Kasper van Hoek A Light Year Of Sundays HK013 cd (1000 ex.) 2008

Reviews:

I kinda like the light aspect of van Hoek's mostly hand-drawn CD-R designs; he keeps the same template for this 'pro' CD as well, and you know you can't ever front on a good carrot. But scrape off the surface and keep going... Realizing that within the 'usual' frame of inoffensive micro-dwellings, there are different kinds of thickening cartilages... of whatever swims downstream the carrot soup. Jellyfish?... Maybe some of crunchy-tender, not so quivering variety.
Sounds sometimes similar to airplane takeoffs, ringing bells, and barefoot walks in murky pools... Never hostile, never timid, but suspenseful and precise, and even delicate, to an appreciable extent. Someone who sticks admirably to his (com)position - clearly striving for plasticity/expressiveness; A Light Year of Sundays is frequently musical, using very unambiguous melodic fragments, yet always suggests an unforced touch of the beyond. The image of the surrealistic drawing stays - you've guessed - until the end...
And in the end? The album is abstractionism today, and Kasper - the disguised musician - the abstractionist.
Greatly appreciated over-average soundwork after several listens.

Doru649, Cookshop

Op zijn eigen label Heilskabaal brengt geluidskunstenaar en stadjer Kasper van Hoek A Light Year Of Sundays uit. Kasper maakt muziek met fieldrecordings, elektronica en subtiele noise. Denk hierbij aan de stijl van Machinefabriek. Luistermuziek die heerlijk piept en knarst.
Kasper speelde ik oktober in de kelderbar van Vera. Samen met Stephane Leonard was dat. Ik was daar helaas niet bij, maar op de foto's op de site is te zien dat Kasper live met een uitgebreid instrumentarium en een batterij aan effectapparatuur speelt. Niet aledaagse zaken als een geluid dat ontstond na een computer crash en een orgal dat stuk is werden ingezet om het geluid dat A LightYear Of Sundays is te laten klinken zoals het klinkt: fascinerend.
De stukken klinken allemaal redelijk sinister en zijn niet opgenomen om de party people op je feestje te laten dansen. Typisch zo'n plaat om in stilte van te genieten. Ontzettend leuk dat er in rockcity Groningen mensen zijn die in dit genre opereren.
Thumbs up!

Yvar, VeraKrant no.23 2008

Recently I saw a performance by Kasper van Hoek in collaboration with some video guy, whose name right now eludes me. Van Hoek 'played' an old stencil machine and some direct processing. Nice, but a bit sketchy if he'd asked me, which he didn't. Not enough 'composition' and too much 'improvisation'.
Whereas from his releases so far we know he can do a real good thing. His 'Minerva' LP and 'Den Haag/Groningen/Froombosch' CDR were highlights so far. 'Minerva' can be regarded as a best of LP from the period he spend in art-school (2004-2006) and this new release, his first real full length CD 'A Light Year Of Sundays' is a best of from the period 2006-2008, and it may not be a surprise that it includes two pieces from the aforementioned CDR. I like that. Release CDRs as a more raw edged work and then a real CD with the best material. A bit like Machinefabriek did.
Ok, so the music, what is it? The eight pieces here are a far cry from his LP, which was based on crude electronics, worn out tape-loops and other broken machinery. The computer has taken over the role of the analogue equipment and this results in music that is much 'softer' and more delicately constructed than his early work. Perhaps micro-sound is an appropriate term for his music.
Van Hoek uses drones as the ground pattern of his compositions to which he adds highly processed field recordings, or sounds in action. The latter is a bit hard to trace back into this music. This all culminates in a rather beautiful final piece, which is a radical deconstruction of the rock band Sexton Creeps. Here too the drone persists, but various 'band' elements are cleverly mixed in.
Van Hoek knows how to create a composition that is not the culmination of loose sound events, but builds a strong, intense collage of sound, which is very nice to hear. Points of reference are Machinefabriek (but without the extensive use of guitar sounds) and even more to Roel Meelkop. This is a great CD, very well be a best of, from what I can judge. The only thing to complain about is the total absence of track titles and information about the pieces. Great print-work though!

Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly no.651