument.’
MIXCLOUD MONDAY: Hunter Complex – Lars Meijer by Gonzocircus on Mixcloud
album: heat (lp / digital)
release date: september 6 2013
format: lp / digital
label: narrominded
info
Heat is the new LP from Holland’s Hunter Complex, a record that looks to balance a functional (and very Dutch) ‘utility pop’ with a whole host of disturbing hints and suggestions. It’s a slightly unnerving listen, despite its attractive and powerful sweeps of melody. Recorded between 2010 and 2012, Heat manages – often very successfully – to persuade the listener that they’re tuning into a strange mix of Moroder’s film scores and ‘81-‘82 era Simple Minds. Digital synths, like the Roland D-50 and Yamaha DX7, give everything a suitably ‘period feel’. And the keys on Space are straight off Sons and Fascination, for example. Severed Heads covering China Crisis? Chris and Cosey making symphonic advert music in downtown LA? We can but dream.
But enough comparisons. Despite the LP wearing its sources of inspiration on its sleeve, and despite the fact that our descriptive narratives have (inevitably) to follow suit, it’s a seductive listen. Queasy, paranoid synth washes, rich, gloopy bass tones and weighty electronic stabs of rhythm drive the music on. The record’s got a feel of Stalker about it; cinematic, a taste of future-past served up on a plastic plate. Joep van Lieshout’s vision for communal living maybe, or a future that’s just out of reach, probably because it never escaped being imaginary.