Is it just me, or is electronica infiltrating everything lately?  I mean, Ben Gibbard formed a whole new band just so he could make electro-pop, The Knife is the band of the moment, the best song off of the latest Franz Ferdinand album is the most electronic one, rappers aren’t afraid to rap over trance beats (even if they are British and Caucasian), and every pop band and their brother has a remix album (we’re looking at you, Of Montreal).  The few that don’t have a remix album are the ones doing the remixing (we’re looking at you this time, Flaming Lips).  Hell, I’ll put ten dollars on American VI being Johnny Cash’s long lost take on the works of Aphex Twin, Mylo, Kraftwerk, and Daft Punk.

Regardless, let’s go way back to ancient times: 2002 – a time when Radiohead releasing albums closer to house than grunge was still a hard concept to grasp and The Faint was one of the few rock bands unafraid to strut their synths.  In this fateful year, a band, relatively unknown this side of the Atlantic, calling themselves The Notwist released a pop album titled Neon Golden.  It was a highly inaccessible pop album - one with glitch and electronica influences.  And a lead singer who sounds like David Hasselhoff eating Stuart Murdoch.

The album opens modestly, with One Step Inside Doesn’t Mean You’ll Understand, which begins with a pleasantly un-hummable finger-picked guitar before bringing in what sounds like an army of kazoos (I mean that in the best way) and Markus Acher’s aching vocals about hearts and people not understanding.  Then things improve.  The percussion kicks in and the complexity of the song hits you.  There is a hell of a lot going on here.  We’ve got strings, guitar, percussion, vocals, horns, and some nice static sounds.  Despite all this happening, there is absolutely no bombast.  While Sufjan is off making his living on bombast-to-quiet cycles of post-rock proportions, these semi-post-rockers are all about the modesty.  The next track, Pilot, is more catchy than its predecessor, and it does, to the listener's advantage, utilize a full rhythm section, calling on the bass guitar to make you wanna dance like you’re watching your Duran Duran reunion tour DVD that you keep hidden under Slow Century and Meeting People Is Easy.  The rhythm section –fueled by the drums – returns on This Room, which features percussion that wouldn’t feel out of place on Silent Alarm.

While the rhythm section is not absent on other tracks, it is often composed of synthetic sounds similar those in electronica and hip-hop.  This is best exemplified in Pick up the Phone, which begins with a pleasant string sample before bringing in some serious percussion, and Acher’s unfortunate lyrics.  What more can we expect of some German guy writing snippets of heart-on-your-sleeve lyrics and typing them into Babel Fish?  His lyrics must be like haikus.  I mean, I don’t like haikus, but in Japanese I bet they’re amazing.  Solitaire works basically in the same fashion as Pick up the Phone, beginning with a string piece and then bringing in a bass beat straight out of Endtroducing…, with much better results than on the aforementioned track.  Consequence, however, utilizes these beats the best, and happens to be an excellent string-and-piano ballad chock-full of sounds worthy of the Friedbergers.  Unlike our Fiery friends, these modest blips, bleeps, and bloops, are entirely less noticeable and far too un-memorable.

Ultimately, this lack of memorability is the album’s best and damning characteristic.  There is hardly a hook on this album, and the best tracks are the ones that are the least memorable.  It is nearly impossible to find yourself whistling Off the Rails (a largely electronic track with expertly used string arrangements in the refrain reminiscent of Final Fantasy’s best work) an hour after you’ve completed the album, but it is no doubt the best track they have to offer.  All that The Notwist wanted to do was make the album that they wanted to make, whether it was catchy or not.  Everyone else saw their idea and ran with it, making it catchier, and, at the same time, less interesting.  Regardless, the album ends up being like the quiet guy at the office; you never invite him to go golfing with you, but every time you talk to him, you find yourself enjoying it.  You’ll like this album every time you put it in, but you’ll just as soon forget how good it is.

Release Date: 23/02/03
Artist Website: www.notwist.com
Label: Domino

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