[reviews]

Versacrum, Italy (NIOWT: Loverboy) by Hadrianus
An outstanding record! Niowt are from Slovenia, Loverboy is their second album, they played at the Zillo festival (Germany) in '98, the Beach Bum Festival (Italy) in 2000, etc., they're unanimously praised at home and abroad. Their music could definitely be defined as »dark«, but their approach to it is truly unique and innovative, introducing a new musical field that could probably be best described by term »alternative dark«. Singer Mojca Krevel sings with incredible fervour and ire, the potency of her interpretative power is temperamental to the core and simply without comparison. Her vocals are accompanied by a line-up of musicians devoted to harmony and boldness. The result: a series of outstanding songs – all of them potential hits, all of them radio-friendly, yet never vulgar or shamelessly commercial. Believe me, if Garbage were able to put together something like »Wish«, they'd be having a world-wide hit! An incredibly beautiful song with a perfect structure. Same goes for the title-song »Loverboy« (also the remix version), »Run«, »Whitetide«, »Walls II«, »Nothing« ... Somewhat atypical is the short piece »Hold«, a techno-punk fastforwarded going nuts, and »Woman«, an ambiental lament, in which Mojca Krevel exhibits her capacities of a dark chanteuse, supported by a shady keyboard background. Producer Peter Penko (Coptic Rain, April Nine), who also produced their first album, avoided the archetypal producers' need to control and limit the artists they work with, and allowed space for inspiration. After the Laibach forefathers, another pearl from tiny Slovenia!

Gothic World
www.prosieben.de
"Slovenia is gradually developing into an insiders' artistic point of reference. The musical landscape of the tiny country, a geographical and cultural crossroads of eastern, western, northern and southern Europe, has already gained the reputation of reinterpreting Western European sound in a totally unique, innovative way (let's just remember the pop-exotics Laibach).
Niowt is one of such unusual bands. The unusual name of the band is pronounced something like "niaut" but don't expect me to know what it means.
And don't worry, the temperamental frontwoman Mojca Krevel does not sing in their mother tongue, which could in a way also have its charm.
Loverboy is the second album of a five-piece band formed in 1992, produced again by the Coptic Rain and Laibach producer Peter Penko. I haven't heard the first album but a glance into the band's info-sheet reveals it won them the Slovenian alternative music award Marsev Gojzar in 1998, regular appearance on TV, lots of radio air-time and position of headliners on a number of festivals. They were also the guests of the 98' Zillo festival and were invited to play with Him as special guests.
Back to the album: Loverboy is on the one hand undoubtedly a poppy album but don't be fooled by the somewhat naive title. The album is full of powerful and effective instrumentals, surprising arrangements and interesting moments of tension. It's never boring. Apart from obvious hits such as "Run", "Freak", and "Loverboy," there are also convincing musical stories that send shivers down your spine such as "Wish," "White Tide," "Walls," "Nothing" and "Woman," and powerful, fast, even punky guitar pieces such as "Skin," "Venus," and "Hold." The convincingness of Mojca's vocal interpretation never ceases, screaming and whispering she finds a way under your skin. One could speculate on certain parallels between Niowt and Siouxie and the Banshees but Niowt have far too much character and self-confidence to consider such comparisons even remotely relevant.
Summa summarum: Niowt are certainly a band of an international format. Their unbelievably diverse mixture of styles and fresh ideas allows new discoveries after each listening. Intelligent, energetic pop music that is simply fun. (Album of the Week) ."

(Joe Asmodo)

(Melanie Schmidt)

(A.Z.)

(Aljoscha Everding)

(F.N.)

(Annibale Picicci)

(Martin Sprissler)

(Martin Sprissler)

(Sasa Neuman)

(Peter Krivic)

The two mid-twenties, who are responsible for the songwriting, are supported by Robert Oven (bass, didgeridoo) and Matej Puklavec. And by a drummer who's a class of his own. This guy, Bostjan Vajs, does not exactly have the statue of a bear, and it's true he's only 16 years old, and - literally - animal-like. He's beating his drums like berserk but also produces the most complicated breaks so precisely that you almost desperately start searching for the Drum'n'Bass machine, which could do this digital thundering "for real"...  But Niowt is also an imaginary city Mojca sings about with tormenting, very individual lyrics. And yet it is not all too far from reality because this city is governed by the same rules we find in our real, existing cities: loss of identity, loneliness/dependence, being forced into line by the powers of media society. 

Anyone who takes Niowt's debut album of the same title (Chrom Rec./EFA) to heart will easily fall into raptures. Be it the combination of technoid breakbeats, dark piano motives and sudden eruptions into brutal industrial worlds ("City"), or the original connection of the archaic, the mystic with crashing Wave by didgeridoo, veiled vocals and an excellent interaction of guitars and keyboards ("Horizon"), or the powerful "No Sense", which easily puts the DAF-classic "Mussolini" into the shadow with its whiplash power - that's up to you. But maybe it's also Mojca's siren-like, seductive voice in the song "Puzzled", which also could be the theme of a sleazy crime film, or the fantastic song "Mountains", which is completely and wonderfully baffling - from the background sounds and the vocals to the moog, or the explicit and at the same time poetic lyrics ("...small-talk minds brainwashed in shit..", from "City"), which capture us. In their home country Slovenia, Niowt are already THE alternative-rock-band. Thinking about it, I can't really imagine what could possibly stop them here. This quintet has got everything that a really good wave-/alternative band should have: charisma, musical profoundness, imagination and outstanding vocals.

(Joe Asmodo)

/A music fan from Europe/

©NIOWT
2002