The Notwist: Markus Acher, Micha Acher, Martin Messerschmid, Martin Gretschmann.

Additional personnel: Wolfgang Petters (guitar); Axel von Hoynigen-Hune (cello); Johannes Enders (German flute, tenor saxophone); Stefan Schreiber (bass clarinet); Andreas Gerth (RY30, Theremin); Stefan Staudt (vibraphone); Christian Schantz (acoustic bass); Bibul (percussion); Tobi Kuhn (background vocals).

The sonic spectrum of pop as seen by Germany's Notwist is deeper and wider than that of just about any so-called rock band working the end of the millenium. Speed-metal guitars, the pure liquid electronics practiced by some of their Cologne-based countrymates, abstract, free-jazz horn surges, and late generation indie rock are all sound colors in the band's palette. And on SHRINK, the band's second US album, these colors (sans the heavy guitar) coalesce into a future-rock masterpiece that ups the ante on OK COMPUTER.

Songs like "Day 7" and "Chemicals" interlace industrial rhythms (drums, beats and blips), minor-key rock melodies, and the doom inherent in Markus Archer's fragile voice. Yet, at times, the darkness is as much filled with musical wonder as with global foreboding. "Moron," for instance, is a bit of instrumental swing that's like Miles & Gil hooking up with Mouse on Mars as Booker T, with Johannes Enders squealing Pharaoh-like on the tenor. This kind of stylistic melting pot gives SHRINK a unique glow, and symbolizes how, unlike the detached masses, The Notwist are still trying to make a singular sense of pop's multitude of ingredients as late as 1998.

Spin (1/99, p.93) - Included in Spin's 1998 list of "The 10 Best Albums You Never Heard."