(Photographic evidence that Markus Acher is a gift from the music gods. It's a shame the halo doesn't register on camera. © 2008 Benjamin Luk.)
It’s amazing how great the dichotomy can be between how a band sounds recorded, and how that same band sounds live. Case in point, Germany’s very own The Notwist.
On record, it’s clear where they got their influences. Employing the same electro-ambience and jagged pitch bending techniques that reminds me so much of My Bloody Valentine and Autechre, their latest record The Devil, You + Me is a psychedelic trance waiting to happen. (Just thinking about it makes me want to pop open a bottle of cheap Shiraz and watch the rain.) Live however, forget gazing at your shoes the whole damn night. You’d best be prepared to dance.
Anticipating a mellow, perhaps even boring, night was an unfair assumption on my part. The moment I realized this was around the time I saw Notwist keyboardist/programmer Martin Gretschmann going to town on a couple of Wii controllers, laying down some sort of percussive digital squeals. A moment later, we all saw our very first Wii Lightsaber solo and could hardly contain our inner geekery. Explosive crowd favourites like “Gloomy Planets” and “Good Lies” ended with the Acher Brothers thrashing their axes across the stage, and tame-sounding Markus went from mild-mannered indie singer to a hard rock beast, passionately slaying every chord progression while lights behind him seemingly exploded from his back like angel wings. Meanwhile, Andi Haberl was unstoppable on drums, and reminded Notwist fans again that he could do more than just fill the void that Martin Messerschmidt left behind him when he went off to join industrial metal group Schweisser. Watching Haberl play in the Notwist is a bit like winning the lottery, then scoring another two bucks on a Scratch & Win. He’s that little something extra that seizes your attention, then turns it into full-blown awe.
During the encore(s), two Asian girls beside me kept screaming their heads off for “Consequence”. At first, it seemed like they were getting ignored as The Notwist plodded on with epic after epic from Neon Golden and Shrink, but finally Markus smiled and whispered something to his bandmates. Two songs later, some familiar chords sounded. From there, the last thing I remember is the crowd going wild.
Special thanks to Brock Thiessen at Discorder, and to the boys at Sealed With A Kiss. Click the link to see the rest of the Notwist Photo Gallery!
Coming soon: We get all good and gone with Lykke Li at Richard's!
On record, it’s clear where they got their influences. Employing the same electro-ambience and jagged pitch bending techniques that reminds me so much of My Bloody Valentine and Autechre, their latest record The Devil, You + Me is a psychedelic trance waiting to happen. (Just thinking about it makes me want to pop open a bottle of cheap Shiraz and watch the rain.) Live however, forget gazing at your shoes the whole damn night. You’d best be prepared to dance.
Anticipating a mellow, perhaps even boring, night was an unfair assumption on my part. The moment I realized this was around the time I saw Notwist keyboardist/programmer Martin Gretschmann going to town on a couple of Wii controllers, laying down some sort of percussive digital squeals. A moment later, we all saw our very first Wii Lightsaber solo and could hardly contain our inner geekery. Explosive crowd favourites like “Gloomy Planets” and “Good Lies” ended with the Acher Brothers thrashing their axes across the stage, and tame-sounding Markus went from mild-mannered indie singer to a hard rock beast, passionately slaying every chord progression while lights behind him seemingly exploded from his back like angel wings. Meanwhile, Andi Haberl was unstoppable on drums, and reminded Notwist fans again that he could do more than just fill the void that Martin Messerschmidt left behind him when he went off to join industrial metal group Schweisser. Watching Haberl play in the Notwist is a bit like winning the lottery, then scoring another two bucks on a Scratch & Win. He’s that little something extra that seizes your attention, then turns it into full-blown awe.
During the encore(s), two Asian girls beside me kept screaming their heads off for “Consequence”. At first, it seemed like they were getting ignored as The Notwist plodded on with epic after epic from Neon Golden and Shrink, but finally Markus smiled and whispered something to his bandmates. Two songs later, some familiar chords sounded. From there, the last thing I remember is the crowd going wild.
Special thanks to Brock Thiessen at Discorder, and to the boys at Sealed With A Kiss. Click the link to see the rest of the Notwist Photo Gallery!
Coming soon: We get all good and gone with Lykke Li at Richard's!
1 comments:
I brought a couple of friends to the show and was prepared to be laughed at, considering how bad their last visit was to Vancouver in 2004. However, as you already mentioned - what an amazing show and pleasant surprise.
Definitely on my best-of-the-year list!
Post a Comment