"once I dreamed I will be asked to save us / put you and me into this starship to transport us to the planets far away..."
The artfully askew audacity of "X-Ray" by Munich's stalwart alt pop indie rockers The Notwist, from their upcoming 2026 10th album, "News from Planet Zombie", with it's joyous banging drums, sort of twee pop inclinations, experimental pop sideways-ness, angular jangly guitars, radio transmissions and Markus Acher's vocal countenance full of wonder and thoughtful distress, barreled over me and, for now anyway, has found a permanent parking spot in my brain. I felt a lot of wonderful weirdness here, complete with a kind of youthful ebullient quality while at the same time sensing words spit out with a certain amount of jadedness and hopefulness or the desire to feel like hope is around the corner (or on another planet after we have fucked this one up).
The emo, the twee pop, the askew tinges of anarchy and truth telling have me feeling an amalgam of Flaming Lips, Los Campesinos!, TV On The Radio, Times New Viking (or thereabouts).
I admit that this is my introduction to The Notwist so my feeling about this song could be more about my disillusionment about 'things' than what The Notwist is trying or is saying. Anyway, discovering more about them will, no doubt, be a trip unto itself.
LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed):
[With News from Planet Zombie, The Notwist return to view after years of exploration and experiment with an album rich in both melancholy and positivity, sketched across a suite of thrilling, fiercely committed pop songs. It’s an album reflecting a chaotic world, but responding with warmth and generosity, to achieve creative and spiritual consolidation.]
[Recorded in their home base of Munich, it reconnects with the security of the local to explore the troubles of the global: a guiding impulse writ large across this album’s eleven songs. It’s also the first studio album since 1995’s 12 that the band recorded together in the studio in its expanded live formation. It's out March 13th, 2026 on Morr Music.]
[The band:
Markus Acher: vocals, guitar
Micha Acher: bass, sousaphone, euphonium, trumpet
Cico Beck: electronics, keyboards, guitar, recorder, percussion
Theresa Loibl: bassclarinet, clarinet, piano, harmonium, organ
Max Punktezahl: guitar
Karl Ivar Refseth: marimbaphone, vibraphone, glockenspiel, congas, percussion
Andi Haberl: drums, dulcimer]
Micha Acher: bass, sousaphone, euphonium, trumpet
Cico Beck: electronics, keyboards, guitar, recorder, percussion
Theresa Loibl: bassclarinet, clarinet, piano, harmonium, organ
Max Punktezahl: guitar
Karl Ivar Refseth: marimbaphone, vibraphone, glockenspiel, congas, percussion
Andi Haberl: drums, dulcimer]
Pre-Order: LP/CD/ DIGITAL: https://linktr.ee/notwist
-Robb Donker Curtius
The Chicken Wheel will take you to the AP Go Fund Me- and any amount is so appreciated!
https://thenotwist.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/the.notwist/
https://www.facebook.com/thenotwist/
https://x.com/thenotwist
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/the-notwist/14957113
With News from Planet Zombie, The Notwist return to view after years of exploration and experiment with an album rich in both melancholy and positivity, sketched across a suite of thrilling, fiercely committed pop songs. It’s an album reflecting a chaotic world, but responding with warmth and generosity, to achieve creative and spiritual consolidation. Recorded in their home base of Munich, it reconnects with the security of the local to explore the troubles of the global: a guiding impulse writ large across this album’s eleven songs. It’s also the first studio album since 1995’s 12 that the band recorded together in the studio in its expanded live formation. It's set for a March 13th release via Morr Music.
A new album by The Notwist is always a curious endeavor; their musical language is as consistent and resilient as the contexts for creativity are unpredictable and ever shifting. For News from Planet Zombie, the core trio of Markus and Micha Acher and Cico Beck embraced the plural possibilities of writing together, bringing songs to the collective and then arranging, rehearsing and recording that material live, in the studio.
The result is an album that’s energized, fully in the now, with spectacular moments where you can hear the magic bubbling up in the dynamic between the Achers, Beck, and fellow members Theresa Loibl, Max Punktezahl, Karl Ivar Refseth, and Andi Haberl. "Teeth" begins the album quietly and reflectively, and the chiming keys of "Propeller" skim the instrumental’s surface like stones across burbling water. "The Turning" clangs its way into one of the album’s most heartwarming melodies.
On new single "X-Ray" out today, everyone’s supercharged, blasting out future anthems with the collective energy cranked up high. Check the new track out here along with the album pre-order.
Planet Zombie was recorded over one week at Import Export, a non-profit space for arts and music. You can tell, too; there are some pleasingly rough edges here, as though The Notwist’s striving for hazy perfection means they’re also confident enough to let the songs breathe and mutate between our ears. That openness to chance also takes in guest turns from friends both local and international, reflective of a cosmopolitan Munich: Enid Valu joins in on vocals, while Haruka Yoshizawa guests on taishōgoto and harmonium, Tianping Christoph Xiao on clarinet, and Mathias Götz on trombone.
The Notwist aren’t best known for cover versions, but News from Planet Zombie features two: a gorgeous version of Neil Young’s "Red Sun" (from 2000’s Silver & Gold), which the group originally developed for a theatre play directed by Jette Steckel, and a take on Athens, Georgia folk-pop gang Lovers’ "How the Story Ends." They slot into the album’s narrative perfectly, nestling in like old friends, revealing The Notwist as poetic interpreters. Played well, the cover version is both acknowledgement of fellow travelers and act of generosity, and The Notwist nail both aspects here.
And that narrative, the way the album plays out? News from Planet Zombie acknowledges the distress of our current geopolitical impasse, while reminding us there are collective ways forward. Fed through the figure of the zombie, Markus Acher explores our anxieties: In the title and some lyrics I reference B- and horror-movies, which is a reference to the crazy world at the moment, which seems to be like a really bad and unrealistic B-movie. But there’s a reminder here not to lose the thread entirely, that these things, too, will pass.
"The river here in Munich I often go to has been there forever and will be there long after us," Acher reflects, pinpointing an important source of succor for him. "Always the same but always changing. Very calming, but also always reminding me that like this river time only flows into one direction and you can’t go back. Every moment is very precious."
The Chicken Wheel will take you to the AP Go Fund Me- and any amount is so appreciated!
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://thenotwist.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/the.notwist/
https://www.facebook.com/thenotwist/
https://x.com/thenotwist
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/the-notwist/14957113
With News from Planet Zombie, The Notwist return to view after years of exploration and experiment with an album rich in both melancholy and positivity, sketched across a suite of thrilling, fiercely committed pop songs. It’s an album reflecting a chaotic world, but responding with warmth and generosity, to achieve creative and spiritual consolidation. Recorded in their home base of Munich, it reconnects with the security of the local to explore the troubles of the global: a guiding impulse writ large across this album’s eleven songs. It’s also the first studio album since 1995’s 12 that the band recorded together in the studio in its expanded live formation. It's set for a March 13th release via Morr Music.
A new album by The Notwist is always a curious endeavor; their musical language is as consistent and resilient as the contexts for creativity are unpredictable and ever shifting. For News from Planet Zombie, the core trio of Markus and Micha Acher and Cico Beck embraced the plural possibilities of writing together, bringing songs to the collective and then arranging, rehearsing and recording that material live, in the studio.
The result is an album that’s energized, fully in the now, with spectacular moments where you can hear the magic bubbling up in the dynamic between the Achers, Beck, and fellow members Theresa Loibl, Max Punktezahl, Karl Ivar Refseth, and Andi Haberl. "Teeth" begins the album quietly and reflectively, and the chiming keys of "Propeller" skim the instrumental’s surface like stones across burbling water. "The Turning" clangs its way into one of the album’s most heartwarming melodies.
On new single "X-Ray" out today, everyone’s supercharged, blasting out future anthems with the collective energy cranked up high. Check the new track out here along with the album pre-order.
Planet Zombie was recorded over one week at Import Export, a non-profit space for arts and music. You can tell, too; there are some pleasingly rough edges here, as though The Notwist’s striving for hazy perfection means they’re also confident enough to let the songs breathe and mutate between our ears. That openness to chance also takes in guest turns from friends both local and international, reflective of a cosmopolitan Munich: Enid Valu joins in on vocals, while Haruka Yoshizawa guests on taishōgoto and harmonium, Tianping Christoph Xiao on clarinet, and Mathias Götz on trombone.
The Notwist aren’t best known for cover versions, but News from Planet Zombie features two: a gorgeous version of Neil Young’s "Red Sun" (from 2000’s Silver & Gold), which the group originally developed for a theatre play directed by Jette Steckel, and a take on Athens, Georgia folk-pop gang Lovers’ "How the Story Ends." They slot into the album’s narrative perfectly, nestling in like old friends, revealing The Notwist as poetic interpreters. Played well, the cover version is both acknowledgement of fellow travelers and act of generosity, and The Notwist nail both aspects here.
And that narrative, the way the album plays out? News from Planet Zombie acknowledges the distress of our current geopolitical impasse, while reminding us there are collective ways forward. Fed through the figure of the zombie, Markus Acher explores our anxieties: In the title and some lyrics I reference B- and horror-movies, which is a reference to the crazy world at the moment, which seems to be like a really bad and unrealistic B-movie. But there’s a reminder here not to lose the thread entirely, that these things, too, will pass.
"The river here in Munich I often go to has been there forever and will be there long after us," Acher reflects, pinpointing an important source of succor for him. "Always the same but always changing. Very calming, but also always reminding me that like this river time only flows into one direction and you can’t go back. Every moment is very precious."
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