Is Notwist's Neon Golden LP the best 2002 album?

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It may be. But what do you guys think?

― Panagiotis Pileidis (Panagiotis Pileidis), Friday, 17 January 2003 16:23 (twenty-three years ago)

They're touring the U.S. in April. Can't wait.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Friday, 17 January 2003 16:24 (twenty-three years ago)

us guys think it's the equal 37th best LP of 2002

The ILX Readers Poll 2002 - RECORDS OF THE YEAR

― zebedee, Friday, 17 January 2003 16:28 (twenty-three years ago)

My friend thinks so.

Aaron, I was just speculating last night that they would probably tour in support of the US release of their record, and there you go. Thanks for the info!

― Amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 17 January 2003 16:31 (twenty-three years ago)

I really couldn't get on with this album. Played it several times, just went 'meh' again and again. Didn't like his voice or his lyrics or their tunes particularly. Belle & Sebastian gone glitch. No, can't be doing with it. Schmindie electronica. Balls to it.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Friday, 17 January 2003 16:40 (twenty-three years ago)

I liked it more than Wilco.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 17 January 2003 16:44 (twenty-three years ago)

Hey Amateurist... here you go:

http://www.korkagency.com/html_tours.htm#not

I can't wait.

― Aaron W (Aaron W), Friday, 17 January 2003 16:45 (twenty-three years ago)

I like it. Reminds me of Can in spots.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 17 January 2003 16:45 (twenty-three years ago)

Neon Golden is good, teetering on great. Some of the ideas from the Lali Puna albums have spilled over.

― paul cox (paul cox), Friday, 17 January 2003 16:49 (twenty-three years ago)

I think it's great, however there are two songs (the title track and the one that goes "but we like it / from that point of view") that are definitely below par.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 17 January 2003 16:52 (twenty-three years ago)

It sounds like a Volkswagen commercial but I like it anyway.

― mosurock (mosurock), Friday, 17 January 2003 17:19 (twenty-three years ago)

♫ what a difference a year makes...

― Jeff W, Friday, 17 January 2003 17:51 (twenty-three years ago)

My first impression was great a year ago. I thouht it would be a grower, but I liked it less each time i played it. Not that many good songs, and the singer is boring. Lali Puna and Ms. John Soda get all my side project love.

― Curt (cgould), Friday, 17 January 2003 18:31 (twenty-three years ago)

"Pilot" is a really great song. The rest could stand to sound more like Can.

― Adam A. (Keiko), Friday, 17 January 2003 21:23 (twenty-three years ago)

Is Notwist's Neon Golden LP the best 2002 album?

no. but it is a grower. if you don't love it immediately you've got to put it away for a few months and come back to it in order to really appreciate it. definitely one record that must be listened to on vinyl.

― fields of salmon (fieldsofsalmon), Friday, 17 January 2003 21:30 (twenty-three years ago)

I like it, but not nearly as much as the Ms. John Soda record

― James Blount, Friday, 17 January 2003 21:58 (twenty-three years ago)

I think it's great, however there are two songs (the title track and the one that goes "but we like it / from that point of view") that are definitely below par.

Ugh! "Solitaire" (of which you speak) is my favourite one on there! If there's a weak song on it (and there really isn't), surely it's "Trashing Days", and that's rather good anyway. Yep. Definitely a great album. "Shrink", the previous one is darn good too.

― edward o (edwardo), Friday, 17 January 2003 22:36 (twenty-three years ago)

... gah.. forgot the point... people in the know.. Is their pre-Shrink material worth hunting down?

― edward o (edwardo), Friday, 17 January 2003 22:36 (twenty-three years ago)

CURT WAS MOST OTM on this thread. not in my top ten of 2002. the singer is really crap. and the music doesn't hold neither. like can actually. i never understood what's so special about them.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Friday, 17 January 2003 22:56 (twenty-three years ago)

what's so special about Can = the funk... which The Notwist don't got

― Adam A. (Keiko), Friday, 17 January 2003 23:33 (twenty-three years ago)

. . . but . . . they are an unabashed rock band . . . no attempts to be funky . . .

― Amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 17 January 2003 23:34 (twenty-three years ago)

. . . good pop songs . . . gargle gargle swish . . .

― Amateurist (amateurist), Friday, 17 January 2003 23:34 (twenty-three years ago)

If there's a weak song on it (and there really isn't), surely it's "Trashing Days"
That's my favorite song on the whole album!

― Melissa W (Melissa W), Saturday, 18 January 2003 07:48 (twenty-three years ago)

i prefer Shrink but Neon Golden's a good album and is indeed a grower. also it seems kind of unfair to lump them in as stodgy bandwagon-jumpers because in my mind Shrink and its german no-guitars-but-still-warm-fuzzy-rockish-approach contemporaries (schneider tm - moist; mouse on mars? to rococo rot?) pretty much started a lot of this stuff, though maybe it was just a case of being first to proper distribution and being seen as cool overseas thanks to the duophonic connection.

pre-shrink: ok if you like sebadoh and fugazi but i wouldn't bother hunting it down, especially not at import prices

best of the year? i dunno, as with every year i can think of a load of albums i enjoyed (and this is surely one) but none which begs and screams to be thought of as 100% pure genius or light years ahead of the rest, except maybe max tundra - mbgate, for being just so OUT THERE, gleeful and hyperactive, that it seems more worthy of such extravagant praise even if it isn't actually the album i want to listen to most...

i make no sense, sorry.

― , Saturday, 18 January 2003 16:04 (twenty-three years ago)

Is their pre-Shrink material worth hunting down?

12 is worth getting. It's more straightforward rock but not without a few offbeat excursions. In other words, like a mid-90s American indie guitar band on Matador. I feel their fey vocals worked much better in contrast with 12's aggressive guitars than with their more recent, muted sound.

Their earlier metal albums sound fairly ordinary to me.

― Curt (cgould), Saturday, 18 January 2003 16:27 (twenty-three years ago)

three years pass...

Coming back to this album, after someone on Metafilter cited it as a good example of one that combined two disparate genres, I renew my extreme disappointment and am amazed that anyone would still argue for buying it now, as the electronic experimentation is old hat and the music is boring...
Reminded me of Primative Radio Gods more than anything else...

― js (honestengine), Tuesday, 31 January 2006 19:37 (twenty years ago)

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