Neon Golden

Neon Golden one of the best alternative rock albums of the 2000s. It was the first album of The Notwist incorporating electronic elements and that works fantastic. When choosing a highlight track over half of the album would be a right selection ("One Step Inside Doesn't Mean You Understand", "Pilot", "Pick Up the Phone", "Trashing Days", "Consequence").

Alternate universe Radiohead. I can tell that this is one of those albums that would have significantly rewired my brain if I discovered them as a young teen. Especially "Consequence", what a song. Worked as a closer so well that I almost felt bad listening to the bonus instrumental tracks included in the Spotify version.

Nicely produced, experimental-ish music. It's not particularly challenging, but it fills your earballs well enough.

Indie with an electronic bend, I dig it!

I found this to be a very pleasant listen. The production was excellent. I felt that the focus was a bit too much on making the production sound really cool and, because of that, the production did not end up mixing well with their overall style. Just my own opinion, it may work for some other people. I really did enjoy it and look forward to listening again. 3/5

*Neon Golden* is one of those albums that quietly reshapes what a band can sound like. The Notwist dissolve indie rock into warm electronics and understated emotion, crafting songs like “Pick Up the Phone” and “Thrashing Days” with meticulous care. Every glitch, beat, and guitar line is like part of a precise clockwork. Those elements are never showy — they're just perfectly placed to serve the songs right. Some of the electronic programming sounds a bit dated today, admittedly. What makes *Neon Golden" endure, though, is the fragile humanity beneath the digital polish. Said humanity can obviously be sensed through the plea at the heart of "Pick Up The Phone"'s memorable chorus. Just as it is found again in many other key junctures of the tracklist. “One With the Freaks” and “Off the Rails” shimmer with hesitant optimism, for instance, while “Consequence” closes with quiet grace. Markus Acher’s gentle, introspective voice is also a key part of the record’s sound, since the man's understated delivery very nicely matches the album’s blend of electronic textures and emotional subtlety. It is true that you sometimes wish his vocals were a little more... overstated, let's say. Nothing that would ruin the nightly mood, mind you -- it's surely a tricky balance to reach as a vocalist when there's such a delicate instrumental backdrop behind you. Just a little more presence would have done the trick for me. But I'm not only splitting hairs here, I'm mincing them into microscopic strands. So, to put it in a nutshell, what we have here is a record made for late nights and long reflections — precise yet deeply felt, digital yet unmistakably organic as well. And its last leg, as exemplified by the last couple of songs above, is just damn perfect -- to the point where this conclusion redeems whatever passing flaws you may have pinpointed before. When you get lost in such chiaroscuro surroundings, it's sometimes a little difficult to make out certain details and intents. But at the end of the day, this sort of ambiguity is all part of a "neon golden" territory, is it not? ---- 4.5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums, rounded up to 5. 9.5/10 for more general purposes (5 + 4.5) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ----- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 56 (including this one) Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 72 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 131 --- Émile. Ça y est, j'ai *enfin* répondu (en deux temps). Tu trouveras ça sous les reviews des disques de Blackalicious et Alexisonfire au dessus.

kinda sounds like the kirkland brand Kid A, but I still fucking love this - 10/10

Never heard of this before

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Pilot, Solitaire, Consequence

Low-key and lovely, warm and wondrous. Yes, AI bot, “quietly revolutionary indietronica” sounds just about right. The things are the emotional depth and richness (of the vocals in particular, with glitchy-twee synthy bits adding pathos and poignancy, too; “Pick Up the Phone” is a most humane sort of song), the well-balanced and thoughtful integration of rock and electronica elements and the sheer earwormery of “Pilot.” One likes how the title track even put links to psych folk as well – quite au courant, these German cats would be, eh? There’s a relatable and vaguely inspiring melancholy (as if sadness can be supered) that one likes (though of course one’s always turned to music [and pop music in particular] for reasons of solace and sentimentality). Didn't know this band beyond cursory awareness and listening (20+ years ago – seems like a millennia ago) – so thanks, recommender. Now do and will invest time to get to know them better. Intriguing, well-paced and diverse enough to hold one's interest across the record.

Generic af

Mid

Kind of soft electronic mixed with soft indie. Not bad, and very easy to digest.

I listened to a couple of albums today and do not even remember what this one was so it must have just played while I listened

I like the music, but the vocals are throwing me off a bit. They sound so uninterested.

I found this album interesting but also forgettable at the same time, which sounds odd, but feels like an album you really have to pay attention with or it just drifts into the background. Either way I think it’s worthy of the list, just not sure if I’ll ever remember it to come back to.

Good indie rock record.

As a fan of electronic and indie music this was a pleasant listen. I don't think it blew me away or really did anything groundbreaking but it was fun.

Interesting and decently good.

It’s ok background music: not phenomenal but not annoying

Not bad

Indie rock vibes that were amenable enough but didn't make a deep impression on me - a day later I'm kind of struggling to draw out any particulars of the listen.

It was not my kind of thing but I didn’t hate it.

This one makes me depressed. But not in the good way 2

Neon Golden is low-key chilled mostly electronic stuff masquerading as indie but I don't really get that from it, it's well produced but a bit boring really, not enough to earn more than a 2 as I didn't get much to like from it. Background music at best.

Commits the cardinal sin of media by being just plain boring – not even frustrating or so bad it’s good, just boring. Maybe it was notable in the early aughts, but throwing together sparse acoustic plucking and synths that sound like a bad Thom Yorke solo LP doesn’t do much for the album’s nearly hour-long runtime. It’s all so disparate and lacking in any kind of connecting thread, feels mostly like the world’s worst (or most pretentious) jam session.