“I don’t know where to begin…” is the opening lyric to Death Cab For Cutie’s eighth album Kintsugi – a statement that would be totally understandable considering the changes the band has been through in […]

The description “Emotional electronica” sounds like a contradiction in terms. I come from the position that the two are not mutually exclusive. Anonymous singer songwriter Wolf Colony is a deft practitioner in the unlikely genre. […]

In late 1988 Robert Smith and his bandmates were recovering from the unexpected success of their album, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, which had brought the band to its highest level of mainstream popularity […]

Messrs Howlett, Flint and Maxim return from a 6 year hiatus with their new project titled The Day is My Enemy and a welcome return to form it is as well. Going off the boil […]

Hampshire’s travelling troubadour Laura Marling returns with her greatly anticipated fifth studio album Short Movie on 23rd March 2015. Following her move to LA a few years back and the success of 2013’s Once I […]

There are a few albums that can instantly transport me to my youth in just a few opening notes; Sparkle In the Rain is on that short list. As an American heavily in to U2 […]

Usually, when reviewing an album for XS Noize, I’m obliged to give a rating out of ten to reflect how I feel about it. Whenever I am considering how an album rates on that scale, […]

New drummer, new label, and new music…big changes for any band and only the most resilient artists can navigate that kind of change. Cincinnati’s Benjamin Davis is one of those artists and The Mess Remade […]

It’s been fascinating watching Courtney Barnett’s journey over the past few years, in the way that it’s grown in such an organic way that I don’t think I’ve seen in my time. Originally releasing two […]

Northern Ireland’s outsider three piece Therapy? return with their 14th studio album Disquiet. In spite of their misfit status, they have outlasted a great number of their peers and yet remained tangibly underground, sticking to […]

Modest Mouse fans have had a long agonizing wait for new material. It has been eight long years since the extraordinary album We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank was released in 2007. Wait no […]

Two Gallants hale from San Francisco and have been recording since 2004, We Are Undone is their fifth studio album. They are yet another two person band (which seems to be flavour of the month) and yes […]

Glasgow’s Errors return with a new album that was recorded on Jura in the Hebrides and that fact, when coupled with the album’s cover art, might lead you to conclude that the post rock electronics […]

What does it take to top the Billboard ‘Emerging Artists’ chart, earn MTV ‘Artist To Watch’ status, and rack up over 20 million streams? There’s no magic formula, but it takes a band that sets […]

Solo releases from members of popular bands can be a bit hit or miss. When it was announced in the fall of 2014 that Will Butler, kid brother of Win, and core member of Arcade […]

Shedding Skin isn’t what you’d immediately expect from Ghostpoet. He sets aside his previous two albums’ use of samples and electronics and, instead, focusses on a full band sound. It produces an album that is ultimately a […]

Screaming Females have been around for almost a decade, but again for this review I’m either the best or worst person to review their sixth album Rose Mountain, since I’ve never actually listened to any […]

Gang of Four return, in reality as Gang Of One. Following the original line-up’s successful reformation in 2004, rhythm section Hugo Burnham and Dave Allen repeated history by departing, leaving guitarist and founding member Andy […]