Don't they just look German?

The Notwist are a German indie-electro outfit with an intolerably obtuse website; they've been plugging away for a long time apparently. Knowing that they're German musicians and judging by the picture above, I'd project that they're heterosexual men who each own between one and three pairs of leather pants, and that two of the four probably have horrible body odor (I'm a dual citizen, I'm allowed to say these things). They sound kind of like Kenna mixed with Pinback...yes, I did enjoy making that somewhat obscure comparison.

Their 2002 album Neon Golden was enjoyed by people who take themselves too seriously. Their sound is sparse electronic rock, most of which I wouldn't recommend necessarily in this space. However, I found the complete album at the link above (thanks to Brian) and took a shot. My favorite song off the album is "Pilot," which is quicker and bouncier than the rest of the album, though still a modicum of Teutonic efficiency. I bought the album because's it's good.

The Notwist / "Pilot"



So occasionally I find things on my own and without the help of Stereogum, Soviet Panda, Bliss Pop, and FluxBlog. In this case, it's young Britons The KBC. I saw a mention of them on The Rapture message board and while they've yet to release anything their demos sound fucking great. The songs all have rapid-fire, Nick McCarthy-esque angular guitars, and not much in the way of gimmicks. The vocals could be cleaned up a little bit as they don't sound overly confident at the moment but the guy's voice isn't bad at all.

Three guys no older than 20...I'd say I'll be mentioning them again soon. Here are the songs they have available:

The KBC / "Poisonous Emblem" [personal fave]
The KBC / "Best in Business"
The KBC / "Trippin"
The KBC / "Pride Before the Fall"
The KBC / "Day of Disillusion"