The Notwist - Neon Golden (2002)

Neon Golden was a subtle rewiring of the Notwist's long-established baroque hip-hop post-rock fetishist technique. The album's minimal kitchen-sink vibe was stronger, the wide assortment of instruments were arranged with new conviction, and the band would throw in a startlingly unpretentious mixture of tub-thumbing static, cellos, banjos, organs, and breakbeats while Markus Acher's Belle & Sebastian-styled vocals flowed underneath like island run-off. In "This Room," "Pick Up the Phone," "Off the Rails," and the excellent "Consequence," the intricacy of the band's sound remained, but with less experimental desperation and considerably better ideas.