Track Listing

1. One Step Inside Doesn't Mean You Understand
2. Pilot
3. Pick Up the Phone
4. Trashing Days
5. This Room
6. Solitaire
7. One With the Freaks
8. Neon Golden
9. Off the Rails
10. Consequence
11. Scoop (domestic edition bonus track)
12. Propeller 9 (domestic edition bonus track)
13. Formiga (domestic edition bonus track)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20184 in Music
• Released on: 2003-02-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Album Description
15 months in the making, and light years ahead of their post-punk, self-titled debut in 1990, Neon Gold is Notwist's sixth full length album. 'Top 10 album of the year', says the New York Times. This Domino release features three bonus tracks not available on the import, 'Scoop', 'Propeller 9' & 'Formiga'. A total of 13 tracks in all. 2003.

Amazon.com
The combination of meandering acoustic guitar, mournful vocals, post-punk rock, crisp electronica, flutes, dub bass, sax, occasional breakbeat, and banjo could've turned the tender tunes on Notwist's sixth album into chaotic and indulgent noodling. The 15 months spent in the studio putting the unlikely components together, however, pays off with a collection beautiful and dreamy lo-fi lullabies in which hazy pop melodies drift by on an eccentric flow of sensual bleeps, whooshes, and crackles. Even when Neon Golden strays toward more traditional rock, Markus Acher's downtrodden yet hopeful vocals and achingly sweet melodies hold up, as do the sumptuous atmospheric add-ons that link the New Order-like "Pilot" and "One with the Freaks" to the title track's ambient electronic pulses. Yet nothing is more magical or odd than "Trashing Days," where Notwist manages to make pneumatic space-age sound effects rubbing against scraping beats, woozy horns and a quietly plucked banjo, sound like the most natural thing in the world. --Dan Gennoe

Customer Reviews

Shakespearean Macabre
Somehow this one slipped through the cracks. Normally I'd hop on this type of thing day one out of the blocks, even as an import. I'm glad I waited. The domestic release of NEON GOLDEN includes three additional cuts all at a very reasonable price. Enough of that though. I admit I'm not familiar with any previous Notwist material, but no matter. I read in one review about a reference to New Order, my all-time number one band. Another reviewer compared it to Radiohead's KID A but classically superior. Personally I hear elements of Sigur Ros and Interpol with a hint of Blue Nile to smooth it all out. And what does all that equate to? Well try alt-rock with the some hop-scotch electronica wrapped about these beautiful soaring melodies and you're kinda' getting close. The sum comes across as fresh, reverent, stately, original, complete, and endlessly satisfying. How many other albums do that for you? The opening cut, "One Step Inside Doesn't Mean You Understand" is completely that, throwing you off course of what is to come. Beware the beast though because next up "Pilot" and "Pick Up The Phone" throw you into their abyss sonic falling. No worry, you land solid by "Trashing Days". "Solitaire" is a nostalgic synth crop-crusher expelling you out the finished end all ready for the trip to market and retail shelving. Not to give it all away, "Neon Golden" is probably the lead cut as the album title dubious, not as to diminish the other gems. How these Krauts, who started playing metal over ten years ago, came up with the mother of cool is beyond me. If you get a copy you can start to understand. It's in the glory. Hug a brother and join the movement.

I heard it once and had to own it
I was in a bookstore in Philly and Neon Golden was played over the store system. I asked what it was and walked across the street to buy it. It's that good. Everyone who hears it at my apartment in the village says, "what's this?" It has an immediate appeal, and your appreciation will only grow with more listens.

It is at some level rock music and it is delivered in many ways as electronic music. However, genre is the worst possible way to describe an album like this. The vocals and lyrics are compelling and personal. They are not made to impress you, show off range, and do not fall into any of the usual pitfalls of most songs. They are just raw and honest and above all, human.

The electronic beats give the music a clear and focused edge and an amazing feel. Guitar, banjo (this doesn't strike one as a great idea in words, but it sounds great on the album, bluegrass doesn't even come to mind), and horns and flutes produce a very interesting sound. All has the controlled measure and sound of electronic music, but the live instruments and vocals produce an unimaginable blend with a moving sound.

This album easily appeals to many types of music fans from rock and electronic perspectives and does a great job walking a line only comfortably traversed by such bands as Radiohead and The Postal Service...

If you are wondering where rock music (or electronic music) should be moving next, listen to this album. It shakes off all the shackles of music history and soars into music for music's sake. There is nobody who would not enjoy this music. -As a side note, be sure to visit their website, it's pretty cool.

Notwistonyerears
This is a completely engrossing album that took several immersions before I comprehended its depth and distinction, but it was certainly worth it. In its elaborate, slightly skewed arrangements, "Neon Golden" reminds me of Radiohead's last few efforts, but without the sometimes annoying claustrophobic solipsism of a Radiohead album. And it's far more chill. There's a great use of space and silence, and a true sense of beauty here (especially the hypnotic closing track "Consequence") but that's not to say it's untouched by angst and fear. Archer's muted & affectless voice offsets the songs' complex arrangements, which are couched in an odd mix of sampled acoustic instruments dressed up with trip-hop engineering tricks and technology. Definitely one of the best of 2003.