Matthew J.W. Benton

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01 January 2010

My Favourite Albums, 2000 to 2009.

If there’s one thing that annoys me a little about best of lists its the lack of honesty I sometimes feel they have. People seem to spend too much time trying to represent their tastes fully, or spread the items out across the period of time in question. I am holding no claim that this list in any way encapsulates the best of anything, more just a list of albums that I remember most fondly from the last decade.

The List

In no particular order…

Sigur Rós – ()

I don’t think you could actually win an argument claiming that () is Sigur Rós’ best album, but to me it’s what is most unique and intriguing about the band condensed into it’s purest form. Little of the later pop pretences enter the frame, nor do the presence of any words water down the experience; all of the lyrics are sung in imaginary and syllable limited “Hopelandic”. Devoid of any title for the album itself or the track upon it, whatever you want to call it, this is the album that makes me love Sigur Rós.

The Mountain Goats – All Hail West Texas

Actually quite a recent discovery for me. I’d liked bits here and there for a while, but not intil recently had I discovered the brilliance that streaks through this album from beginning to end. Some people don’t like his voice, some even complain about the tape hiss that runs through every track, but no one can deny it’s all about the lyrics. The best ever death metal band out of Denton describes secondary school musicians with a brilliant accuracy, and Jenny, is a happy, almost whimsical song, and one of the rare occasions where the lyrics capture those feelings perfectly.

I am healthy, I am whole
but I have poor impulse control
and I want to go home
but I am home

Bright Eyes – Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground

I’m not quite sure how I managed to listen to this album as much as I did, but it really dominated a sizeable length of time for me. Other Bright Eyes albums came and went (with the notable exception of I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning which competed heavily for this spot), but I’d always come back to this album. I suppose I have to admit that it was the soundtrack to my unrequited love stage of life that every person (well most) must go through. Oh well.

So Michael, please keep the tape rolling
Boys keep strumming those guitars
We need a record of our failures
As we must document our love

Radiohead – Kid A

The most obvious choice on the list. Absence of this album from any applicable “best of…” list would be a complete injustice to the world. A completely eye-opening and mind-expanding experience.

I’m not here
This isn’t happening

Elliott Smith – Figure 8

My two least favourite Elliott Smith albums occurred in this millennia, with all my obvious favourites in the last one, yet I still couldn’t keep him off the list. Sure for Figure 8 he’s scaled everything up, and in the process lost a lot of what I loved, but luckily lots of new things to love appear in the process.

You’ll take advantage til you think you’re being used
Cos’ without an enemy your anger gets confused

The Postal Service – Give Up

Death Cab for Cutie have never done it for me in the same way this oh so briefly lived side project did. I will always dream of the fabled second Postal Service album coming into existence, but at the same time realise that it’s one of those ill-fated things with no chance of meeting the expectations put upon it. Strangely, I’m not sure I understand why I like most of this as much as I do; the electronics are simplistic and almost cheesy at times, and Ben Gibbard’s voice has never done that much to inspire a response in me, but put together with the songs on offer here, it’s a worthy addition to the list.

And I want life in every word to the extent that it’s absurd

Mogwai – Mr. Beast

Less post-rock and more just rock, Mr. Beast made Mogwai a much more accessible act. It’s still beautiful, just a bit well, angrier (in parts).

Los Campesinos! – Hold on Now, Youngster…

Maybe the least obvious item on the list, yet it makes complete sense to me. The twee/punk aesthetic matches perfectly with the catchy tunes and superbly thought out lyrics. It contains a strange mix of songs that hit you as instant classics, and some growers that initially don’t quite seem to hit the mark, but at the end of the day you love every single track on the album.

You should have built have a statue, and so I did of you
And you were ungrateful, and slightly offended at the dimensions of it
You said you looked less like the Venus de Milo, and more like your mother in a straightjacket

Coldplay – Parachutes

Lots and lots of people seem to object to the huge success that Coldplay have achieved, and frankly, I suppose it is a bit of an oversized beast, but Parachutes the album which started the success ball rolling for them, when judged on it’s own merits alone is actually a great piece of work. Maybe, as an album that prodded my music taste in a certain direction for the years that followed, it has an inflated value in my head, but to me it’s much more than just a tribute album to The Bends. The album has this strange, cold melancholy that rules over it from beginning to end. I’m not sure how to describe it more, but it’s that feeling that holds a lot of what I Iove about this album, and is what’s lost in a lot of Coldplay’s following works.

Godspeed You! Black Emporer – Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

A double album of only four tracks sounds like a silly prospect, but each track here is a true feast in itself, and the combination of the four only goes to strengthen what’s on offer. A truly life changing experience it is falling in love with this album, and what it led me on to listen to made it all the more important to me. This is the only album of this list that I have listened to in it’s entirety today, and all I kept thinking was, “oh man, I love this bit”, again and again and again.

Posted by matt at 19:03

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09 December 2009

Grammatics

Grammatics @ The Louisiana, Bristol (02/12/2009)

Other than a pretty average gig at The Louisiana I’m not particularly sure what this post is about. You see I attended this gig not for the music, but to wield my camera, not something I’ve particularly done before. Still a quick opinion of the music on offer must be heard, so here it is: The first support act was simply dull, the second verged on actively terrible, and so nothing to write about there. Grammatics themselves were as equally new to me as the support acts, yet I still got that feeling that I was watching that headline band that everyone’s incredibly excited to see (to the rest of the crowds credit). Watching the reactions of their avid fans surrounding me they obviously weren’t disappointing, yet I didn’t really get it, nor did I imagine that I ever could. Frankly I think it’s the vocals that put me off the most; a plain voice polished to a completely emotionless perfection. That’s not to say he doesn’t put enough gusto into the performance, just that I can never see any feeling in it.

Photography wise I’m okay with the results. As always I’m disappointed I can never get shots that look good at large size on Flickr (as opposed to the medium sizes I’m displaying here), but I have to accept that with no autofocus, fast moving objects, low light conditions, and a camera that noises up terribly quickly from about ISO 400, that just ain’t going to happen.

Another quick tip for other photographers in how to not be thoroughly annoying (maybe I’m annoying, I don’t know I suppose): If you happen to be lucky enough to get right up the front and practically in the front man’s face, do not autofocus with a massively bright autofocus light; it looked utterly ridiculous that every time the photographer to my left took a shot the front man’s face lit up a really sickening shade of green. It was undoubtedly completely unnecessary (the lighting was actually pretty reasonable) and coupled with the said photographers more expensive kit, I was finding it easy to be grated by her.

More Photos: Grammatics @ The Louisiana – 02/12/2009 on Flickr

Posted by matt at 02:24

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04 December 2009

Tonight we stay alive.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart @ Thekla, Bristol (30/11/2009)

My second gig in as many days, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart didn’t really stack up as a worthy successor to The Antlers. I love them on record, unquestionably so, but live they haven’t got it quite stacked up right. The live mix is all wrong with much of the brilliance of the music being lost below a kind of overblown muddiness.

At least this time (as opposed to the first time I saw them) they played Stay Alive. I know it’s hardly there best song, yet I adore it, for almost no reason at all.

Posted by matt at 22:11

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30 November 2009

I hate my voice 'cause it only makes you angry.

The Antlers @ The Louisiana, Bristol (29/11/2009)

I don’t have huge amounts to say about this gig, other than that I already thought The Antler’s were good, just nowhere near as good as they were last night. The sound was perfect, almost oddly so for a small pub venue like The Louisiana, and you could hardly say less of the bands performance.
Sylvia was a highlight for me, hence the lyric chosen for the post title. Unbelievably heart wrenching, especially with the voice it has behind it.

More Photos: The Antlers @ The Louisiana – 29/11/2009 on Flickr

Posted by matt at 18:21

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18 November 2009

Matthew 25:21

So I thought I’d continue in the same vein as my previous post about a song, and continue to post every now and again about songs that have really hit me hard.

I’m falling quite badly in love with The Mountain Goats of late, and yesterday was the first time I’d listened properly to their most recent album, The Life of the World to Come. As with all other Mountain Goats material, there’s normally one, or maybe two, songs that I begin by liking much more than the rest; although I’m sure much of the rest of the album will catch up.

Still it was the lyrics of this song, Matthew 25:21, that caught me far before the rest of the album. Especially the last verse where, even on the very first listen, I felt that spine tingling shudder that only the very best can give.

The song itself is evidently about loosing someone to cancer, and the experience of those last few days. Whilst I’ve never had to see such a horrible end to someone I love, it’s hard not to instantly think of the few I have known that have died, and wonder what it would have been like to see them suffer such a drawn out ending.

Lyrics

They hook you up
To a Fentanyl drip
To mitigate the pain a little bit
I flew in
From Pennsylvania
When I heard the hour was coming fast
And I docked in Santa Barbara
Tried to brace myself
But you can’t brace yourself
When the time comes
You just have to roll with the blast
And I’m an eighteen-wheeler headed down the interstate
And my breaks are going to give
And I won’t know till it’s too late
Tires screaming when I lose control
Try not to hurt too many people when I roll

Find the harbor freeway
And head south
Real tired
Head kind of light
I found Telegraph Road
I’d only seen the name on envelopes
Found the parking lot
And turned right
I felt all the details
Carving out space in my head
Tropicanas on the walk way
Neon red
Between the pain
And the pills trying to hold it at bay
Stand as a traveler going somewhere far away
And I am aeroplane tumbling wing over wing
Tried to listen to my instruments
They don’t say anything
People screaming when the engines quit
I hope we’re all in crash position when we hit

And then came to your bedside
And as it turns out
I’m not ready
And as though
You were speaking through a thick haze
You said hello to me
We all stood there around you
Happy to hear you speak
The last of something bright burning, still burning
Beyond the cancer and the chemotherapy
And you were a presence full of light upon this earth
And I am a witness to your life and to it’s worth
It’s three days later when I get the call
And there’s nobody around to break my fall

Bible Reference.

For anyone whose interested, Matthew 25:21 references the following from the Bible:

His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!

I don’t have the inclination to learn about the context of this quote in the bible, instead I will apply it to the song as is: to me, it implies a reference to the afterlife for the loved one dying of cancer. As an atheist I will always be jealous of anyone who can gather enough faith in anything to put such a positive spin on death.

Listen

Rather than uploading the album version I thought I’d upload the slightly rougher cut version from The Life of the World in Flux. As if the song couldn’t break your heart any more, the last line is changed in this version to “I wish you were still around to break my fall”. Hearing that was almost too much to bare.

Download MP3

Photo by Dan Budiac

Posted by matt at 21:38

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22 October 2009

All I ever wanted to do was play chess with you.

iLiKETRAiNS @ The Cooler, Bristol (20/10/2009)

iLiKETRAiNS are a band I’ve never been a huge fan of, I’ve always appreciated them so to speak, but never when someones asked me “So what bands do you like?” have I even vaguely considered the possibility of saying iLiKETRAiNS. Frankly I’d be even less likely to type to someone that I like them; the level of concentration I have to put in to type such a ridiculously formatted name is far too high. Anyway, when push comes to shove, this hasn’t really changed, but yet again, I really appreciated and enjoyed their music, especially the sound they produced live.

As a disclaimer; I don’t consider myself a music critic, nor am I any longer interested in trying to be one. I spent a large chunk of my middle teenager years constructing completely under worked opinions, with little to no insight, about the music I love. Sure I’m still going to write about gigs I go to, post a few photographs, and even say what things worked for me and what didn’t, but don’t expect anything actually insightful.

So with that in mind, all I’m going to say about the support acts is that I will have probably forgotten about them very soon; pretty dull. iLiKETRAiNS themselves were excellent of course. Really nice full on sound, which to be honest I was quite surprised at, being as it was at the cooler. I think it might just be that I’d always assumed the sound was bad at the cooler, I’m not really sure why. As far as I’m concerned however, they were at their best when a bit quieter however and the unusual vocals and simple guitar was laid bare. Even better throughout the song Spencer Perceval, which was my highlight of the set.

With reference to the title of this post, they unfortunately did not play the song which contains that wonderful line ( A Rook House For Bobby ). Still whilst I was waiting for it throughout the set I never missed it too much. Conclusion: the ticket was money well spent and I enjoyed it hugely.

Moving on, I took quite a few photos at the beginning of the iLiKETRAiNS set. I followed the normal rule of take some photos in the first or second song, and maybe shoot another song half way through, but mostly keep your camera out of the way; you’re there to enjoy the music! Unfortunately there was another photographer there that didn’t really follow this mentality. He shot the entire set, from beginning to end with flash. It was supremely annoying in all honesty, more than enough to strengthen my wariness even further of being a nuisance at gigs with my camera. Part of me understands why he was doing it. iLiKETRAiNS are one of those bands that have that image that means they believe in hugely under lighting themselves (at least from a photographers perspective) and so in the photos I took I was in a constant battle against underexposure, poor focus and bad motion blur. Still, this is the challenge of gig photography, flash to me is under most circumstances in pretty bad taste. Anyway I felt like having a word with the guy, but the opportunity passed and so I’m sure he’ll shoot many more gigs like that, but to me, he’s just not getting the point.

Posted by matt at 22:24

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04 October 2009

The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future

What feels like ages ago now I listened to this new Los Campesinos! song when it was posted on their blog . A few weeks later however, revisiting the track, it’s hit me 200 times harder. Beautiful track, leaving me craving the new album.

The Video

The Lyrics

I grabbed hold of her wrist and my hand closed from tip to tip
I said “you’ve taken the diet too far, you have got to let it slip”
But she’s not eating again, she’s not eating again, she’s not eating again, she’s not eating again.
I ask her to speak French and then I need her to translate, I get the feeling she makes the meaning more significant.
She was always far too pretty for me to believe in a single word she said, believe a word she said.
At fourteen her mother died in a routine operation, from allergic reaction to a general anesthetic. She spent the rest of her teens experimenting with prescriptions, in a futile attempt to know more than the doctors.
She said one day to leave her, sand up to her shoulders waiting for the tide
to drag her to the ocean, to another sea’s shore.
This thing hurts like hell,
but what did you expect?

And all you can hear is the sound of your own heart
And all you can feel is your lungs flood and the blood course
But oh I can see five hundred years dead set ahead of me
Five hundred behind,
A thousand years in perfect symmetry

Best known left wrist right finger, through all the Southern States, on every video games machine they call her triple A.
There were racists on the radio trying to give up smoking, the chat show host, he joked “you have to wait for the government program”.
You talk about your politics, and I wonder if you could be one of them, but you could never kiss a Tory boy without wanting to cut off your tongue again.
A good place to look to the future is when you are sat at the sea, with the salt up to your ankles and a view of the end of the pier, you may look down at your model’s feet and wish that you’d just float away, and the weather here is overcast and the sea is the same shade of grey, so the landscape before you looks just like the edge of the world, but to the left side and the right side, either way is a crazy golf course.
The sea is a good place to think of the future.

And all you can hear is the sound of your own heart
And all you can feel is your lungs flood and the blood course
But oh I can see five hundred years dead set ahead of me
Five hundred behind,
A thousand years in perfect symmetry
A thousand years no getting rid of me
A thousand years in perfect symmetry.

Posted by matt at 13:54

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23 September 2009

End of the Road 2009

Over a week ago now (yes this is a mightily late post I do realise) I returned from a marvellous weekend in Dorset taking in some great music, and generally having a good time in beautiful surroundings.

I’ll start by talking about some of the things that I really liked about the festival itself. It was by far the most relaxed festival I can imagine from the bands and fans all the way through to the staff. The small capacity meant, that our tent was put up I would say roughly a minute’s walk from the arena, and seeing as there were never any queues to get in or out of the arena, you could come and go from your tent as you pleased.

Also, for once at a festival, they couldn’t care less what you brought into the arena. SLR cameras, open (god forbid) bottles of water, even FOOD. So whilst the food within the arena was standard, ramped up, festival prices, you could actually bring food in with you to make the weekend significantly cheaper.

Alongside the scheduled music other end of the road experiences included watching a drunk man in a tree play the trumpet, playing some impromptu scrabble and getting free biscuits, playing ping pong at night under ultra violet light, and sampling some rather nice hot and spicy cider.

Onto the music, here are my three favourite acts of the weekend.

Dirty Projectors

Pre-arrival Dirty Projectors conjured more anticipation in me than any other band on the bill. Earlier in the year, their latest album, Bitte Orca had really captured me and offered no disappointment live. In fact I was amazed that every little sound on the album was reproduced; one part that sounded like a simple computerised loop to me, was actually a partially muted bass part. A truly unique band that everyone really should give a chance, although I’m sure generally, most people won’t get half way through one song (If only people could be more patient).

Explosions in the Sky

Directly following Dirty Projectors I was on a real high and Explosions did more than keep me up there. There music is delightfully full of spine-tinglingly good moments, each one of which I greeted with huge euphoria. It’s also worth noting that I view them as true masters of he guitar as a performance art in itself. They show off and offer visual interest without treating it as an extension of their genitalia.

Efterklang

Efterklang ended up being my Saturday night headliner after I found myself actually disappointed by the Horrors pulling out (I was pretty surprised that I’d been actually looking forward to it). Luckily Efterklang were just as good as I remembered them to be. There sound just works 200 times better live, and I’m already a fan of their albums, especially Parades. Full of energy and erm, Danish-ness, they were just plain fun to watch. They also debuted a batch of new songs that gave me a true sense of excitement for their third LP.

What a great weekend. See you there next year?

Posted by matt at 15:07

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19 August 2009

Elliott Smith Should Be 40

I realise that this post is a little late now, but a couple of weeks ago, had he been alive, Elliott would have been 40 years old. To commemorate this I thought I’d compile a 1 CD introduction to his work, chronicling his solo career from beginning to end (although in no way in order). Hopefully I will use this little collection to introduce some friends to his work, and create a few new fans that Elliott truly deserves.

He Can’t Be Gone Unless You Let Go

1. King’s Crossing ( From a Basement on The Hill )
2. Angel In The Snow ( New Moon )
3. Junk Bond Trader ( Figure 8 )
4. Say Yes ( Either/Or )
5. Angeles ( Either/Or )
6. Pitseleh ( XO )
7. Roman Candle ( Roman Candle )
8. Coming Up Roses ( Elliott Smith )
9. Condor Ave. ( Roman Candle )
10. The White Lady Loves You More ( Elliott Smith )
11. Speed Trials ( Either/Or )
12. Independence Day ( XO )
13. Son Of Sam ( Figure 8 )
14. Bled White ( XO )
15. Going Nowhere ( New Moon )
16. The Biggest Lie ( Elliott Smith )
17. Color Bars ( Figure 8 )
18. Needle In The Hay ( Elliott Smith )
19. A Distorted Reality is Now a Necessity to be Free ( From a Basement on The Hill )
20. Last Call ( Roman Candle )

King’s Crossing seemed like an obvious track choice considering it’s position as the most obvious piece to convey the end of his life, and seeing as that side of things has become almost as famous as his work itself, it actually seems like a good way to introduce someone to his song writing. Then over an evening of Elliott the rest fell into place, it doesn’t have all the most obvious tracks, but it has a few of them, and it would be impossible to try and cover all of Elliott’s themes, but I’ve covered a pretty reasonable range of them here.

Photo by optionthis

Posted by matt at 22:33

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05 August 2009

Mixtape 1

Spent a lot of last night finishing off / packaging a mixtape I made for a friends birthday. I very quickly came up with the idea of using Mogwai – Punk Rock as an opening track and then calling it “This is our Punk Rock”. Not a hugely original or interesting idea I agree, but it definitely got me quite a way to making one of the most intentionally pretentious mixtapes ever.

I tried my hardest to make it flow reasonably despite being quite varied in style so hopefully there aren’t too many overly jarring transitions. Until quite a distance through it’s creation I kind of forgot that the point was that the intended recipient should enjoy the thing, so a bit of a rehash to add in some more instantly enjoyable tracks led me to this final track listing.

This is our Punk Rock

1. Mogwai – Punk Rock
2. Explosions In The Sky – The Birth And The Death of Day
3. The Mountain Goats – Riches and Wonders
4. Neutral Milk Hotel – Naomi
5. My Bloody Valentine – When You Sleep
6. M83 – Teen Angst
7. The Postal Service – Clark Gable
8. Efterklang – Step Aside
9. Kevin Shields – Goodbye
10. Patrick Wolf – Wolf Song
11. Los Campesinos! – We are Beautiful, We are Doomed
12. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Hey Paul
13. St. Vincent – Paris Is Burning
14. múm – Dancing Behind my Eyelids
15. Metronomy – My Heart Rate Rapid
16. Portishead – Magic Doors
17. Regina Spektor – Après Moi
18. Avishai Cohen – Elli
19. Radiohead – Life In A Glasshouse

Posted by matt at 16:36