Notwist is the project launched in 1989 by German singer/guitarist Markus Acher, a project that spawned several other parallel projects.
In the beginning, the EP was Only In America (Zero Hour, 1996), they were a power-trio (Michael Acher on bass and Mecki Messerschmidt on drums) and enjoyed aping grunge and speedmetal. Quidni added keyboards and samples and 12 (Zero Hour, 1997) ushered in a whole new project.
The progression continued with the extension of the line-up, updated to include a saxophone, clarinet, cello, theremin and vibraphone, and with the effect of moving towards progressive-rock (Day 7, Another Planet), jazz-rock (Moron, Your Signs), post-rock (Electric Bear, N.L.), towards melancholic vignettes of Enian memory (No Encores), and even an oblique version of synth-pop (Chemicals).
