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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Neon Golden
Universal acclaim
Based on 20 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 56 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: City Slang / Domino
Release Date: 25 February 2003
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Indie, Rock, Electronic
Summary
This breaktrhough sixth album for the German band combines a variety of disparate elements, most notably moody indie rock and glitchy electronica (think Hood's Cold House), to great effect.
Also By This Artist: The Devil, You + Me
Also On Metacritic
MUSIC: 13&God: 13&God
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Dusted Magazine
With Neon Golden, the Notwist have created a daring album full of different sounds and textures. While this might sound like a textbook post-rock album, it is without a doubt a record firmly anchored by its pop sensibilities.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
Neon Golden is one of the most exquisite electronic albums to come out in ages.
Read Full Review >Splendid
The Notwist can sculpt more emotional sounds and music into a compact and cutting four minutes than most can do in a career.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
A unique and beautiful work that will be returned to again and again. Definitely, already, an album of the year.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
A decade into their career, the Notwist have created a masterpiece by pulling the same trick they pulled on Shrink: mixing things that might not seem to fit together into a beautiful, seamless whole.
Read Full Review >Billboard
Not only shares some textural similarities with Radiohead's "Kid A," but rivals it as an art-rock classic.
Read Full Review >Salon.com
Elegant and subtle, "Neon Golden" convincingly balances the scales of pop and glitch electronics and is the best argument yet for combining the two.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
The Notwist's previous stabs at fusing pop, techno, punk, and jazz were dominated by post-adolescent melancholy and petulance. Though Neon Golden obsesses over locked rooms and missed chances, it also acknowledges the pleasures of stasis, the distant possibility of change, and an overall affinity with the "freaks."
Read Full Review >Village Voice
Album number five dwarfs its predecessors because the members have started treating this group as the sun around which their musical projects must inevitably revolve, and the home to which they must return.
Read Full Review >Planet
The vocals are really what seem to live with you after one listen, making Neon Golden memorable beyond its audio gimmicks. [#3, p.87]
Junkmedia
Halfway through the album, it's clear that this is a glimpse into the future of pop music.
Read Full Review >Almost Cool
With Neon Golden, The Notwist have done something that's not exactly an easy task; they've created an album that's mixes electronic and organic music in a way that makes each better.
Read Full Review >Alternative Press
Amazing. [Mar 2003, p.92]
All Music Guide
The intricacy of the band's sound remain[s], but with less experimental desperation and considerably better ideas.
Read Full Review >CultureDose.net
The Notwist are, for me, the band New Order never had a good enough singer, or a creative enough programmer, to be.
Read Full Review >Stylus Magazine
The Notwist are obviously talented enough to keep me guessing if they wanted to. They just don't. They are quite happy making simple pop songs, albeit with complex ingredients.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
What keeps it from being a crackling mess is Markus Acher's sweet, plaintive voice pushing these selected ambient works toward song structure and melody.
Read Full Review >Uncut
Neon Golden often comes on like a radical update of New Order's Lowlife period, where mournful guitar songs are integrated into a mesh of clicks, pops, glitches and samples. [Mar 2003, p.96]
Village Voice (Consumer Guide)
Young people who think Kraftwerk were more important than the Ramones are free to satisfy their craving for the neu with this retreat into simplicity. But even Radiohead and Mouse on Mars contain more chaos.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 56 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Seth N gave it a10:
Awesome, cant believe I had to listen through the whole track. Once I heard the first song, it was unfortunate that I was just sitting in my car in the drive way and didn't even want to get out.
Ezra M gave it a9:
Just one of those truly excellent pop albums. The only real problem is that they don't have so much to say, directly. They come across to me like those Medieval craftsmen whose message and reward were in the act of creation. Not to sound like a jackass... Generally a less sugary Postal Service without the terrible lyrics.
Marcus E gave it a10:
Outstanding. Notwist has produced their finest music. Development from 12, Nook, Shrink to Neon Golden is obvious. This is the one of the all time greatest album. The music are simply elegant and sensational. From track 1 to the last one, you won't skip any lines, it's totally awesome.
krauter m gave it a3:
nice, in a coldplay sense: in the sense that they've made it almost impossible to feel really strongly either way, based solely on the music. ultimately boring. increasingly obsolete, in the wake of other, better albums, such as last exit. sounds like the books meet travis meet a midsize car commercial. so, if that's where you're at, snooze on. this will not age well.
David M gave it a10:
A self-referencing gem of an album. Space, beauty, timelessness.
Andy W gave it a10:
there are no words to describe how good this cd is. i highly recommend this.
matt a gave it a10:
One of three truly perfect albums released in 2003 (along with Ed Harcourt-From Every Sphere and Pernice Brothers-Yours, Mine, Ours). Glitchy electronica at it's finest, rivaling even Radiohead's Kid A. Brilliant.
