Simulated Warm Flesh is the product of Belgian band

noXqs. This is a very complex song. On first listen, you might think that this was a song merely reminiscent of the early 80's; like Simple Minds. But on careful listening, something much deeper is going on. A wall of electronic sounds comes together to produce different layers of aural texturres. The singer's moody, rough vocals lend themselves perfectly to the atmosphere. The song is of deep, dark , longing; almost like a dream sequence.

The conscious and subconsious singing at times seperately; becoming one for brief moments of time. The excellent guitar

work completed the sound.

The production was murky. If it was accidental, it added to the sound. If it was intentional, it was borderline genius. This song gets high marks for complexity, skill and daring.

NoXqs - "A Friend Is A Friend" Æ
genre: Rock
Length Of Track: (4:10)
Album found on: na
From: Gank, Belgium
Online MP3s at: http://artists3.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/noxqs/

This song has a light poppy melody with cymbal-esque drumwork laid underneath. The guitars blend in with the song and aren't really discernible except for brief moments of reverb. The standout quality of this track is the vocals that has a sort of Breakfast Club theme song like quality (no that isn't a rip) Sort of an 80's New Wave rock/pop sound. It is definitely a cool song. Fun to listen to.

noXqs - A friend is a friend (own release)

noXqs, quite what this stands for I’m unsure, but the site I was directed to by the band have had a stab at (No Excuses). Oh well, if they are going to be that upfront then this reminds me of the music I heard in the film, ‘the Breakfast Club’, of friends realised and of a mis-spent youth, but why not. Not exactly original, but I don’t say this with malice in my tone. No far from it, the group have had a go at reproducing the sounds of the Mission, The Cult, Sisters of Mercy and at times, and this is probably where the Breakfast Club comes to mind, of Simple Minds and early stadium anthems.

I wrote this before reading what was online, but the group really do sound like children of the wonderful Eighties, just like myself, and why not? There are probably a thousand excuses ‘why not’, but as we are bored of hearing from those who lived ‘the summer of love’, if you think that way, you really weren’t there

Songs Reviewed: Simulated Warm Flesh & Dark Skin in the Bathtub
Simulated Warm Flesh
The thing I love most about this song is how the guitar sound howls over the deep beats and bass. The intro sounds very metalish, but when the verse kicks in, I'm feeling the electronic rock vibe. I really like the vocalist as well. There's a really cool sounding robot effect run under the vocals during the chorus which had me kinda grinning at the screen because it just really suits the song. About halfway through the song, there's this eerie bridge part that really shows off the electronica influence, then the lyrics come back in and hypnotize you some more. This song is just under 5 minutes... normally I'd say it's too long, but it isn't. If it was any shorter I'd think there was something missing! Even the production is great! Awesome job on this track!

song rating: 4½ out of 5 stars

Dark Skin in the Bathtub
Mad scratches start this song then suddenly it goes into a mellow piano sounding type effect. The vocals kind of remind me of a Frank Sinatra type song (if Sinatra were ever to do electronica!). It's just a lot more mellow than the previous song, but not dull at all. It's got very catchy lyrics which seemed to have a lot of thought put into them and they just go with the music really well.

song rating: 3 out of 5 stars

It sounds as though this artist has many influences and has managed to combine them all into an awesome combination of sonic energy. I'm going to go ahead and bookmark this page so I can come back and give some of their other work a listen. If you're into smoothed out techno/electronica give noXqs a listen.

OVERALL RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

noXqs hail from Belgium in a convergence of style & flare that uniquely highlight their musical nuance. Their body of work traverses an audio context incorporating the retro meets post modern wave, in a union of musical soundscapes

"A Friend Is a Friend" spotlights a quirky & catchy attitude that booms off the wall of "Happily Insane" with its retro drive of neo-wave post European romanticism

"Life Continues At The End Of The Tunnel" purveys a theme that is all too true. "The more you live, the more you die". Its synth-pulse 4/4 time signature dance beat segues to "Carrie"; This dark undertow partakes of a subterranean back beat, replete with a post industrial stance

"Simulated Warm Flesh" mechanizes an alienated theme of half time-drama-pulse; Coupled with "Valentine" , this deliberately understated reflection shadows a heart pulled string of emotion

"While By My Side" offers a groove-drone crafted tune, while "No One Above" has an echo of existentialism searching the aspects of loyalty, faith & desire

True brilliance shines through in the epiphany of " Dark Skin In The Bathtub". This superb song is a perfect example of the vision of noXqs charm. It is a pure pop surrealistic musical delight

noXqs has this uncanny ability to forge beyond the state of the art & excel to a level that is sublime & emotionally encompassing in it's potential of audio international discovery & impact on the music world.

In the history Belgian pop always used to have a certain sound that had its own character and really I’m not talking about the Deus connection but the musicscene that was called Belpop and I guess names like Rick Tubbax & The Taxis, Twee Belgen, Schmutz or Kuruki will say absolutely nothing to you but when hearing this sreleased CD by this Belgian band, NOXQS (I guess it stands for No Excuses) it really brought back wonderful memories to this period!!! So I’m sure they must be child of the 80’s and I guess I’m not that far away from the truth as 18 years ago they played in a new waveband and later they were in a band called Jericho’s Disease who played the support from Christian Death!!!! I really don’t know if this is the answer the band wants to hear but if you were ever into bands like Struggler (often saw as the Belgian answer to Joy Division!!!!) you’re going to lick your fingers as this really sounds like modern cold wave!!!!! There should be more bands like them as this is actually the new flood we need…..honest music with the heart at the right place!!!! (CONTACT : peterp@cyberdude.com)