Tag Archives: hours

vital weekly review: hours

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hunter complex-hoursObviously we don’t review digital releases, but this landed as a CDR on my desk, and I started writing, before realizing this. Now, perhaps, this has to do with the fact that I quite enjoy the music of Hunter Complex, of Narromind Mastermind Lars Meijer. This is the second single of his LP Heat – I didn’t realize people still release singles from LPs as that sounds like something from my childhood – but Hours is a great piece of 80s inspired pop music (check also my review of the LP in Vital Weekly 896). The No does a remix of Serious Glass and make it sound also very 80s, but in a more dark wave styled guise, with a voice that sounds like from beyond the grave. Nice. Drvg Cvltvre is Vincent Koremans (RA-X might be know still!) with a long ambient w/rhythm inspired piece called Highway Hypnosis and sounds like Tangerine Dream on ecstasy, especially when the rhythm kicks in after some time. Be careful driving cars while listening to this music. Now, in a just and right world, this would have been a great 12″. Where did the 80s go? I do miss them.

FdW

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white room review: hours

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hunter complex-hoursHunter Complex bracht in september van 2013 de langspeler Heat uit via Narrominded. Om die plaat nogmaals extra in het zonnetje te zetten, komt er een tweede single van het album. Hours zal digitaal, met twee bonustracks, gereleased worden.
De ’80-electronica van Hunter Complex heeft vocalen die doen denken aan zowel Simple Minds als Pet Shop Boys. Titeltrack Hours doet daar dan ook sterk aan denken. Het is typisch jaren ’80, maar dan in een volle mix anno 2014. De twee andere tracks worden onder handen genomen door andere mixers. DRVG CVLTURE heeft Highway Hypnosis onder handen mogen nemen. De opbouw van het nummer geeft een mysterieus tintje mee aan deze release.
Met de single Hours vestigt Hunter Complex in positieve zin de aandacht op zich. Liefhebbers van electronica a la ‘80’s, zullen deze release zeker een kans moeten geven.

Ralf W.

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single: hours (digital)

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hunter complex-hoursrelease date: may 12 2014
format: digital
label: narrominded

info

Hours is the second single from the Hunter Complex lp Heat. The single contains remixes by The No and Drvg Cvltvre. Hunter Complex is the moniker of Lars Meijer. Heat, his second album, was released on vinyl by the Dutch label Narrominded in September 2013. Heat manages 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. Digital synths, like the Roland D-50 and Yamaha DX7, give everything a suitably ‘period feel’. The lp was very well received by the press. Mojo Magazine praised the ‘techno-pop and movie score dramatics’, Norman Records rated the album 9 out of 10 and The Quietus thought that the combination between ‘the strong positivism that leaks from the melodic and warm synths made the pain even worse’.

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album: heat (lp / digital)

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hunter complex - heat frontrelease 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.

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