The Notwist + Themselves

After years of sitting idle within one of the city’s most vibrant neighbourhoods, Montreal’s Cabaret Du Plateau has only recently been revamped and refurnished. This though the street it finds itself on remains a lesson in strangeness (how many have been to a venue across from a seemingly thriving bingo center? How about next to a restaurant named Sandhu, though offering without irony “Fine Italian Cuisine”?). Somehow though, this seems a fitting enough setting for a band like The Notwist, one that has evolved and grown into something entirely different from where they began. An evolution well noted by music fans on both sides of the Atlantic, as sometime last year it became apparent their Neon Golden was going to be one of their and the year’s best releases. And considering music fans in the city had the fortune/misfortune of choosing between shows by The Notwist, The Wrens, Buck 65 and Super Furry Animals, it’s a testament to the Berlin based quintet’s consistent output that the room was full — this during yet another snow storm. Still the quintet took the stage unassumingly like a collection of librarians and video store clerks. Though it has to be said their appearance works for them, as it doesn’t produce much in the way of expectation (I’m not trying to be mean, only honest), and rightfully, their music exposes itself to you slowly. And maybe it arises from experience, but watching them you notice there is no sense of rush or urgency within them, instead only a patient quasi- experimental vibe in its place. And fittingly, as most of its members barely looked up into the crowd, the band seemed far less interested in the bodies before them than their surrounding equipment and gadgets; though with Markus Archer’s warm and beautiful vocals, and Martin Gretschmann’s brilliant programming and keyboard touches, it comes across if anything as a sort of dedication — a feeling of total consumption within what they’re playing. And considering this feeling in the room, they rightfully played almost the entirety of Neon Golden, breaking from it to play something older only after about a half hour’s worth of stage time had elapsed, and in all showing off the versatility of seven of its songs. Though judging by song reactions it can be safe to say this was what this night’s audience expected and wanted. Beginning with a new country tinged song, the band, aided by Gretschmann’s aforementioned laptop magic and turntables tinkered with by Archer, morphed into a brilliantly moving version of “One with the Freaks”. And while “Trashing Days” and “Pick up the Phone” also proved fan pleasing highlights, it was “This Room”, newly remixed and disassembled by Manitoba on a recent E.P. release, which awed most in attendance and blew both recorded instances of the song away with measured energy and inventive spirit to burn. Earlier in the night, and in contrast to the calm enacted by the Notwist, Themselves stirred the crowd with its wired take on hip hop and electronica, putting in an honest and effortful night’s work for in the end though, a crowd of mixed reactions. Nevertheless, they later joined the Notwist on stage for a jam, one that proved a highlight of the night, if only for the sheer excited volume the congregated teams created. And after a short break, the night ended happily and succinctly with a three song encore, the ‘Wist offering “Consequence” as a proper send off. And after bidding a requisite “Merci Beaucoup,” they exited stage left just as unassumingly as they arrived; the venue’s new undiscovered sheen the perfect setting it seemed for a band that seems to have no end in its own discovery, evolution and exposure, and through no lack of subtlety.