Reviews Archives | XS Noize | Online Music Magazine

ALBUM REVIEW: Descendents – 9th & Walnut

July 22, 2021 Aaron Kavanagh 0

Forming in 1977, Descendents are one of the first hardcore punk bands ever to arise. Specifically, they are pioneers of the melodic hardcore subgenre, which married the intensity, rapid tempos, and blistering aggressiveness of the...

ALBUM REVIEW: Left Field Messiah - In Praise of Bombast

July 20, 2021 Michael Barron 0

What do you get when musicians from two different pop-tinted indie bands, Steve Bays (Hot Hot Heat) and Erik Janson (Wildling), get together with a member of a pop band? Jeremy Ruzumna (Fitz and The...

BOOK REVIEW: Love Me Please: The Story of Janis Joplin By Nicolas Finet, Christopher and Degreff

July 14, 2021 Michael Barron 0

Affectionately known as Pearl, this outsider who was bullied and abused for being different was able to rise above the cultural barriers of her hometown and period she lived in to become an international star...

ALBUM REVIEW: Small Reactions – New Age Soul

July 12, 2021 Aaron Kavanagh 0

The Atlanta-based quartet Small Reactions have released their third album full of their distinctive self-dubbed “nerve pop” (which attempts to blend post-punk with indie rock) on New Age Soul. The band brings together their vast...

BOOK REVIEW: TOPP: Promotor Gary Topp Brought Us the World

July 5, 2021 Michael Barron 0

You will have almost definitely heard of the artists that Gary Topp first brought to Canada, including The Police and The Ramones. Author David Collier who worked with Gary believes Gary’s cultural impact in opening...

ALBUM REVIEW: Inhaler – It Won’t Always Be Like This

July 4, 2021 Aaron Kavanagh 0

In recent years, the Dublin-based rock band Inhaler have really been making a splash on the Irish music scene and gaining a ton of international recognition. After cutting their teeth for the best part of...

ALBUM REVIEW: Modest Mouse - The Golden Casket

July 1, 2021 Lori Gava 0

On June 25th, the musical Oracle of the Northwest, Modest Mouse band leader Isaac Brock delivered his latest take on our universal condition with The Golden Casket. Unlike many artists’ recent releases that shake their...

LIVE REVIEW: Rag'n'Bone Man at Jazz Café London

July 1, 2021 Michael Barron 0

It is fair to say that Rag‘n’Bone Man had some luck in his corner as he played out his third and final nights’ residency at the Jazz Café in Camden, London. England has just beaten...

ALBUM REVIEW: Dave Keuning – A Mild Case of Everything

June 24, 2021 Randall Radic 0

Almost two decades ago, Dave Keuning left Iowa and moved to Las Vegas, where he placed an ad in the Las Vegas Weekly, which stated he wanted to form a band and cited Oasis as...

LIVE REVIEW: Tom Odell - Jazz Café, Camden, London

June 24, 2021 Michael Barron 0

Whilst Lily Allen’s short-lived "In the Name Of" record label, which Sony Music backed, was noted for an absence of quantity of successful artists; this label nonetheless left an impressive legacy of quality artists in...

ALBUM REVIEW: John Grant - Boy from Michigan

June 20, 2021 David McElroy 0

There are fewer modern-day solo artists more fascinating than John Grant. From his early days in The Czars to the melodic masterpiece that was his debut solo release, Queen Of Denmark, to the marvellous Creep...

ALBUM REVIEW: Crowded House - Dreamers Are Waiting

June 18, 2021 Lori Gava 0

There is always a reason to celebrate when Neil Finn puts out new musical fare in whatever iteration he decides. This time he is releasing new material with Crowded House, the band that has always...

ALBUM REVIEW: Benjamin Francis Leftwich - To Carry A Whale

June 18, 2021 Michael Barron 0

The making of To Carry A Whale was literally a journey in itself being recorded in Tottenham, Southend (in Sam Duckworth’s (Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly) studio) and Niagara. More poignantly, To Carry A Whale...

CLASSIC ALBUM: Duran Duran – Duran Duran

June 17, 2021 Lee Campbell 0

This week sees the 40th anniversary of Duran Duran’s self-titled debut album. XS Noize looks back on this momentous release from a band that would become the ‘Fab Five’ of the ‘80s. It was December...

ALBUM REVIEW: Sleater-Kinney - Path of Wellness

June 14, 2021 Aaron Kavanagh 0

Having been inspired by acts such as Bikini Kill and Bratmobile, as well as earlier punk acts like The Slits, X-Ray Spex, and Siouxsie and the Banshees; from their formation in 1994, Sleater-Kinney have been...

ALBUM REVIEW: Garbage - No Gods No Masters

June 11, 2021 Lori Gava 0

As an admirer of Garbage since my first encounter with their 1995 hit track, “Stupid Girl”, I have kept an eye on the band that represented the zeitgeist of the late Grunge era. Garbage was...

EP REVIEW: Queen Bonobo – Sail From This Life

June 8, 2021 Randall Radic 0

Blending tints of jazz with folk music, Queen Bonobo, aka Maya Goldblum, recently released her latest EP, Sail From This Life. The genesis of the EP occurred when Queen Bonobo, a native of Idaho, moved...

BOOK REVIEW: Gods, Gangsters & Honor: A rock ‘n’ roll odyssey by Steven Machat

June 8, 2021 Randall Radic 0

Sans any pretentiousness about his profession or any claim to being a choirboy himself, lawyer Steven Machat has written a captivating tell-all of his life in the entertainment industry, entitled Gods, Gangsters & Honor: A...

BOOK REVIEW: Orwell - by Pierre Christin & Sébastien Verdier

June 7, 2021 Michael Barron 0

With this graphic novel being divided into three parts, just like George Orwell’s most resound novel 1984; one may expect that Verdier’s effort may disproportionately focus on 1984 and Orwell’s previous offering Animal Farm; the...

ALBUM REVIEW: Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend

June 3, 2021 Daniel Lynch 0

Wolf Alice suffered from a very rare form of second album syndrome… They won the Mercury Prize with 2017’s Visions of a Life. That success understandably heightened expectations around the band, but rather than follow...