Month: February 2023

For everybody who cannot get enough, as announced we will have an afterparty in CLUB3 with Polygorgon, Behringer Escape Plan and Curling until 05.00! Come dance, act weird and fistpump with us until the small hours.

POLYGORGON (23:00-00:30)
Polygorgon is a Haarlem based producer and DJ who started under the alias Murq in the Bass, House and Techno scenes in Amsterdam. After gravitating towards a wider range of genres a name change was in order. Polygorgon likes to blend elements from dark wave, industrial, italo disco and techno in his sets and productions.

BEHRINGER ESCAPE PLAN (00:30-01:15)
Behringer Escape Plan is a two-piece electronic band that has carved out a unique niche in the world of electronic music as proven during their set at the recent Summer edition. For fans of heavy and experimental electronic music, Behringer Escape Plan is a band that is not to be missed. With a sound that is both fluid and heavy, you can expect wonky grooves, bold bass sounds, and fast melodies.

CURLING (01:15-05:00)
While Utrecht-based artist Curling often takes to the stage as a singer in various metal, punk, and noise rock bands (Throwing Bricks, Radar Men From The Moon), he takes a completely different approach in his DJ-sets. The experimental mix of bass, electro, industrial and a dash of EBM recalls the well-known club scene in the first Matrix-film: dark, with an apocalyptic tinge, but mostly highly danceable.

In this 20th year of Kayo Dot’s existence, the group has reconvened its original lineup of maudlin of the Well expats–Toby Driver, Greg Massi, Sam Gutterman, and Terran Olson–to perform their celebrated and timeless 2003 debut milestone of an album, ‘Choirs of the Eye’, in full at Complexity Fest 2023 next weekend.

“It’s been a flood of memories and emotions during the process of revisiting this music after 20 years with the group of guys that helped create it. After the Choirs of the Eye album cycle was finished, the lineup changed and we rarely revisited that music not only because the new instrumentations didn’t suit it, but also because Kayo Dot has made a point over the band’s career to keep exploring and discovering, deliberately not looking back.

Despite that ethic, the few times in my career when I did look back always ended up being deeply fulfilling. As time goes on, I’m occasionally hit with recollections that make me realize I may be forgetting moments of my life, both trivial and important, and that scares me. Sometimes overwhelmed with the feeling that my memory is just full and can’t hold anything else, those echoes make me wonder who I was, if that person still exists, and if the Me that exists now will soon vanish as well. A musical composition is a diary page, a trail marker that opens a window into a moment of time through the context that it provides, and relearning how to play this music and all its interlocking parts reminded me not only of the priceless moments with my friends in rehearsal, in the studio, on our first tour, but also of the years leading up to and the years leading away from this powerful turning point in my life.

Choirs of the Eye is still held up by many as my magnum opus, despite all my best efforts to supersede it. I respect that; there is undoubtedly some special unknown magic in this music. Performing it is a sacred act. Twenty years on, Complexity Fest will provide Choirs of the Eye’s largest venue of its lifetime thus far, another milestone that will contextualize all of its past and all of its future. I’m excited to see what will happen.”

– Toby Driver

Briljant Brouwhuis is not your regular brewer, not aiming to make the next IPA but experimenting on the edge of styles, much like Complexity Fest.

We were stoked when asked to make a beer for them! This beer too balances on the edge of a English brown ale, and has added ‘notes of complexity’ in ginger spiciness, and a hint of pepper and whisky smokiness.

This slowstepper is to be amazed by, but also your steady companion through the entire event.

Available from the 25th of February on at Patronaat Haarlem and Lokaal – Dutch Beer Bar.

KLAKMATRAK and ZETRA join the Complexity Fest line-up full of great acts to discover, including TRIBULATION, KAYO DOT, AUTHOR & PUNISHER, STAKE, BIRDS IN ROW and more. Moreover, we made sure you can party with us till the small hours at the afterparty in CLUB3. More about that will follow soon!

We are now only 24 days away from finally turning the key to Complexity Fest 2023. The first full-scale edition in three years! Words fail to express the excitement and happiness currently driving everyone working hard on creating what will truly be the best Complexity experience so far.

KLAKMATRAK is a project by the Belgian techno producer and STAKE-frontman Brent Vanneste. Together with his best friend Dreeten Van Maris on vocals, they combine gabber, french-core, speed-core, industrial noise, hardcore, punk, disco and more into their own abstract sound; once called as yoga for brains. Combined with their very-energetic almost destructive live show, we qualified them as the perfect closing act for this years festival, following previous acts such as Otoboke Beaver, The Armed and Otto von Schirach.

We are happy to have the enigmatic synth-metal pair ZETRA on this years line-up. The duo looks like black metal meets Blade Runner, clad in cloaks, corpse paint and chains. Between them, a guitar, a keyboard and an old Atari sequencer, they sound like Type O Negative gone synth-pop, a goth Pet Shop Boys with deliciously heavy, dark riffs.

Join us at Complexity Fest 2023 on February 25 and get your tickets now!