The Notwist

Over the years, The Notwist have continuously shifted their musical coordinates: from the hardcore punk of their founding years as a trio in the late 1980s in Weilheim, Upper Bavaria, through guitar-driven music to the open sonic constellation of electronica, dub, jazz, and pop that defines the now Munich-based, multi-member collective today. One thing has remained constant throughout this journey: the voice of Markus Acher. Quiet, fragile, and deliberately unpolished in tone, it carries lyrics that move between restraint and latent melancholy without ever tipping into pathos.

With »News from Planet Zombie«, The Notwist continue this movement, albeit under slightly altered conditions. The album was recorded at Import Export, a non-profit space for art and music in Munich, and performed live as a band during the recording – something the band had not done since their early days. It was an experiment whose swift success surprised even the band themselves.

Lyrically, the tracks revolve around the paradoxes of a present moment that is becoming increasingly alien to itself. The references to zombie and horror film aesthetics serve as an explicit commentary on a world tipping into a grotesque B-movie-like reality. At the same time, the album insists on the possibility of connection – not as utopia, but as a quiet assertion. It is precisely in this restraint that »News from Planet Zombie« unfolds a form of subtle radicalism, refusing the attention-seeking impulses of the zeitgeist and finding its essence in what remains understated.