The Notwist was busy reinventing itself over and over again before most of us in the U.S. heard the band for the first time on 2002’s Neon Golden. That album found the former grunge group settling into an electronic/indie-rock hybrid that’s been its calling card ever since. It’s not dissimilar to Radiohead’s pivot on Kid A and Amnesiac, and much of the Notwist’s new live album is reminiscent of Radiohead’s live EP I Might Be Wrong, right down to the sampled-and-chopped vocal improvisations. While it wasn’t much more than a stopgap EP, I Might Be Wrong did at least set out to show how Radiohead would pull off its new sound live. Superheroes, Ghostvillians & Stuff also shows how the Notwist masterfully blends organic and inorganic textures outside the studio, but it’s also a reminder of how adventurous this band can be. While the live record’s nearly 100 minutes leans almost exclusively on its post-2002 output, the Notwist takes every opportunity to explore untapped corners of those songs, turning tracks like “Pilot” and “Trashing Days” inside out.
—Matt Sullivan
