News From Planet Zombie by The Notwist

The big feature this week is the new album from The Notwist – their first album in five years and their first studio album since 1995’s 12 that the entire band recorded together in the studio. The Notwist, from Germany, formed in 1989 and have 11 total full length albums:

• The Notwist (1991)
• Nook (1992)
• 12 (1995)
• Shrink (1998)
• Neon Golden (2002)
• The Devil, You + Me (2008)
• Sturm (soundtrack, 2009)
• Close to the Glass (2014)
• The Messier Objects (2015)
• Vertigo Days (2021)
• News from Planet Zombie (2026)

The band has evolved from their darker punk & indie rock roots to a more orchestral indie rock/post-rock sound, while adding electronica elements – with recent albums leaning more heavily into electronic and jazz influences.

The new record is a return to form in many ways to their 2008 album, The Devil, You + Me, with more of a straightforward indie rock sound (emphasis on “more”) than their electronic/jazz influenced albums from 2009 through 2021. In my opinion, it’s their best album to date and has the perfect mix of indie rock and electronica. If you like bands like Broken Social Scene, Boards of Canada, Arcade Fire, and The Sea and Cake, you will like this record a lot.

From Bandcamp:

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.”

Song Highlights

My favorite tracks:

• “X-Ray”
• “The Turning”
• “Silver Lines”

The album also includes two great cover songs:

• a version of Neil Young’s “Red Sun” (from 2000’s Silver & Gold)
• a version of the folk-pop band Lovers’ “How the Story Ends”