Articles by Michael Barron

The 1971 hit “Imagine” is probably the most globally recognised solo hit by John Lennon following his career with The Beatles. Whilst Oasis used the hook/riff from “Imagine”, the message of peace and to desist […]

It is well known that Jean-Michel Basquiat aka SAMO was a renowned neo-expressionist artist who gifted the world with numerous “provocative” works defining the New York art scene of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. […]

You know a singer/songwriter has achieved “cult” status when every side project they do despite seldom publicity receives mass interest and each live show they do sells out. The singer/songwriter in question is Conor Oberst […]

Whilst their debut LP, Turn on the Bright Lights was released in 2002, Interpol predates the twenty-first century and are actually over two decades old. Whilst two original members have gone onto pastures new, in […]

XS Noize has brought you Battle of the Bands: Rock Trump Cards, The Rock Bands Game: Come Together and Music Genius Playing Cards. Fun, entertaining, mesmerising and educational – they all are; however, rap and […]

Whilst it is perplexing, if not impossible to agree upon the genres and categories of music Beirut belong to; it is almost impossible not to ascertain that there is something captivating, unique, special and mesmerising […]

Alan Moore’s Watchmen is recognized in Time’s List of the 100 Best Novels in the English language published since 1923. This achievement is especially significant since Watchmen was the only graphic novel included in this […]

It began with Kerouac. A few years ago, five Dublin boys at Art College bonded over their love of Jack Kerouac and other beat writers. There must be something everlasting about the inventor of “spontaneous […]

XS Noize recently brought the Teenage Cancer Trust to your attention, the only charity dedicated to making sure young people diagnosed with cancer get the expert treatment and personalised support they need. When XS Noize […]

With their fans including A-lister, Lady Gaga, working on side projects with artists including Sean Lennon, their single, Whitest Boy on the Beach, featuring on the T2 Trainspotting soundtrack, as well as laying into other […]

In aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust, for the nineteenth year now, the Royal Albert Hall has annually hosted gigs from some of the biggest and acclaimed global artists including Kasabian and Nile Rogers & […]

After a four-year hiatus, Idlewild returns with album number eight: Interview Music. The group started working on Interview Music straight off the back of their last record, Everything Ever Written, but didn’t start piecing it […]

Can you guess the band who made the song How to Disappear Completely? If you know, do you know the album it comes from? The band is Radiohead. The song is taken from their fourth […]

Forty-two years ago this year, “The King”, Elvis Presley died at just forty-two years old. Whilst his life was exceptionally short (to the point he left his father and his nine-year-old daughter Lisa Marie Presley […]

Following the release of Benjamin Francis Leftwich’s’ 2018 EP, I Am with You, Leftwich returns with his third studio album, Gratitude. Gratitude promises to retain the raw emotion adorned on his first two LP’s: Last […]

Last year Manchester indie legends James released their fifteenth LP, Living in Extraordinary Times. XS Noize found Living in Extraordinary Times was an essential and sacrosanct addition to the James back catalogue giving it a […]

At XS Noize we have taken you on musical journeys one didn’t think was possible through books, particularly graphic novels. We have taken you on magical mystery tours via Yellow Submarine, explored the stories behind […]

Normally when a van gets stolen there is seldom interest, however when Palaces’ tour van got stolen around a week before the Village Underground gig; there was a media storm. Upsetting as this was; it […]