New Notwist album

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Notwist from Weilheim, Bavaria have just released their new album Neon Golden. I have heard two tracks and they were quite impressive. I had not heard of them before though they have been around for many years. Apparently they got bored of indie rock a couple of years ago and switched over to melodic slightly experimental more electronic music. Could this record end up in 2002's Top Ten as I read somewhere? It is a little bit early but who knows...

― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Yeah, what's up with this band? I heard some electronic-oriented tracks from a compilation that I liked, and then I found 12 and I was like ??? It sounds like Sebadoh circa Bakesale. (I haven't listened to it enough to have an opinion.) Quite a transformation.

― Mark, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Have the first album ('98?) - a somewhat jazzier Stereolab would be the fairest assessment. I know that they have had at least four other albums out since then (not including the new one) but haven't kept up as I sort of fell out of love of that whole genre.

― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

The song on the Morr Music comp from 2000 ("Scoop") is awfully wonderful. Very clean along the lines of other Morr and City Centre stuff (Herrmann and Kleine* and Arovane and Solvent and the like). So, I guess this will remain a mystery until Melissa comes and sorts it all out. IIIRC, she's quite fond of these guys.

* should be a new album from them soon as well, no? If it's half as good as "Kickboard Girl"...

― scott p., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Most of the tracks on 12 have a copyright date of 1996, so that debut must have been from earlier.

― Mark, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

12, if I have my rock music sundial pointed at the sun properly, was their "rock" album - "The Everpresent Change of My Alien" (sic?) rec'd a good amount of airtime up here in New England. (However, I believe that track comes from a previous album; the Zero Hour folks licensing the Notwist albums in the US included a bonus disc w/ that track, which "rocked" like a teutonic Helmet).

Their previous album, Shrink, sounds more like the Stereolab/jazz thing Marcello mentioned (I think that's the '98 one - Album #4, possibly) - there are bits of electronic hoohah on it as well. It's a fine disc, mixing the horns & the bleeps & the guitars to fine effect.

Of course, Mel can also set us curious folks straight on the various side-projects Notwist folks are involved w/. (I'd dig out that old Puncture article on this very topic, but it's not at my disposal at this time.)

― David Raposa, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Amazon.de lists an album Nook from 1992. Btw their new album is already #27 at amazon.de. This is not the same as being #27 in the charts!

― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Their first two albums date back to the early 90s. Very rawking metal. They bear even less resemblance to "12" than it does to "Shrink", their swell 1998 album. Members also record IDM as Console, jazzy electronics as Tied & Tickled Trio, and with Lali Puna. All worth checking out.

― Curt, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

"Neon Golden" is brilliant, blending (horrible word, sorry) old, acoustic instruments with bleeps and stuff from instruments I can't make out, but hell, it does the job for me. People who liked "Shrink" will love this one, as it is better, the ingredients are now put together in the right proportion (not being English, I have my doubts about that last sentence...) Listen to it, enjoy it!

― WiLLeM, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Neon Golden is their fifth album, as stated somewhere above I believe. It's a continuation of what they began on Shrink, but Johannes Enders is much less involved than he was on that album. Notwist are a strange story, with roots in loud guitar-driven heavy metal. Somewhere around 12, things shifted as they added bits of electronic and experimented with the remix, including the remix EP with the American issue. Shrink is jazzier and also driven by a blend of electronic manipulations and instruments, particular the banjo, which some see as a gimmick. But they've used it since their days as a heavy metal outfit. Neon Golden I haven't made my mind up about yet. 12 and Shrink have been my favorites, but I've been listening to Neon Golden non-stop since I got it.

Other albums: S/T, Nook, 12 and Shrink with the last one being the only one remotely similar in sound and texture to Neon Golden.

Side-projects: Tied and Tickled Trio (mainly Johannes Enders' gig, but his role in Notwist seems to have diminished), Village of Savoonga, Lali Puna, Console, Potawatomi and a handful of other small projects, most of them originating mid-90s from the Hausmusik/Kollaps/Payola trio of labels.

― Bofus, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Well, Bofus took up all my useful information, so I'll just say that Neon Golden is my favorite album of 2002 so far. It's a bit weak and repetitive in spots, but ultimately is quite enjoyable. It's fairly solid and polished and has some interesting combinations of styles. The strange, stilted command of English adds another interesting aspect; the lyrics are broken up oddly, and the words they chose to emphasize are all wrong.

― Melissa W, Wednesday, 23 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

Neon Golden was my first Notwist album. It sounds like a complicated mix of New Order, Beloved and Pet Shop Boys. At times it is glorious pop and at others it is morbidly brooding and dense. the more you listen, the more it reveals.

Never heard any of their other stuff, but it sounds like I have found them at the right time

― Sonicred, Thursday, 24 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

I got the album last week. The 15 months production period can be heard in the complex 72 track recordings. The singer's voice is a little thin but just ok. At least he has not too much of a German accent in his English. The lyrics are a little forced and pseudo- philosophical in places, but funny, e.g.: "Fail with consequence, lose with eloquence and smile". The record is a grower. The combination of strange electronic sounds and acoustic instruments is quite successful. The golden middle between experimental and pop music. I like "Pilot", "Pick up the Phone", the banjo dominated "Trashing Days" and "This Room" the most.

― alex in mainhattan, Monday, 28 January 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

@Alex: The Album did unexpectedly well in the German charts, it entered at #13, after several weeks it slowly went down to #98 where it was last week.

― Julian, Thursday, 21 March 2002 01:00 (11 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

has anyone the notwist lyrics from Neon Golden?? - please answer!

― cloud#7, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (10 years ago) Permalink

7 months pass...

The strange, stilted command of English adds another interesting aspect; the lyrics are broken up oddly, and the words they chose to emphasize are all wrong.

I always appreciate the contributions that non-native speakers make to the English language--I don't mean that in any condescending sense either. Some review noted, with prejudice, that "One with the Freaks" was not a title any native English speaker would come up with. But I appreciate it for that very reason. It has a directness, a poetic right-ness, that a native speaker might pass up.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 17 January 2003 19:48 (10 years ago) Permalink

I wouldn't put it past, say, Robert Pollard to come up with EXACTLY that title!

― matt riedl (veal), Friday, 17 January 2003 22:25 (10 years ago) Permalink

Black Box rules non-native english lyrics.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 17 January 2003 22:43 (10 years ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

i loved this album once but now..it's hardly ever played

― s.r.w. (s.r.w.), Wednesday, 18 June 2003 17:43 (9 years ago) Permalink

me too. It was such a great discovery at the time but now it sits up there with the Sigur Ros's debut in the "ooh, must play that again one day" pile. I still get a funny feeling from hearing "Pilot" though - one of the best tracks of last year.

― dog latin (dog latin), Wednesday, 18 June 2003 22:11 (9 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

"Pilot" is a classic, classic track. The rest I never really got into.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Sunday, 8 August 2004 01:23 (8 years ago) Permalink

3 years pass...

oh yes !

the notwist - notwist-ultras.com - a blog about: the notwist - Blog Archive - new record, release date, track list and more…

some news are public now. last week berlin-pop-journalist walter wacht had the chance to listen to notwist’s new record, which is still untitled and will be released on cityslang on Mai 2, 2008. the new record was mastered at the famous abbey road studios in london, uk (notwist’s 2002 record “neon golden” got also it’s mastering there). the record has 11 tracks, a total playtime of only 42 minutes and the to be confirmed tracklist is looking like that:

The Notwist - “untitled“:

01. Good Lies
02. Where In This World
03. Gloomy Planets
04. Alphabet
05. The Devil, You & Me
06. Gravity
07. Sleep
08. On Planet Off
09. Boneless
10. Hands On Us
11. Gone Gone Gone

― djmartian, Thursday, 28 February 2008 11:34 (5 years ago) Permalink

finally! (thx!)

― StanM, Thursday, 28 February 2008 11:48 (5 years ago) Permalink

Wow, cool! Notwist completely dropped off my radar a few years ago when I finally got sick of Neon Golden. It would be nice if they came out of nowhere to be a highlight of 2008 like they did in 2002.

― Z S, Thursday, 28 February 2008 16:58 (5 years ago) Permalink

cool. i lost my copy of neon golden soon after i got it, but love the dudes that are in tied + tickled trio.

― Jordan, Thursday, 28 February 2008 17:01 (5 years ago) Permalink

neon golden's still sounds pretty solid, listened to it a couple weeks ago. i'll be checking out the new one...

― stephen, Thursday, 28 February 2008 17:25 (5 years ago) Permalink

I like this new song:

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/forkcast/49102-the-notwist-good-lies-mp3stream

― St3ve Go1db3rg, Wednesday, 5 March 2008 19:57 (5 years ago) Permalink

i hope the rest of the album is less indie pop and more banjos + beats.

― Jordan, Wednesday, 5 March 2008 20:02 (5 years ago) Permalink

i can't believe neon golden came out six years ago

― akm, Wednesday, 5 March 2008 23:04 (5 years ago) Permalink

Yeah! It's still awesome. Off The Rails + Consequence is such an ultra combo.

― St3ve Go1db3rg, Wednesday, 5 March 2008 23:19 (5 years ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

I love this record.

― Scik Mouthy, Sunday, 6 July 2008 17:46 (4 years ago) Permalink

The new one, that is. But I love Neon Golden too.

― Scik Mouthy, Sunday, 6 July 2008 17:46 (4 years ago) Permalink

The Notwist - The Devil, You + Me

i just bought this album from Amoeba, still think it's really good.

― Bee OK, Sunday, 6 July 2008 18:12 (4 years ago) Permalink

still can't believe the singer's a dude

― kamerad, Sunday, 6 July 2008 18:46 (4 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

I found this odd Notwist soundtrack on emusic that apparently came out last year. Its called "Sturm". Dont know anything at all about it (ie what movie/show/thing is it for?) but it is utterly lovely! Completely ambient with calm little glitchy fiddles, reminds me of a more serene Ryuchi Sakamoto. No singing.

― demiurge overkill (Trayce), Wednesday, 26 May 2010 06:42 (2 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

i listened to this for the first time in 10 years today. it's instantly likable, having good tunes and inventive arrangements, but strangely, it's not very compelling and it will probably be another 10 years before I return to it.

― Poliopolice, Sunday, 2 September 2012 17:44 (8 months ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

http://devonrecordclub.wordpress.com/2012/11/07/the-notwist-neon-golden-round-39-nicks-choice/

― comedy is unnatural and abhorrent (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 7 November 2012 20:58 (6 months ago) Permalink

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