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Articles

ben_patashnik has written the following articles:

36994

Explosions In The Sky's guide to ATP

In Depth by ben_patashnik

This weekend, May 16-18, Explosions In The Sky curate the second ATP of the year. The band tell DiS about the background to their festival stewardship»

36453

Bilge Pump - Rupert The Sky

Review by ben_patashnik

Ah, shouting. Leeds’ Bilge Pump certainly enjoy letting rip more often than not, as Rupert The Sky is characterised by discord, and their noisy post-punk has much in common with the late Mclusky»

36294

USSA - The Spoils

Review by ben_patashnik

Take one of the guys from Ministry and one of the guys from The Jesus Lizard, and what do you get? Industrial shoegaze indie? No, you get Ussa, a one-trick pony already on its way to the knacker’s yard»

36158

Smoosh - Free To Stay

Review by ben_patashnik

While it’s undeniable the accusations they’re a gimmick will follow them beyond this album, the moments of inspiration here mean Smoosh aren’t exactly the kiddy-pop muppets they may appear to be»

35563

Puerto Muerto - I Was A Swallow

Review by ben_patashnik

The problem with Puerto Muerto is that each one of their songs sounds exactly the same and so it becomes alarmingly easy to zone in and out of it over the course of 35 minutes without actually feeling like you’ve missed anything»

35337

Sonic Cathedral at London Heavenly Social, Mon 07 Apr

Review by ben_patashnik

What’s most pleasing about Kyte’s performance – and tonight as a whole – is how perfectly formed they, and Sweden's Surrounded, are without trying to fit into anything else around at the moment»

35331

The Dirtbombs - We Have You Surrounded

Review by ben_patashnik

With The Dirtbombs obviously trying so hard to prove how outré they are and essentially daring you to give a f*ck about We Have You Surrounded, it seems the Detroit garage-rockers forgot to try and be lovable»

34726

Data.Select.Party, Tubelord at London The Social, Mon 17 Mar

Review by ben_patashnik

Tubelord are becoming old hands at this ‘bring the fucking noise’, lark. For a trio they certainly surprise with the veracity of their performance, with a depth of sound that is surprising to say the least»

34706

¡Forward Russia! - Life Processes

Review by ben_patashnik

So it’s a second album, and it’s certainly a difficult one. But ¡Forward Russia!'s Life Processes is also an album peppered by moments of dazzling brilliance and not held back by its few brave failures»

34227

Various, Groove Armada - Late Night Tales

Review by ben_patashnik

Cato and Findlay must have vaults upon vaults of vinyl – why did they play so safe when they had the chance to really show off? The joy of mixtapes is entirely negated by the startlingly unadventurous choices on offer here»

34052

Bob Mould - District Line

Review by ben_patashnik

Bob Mould used to be in Husker Dü and Brendan Canty used to be in a bunch of chancers that went by the name of Fugazi. District Line sounds undeniably like a man taking his foot off the gas, but it's a solid collection nonetheless»

33959

and so i watch you from afar - This Is Our Machine And Nothing Can Stop It

Review by ben_patashnik

Defiance, ambition: the twin barrels of endeavour that can turn bands into more than a bunch of guys playing some instruments. And it’s not hard to imagine And So I Watch… doing something rather special with themselves in a year or so»

33818

The Huguenots - Discography

Review by ben_patashnik

As a historical document Discography rates as more than interesting but not quite essential, but as a raw collection of songs it’s definitely work a look if you like your music unpretentious, ambitious and noisy»

33757

The Naut

Review by ben_patashnik

Surrounded's The Nautilus Years is a work of such understated, almost casual beauty that it would be a crime for it to go unnoticed, as far from the zeitgeist without being purposely contrary. Do your soul a favour and buy it»

33257

Discography reassessed: the Manics in perspective

In Depth by ben_patashnik

With the band recognised by NME as ‘Godlike Geniuses’ at their forthcoming annual awards, and a massive gig at the O2 in London looming, DiS takes another look at the catalogue of Welsh would-be legends Manic Street Preachers»

33122

Fucked Up at London Old Blue Last, Wed 20 Feb

Review by ben_patashnik

When exactly did it become cool to like hardcore? Because that’s what Fucked Up are – simply an old-school hardcore punk band, with a monster of a man on vocals, whose mission it is to get anyone who thinks they're safe»

33108

Black Francis - Svn Fngrs

Review by ben_patashnik

While Black Francis' Svn Fngrs isn’t a lost masterpiece it pulls its coherence directly from its inspired madness, which immediately makes it worth investigating»

33011

The Dropkick Murphys at London Brixton Academy, Sat 16 Feb

Review by ben_patashnik

Let’s get this out of the way first. Boston’s Dropkick Murphys are by no means a cool band. They’re one of those bands that you heard the name of maybe seven years ago, and not because you liked them. Yet here they are, with some 5,000 fans in attendance»

32887

Bloodsimple - Red Harvest

Review by ben_patashnik

It takes a special type of band to make an album quite so spectacularly bad as this, because this isn’t simply a collection of bad music – it’s fundamentally rotten to its core. And theoretically, Bloodsimple shouldn’t even be a bad band»

32724

Various - Juno: The Movie Soundtrack

Review by ben_patashnik

Superb music, presented in such a way as to make it appear intensely personal, but it’s been farmed out to every pseudo-indie publication quite cynically. In the context of the film I’m sure it all works gorgeously, but as a standalone item it’s just a little suspicious»

32718

I Was A Cub Scout - I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope

Review by ben_patashnik

If they gave marks for effort I Was A Cub Scout’s I Want You To Know That There Is Always Hope wouldn’t just be Album Of The Year or even Decade, but Album Of The Entire Human Race, Ever»

32575

Les Savy Fav - Inches (Reissue)

Review by ben_patashnik

About 44 months ago DiS gave this exact album 9/10 and called it “genius”. What’s changed? Well, as far as Les Savy Fav go, very little. You can trace their development from this ragged bunch of singles up to the lean, focussed Let’s Stay Friends, as practically absent from Inches are the short, concise bursts of razor-wire guitar and larynx-flexing yelps that characterises their recent material»

32248

Yellotone - Executive Timber

Review by ben_patashnik

Somewhere beneath the “programmed indie” of Executive Timber beats a heart of positive, interesting experimentation. If only (if only!) it was let out to play more, as too much of this falls into the trap of being too rigid and formulaic»

32233

A Wilhelm Scream, Failsafe at London Camden Underworld, Tue 22 Jan

Review by ben_patashnik

There's a moment of calm about 40 seconds into A Wilhelm Scream's final song, 'The King Is Dead', where only the five band members are onstage and the entire venue simultaneously takes a breath. Then, kick-off: utter chaos takes hold and bodies crawl above heads, light rigs kicked in»

32184

Mlle Caro & Franck Garcia - Pain Disappears

Review by ben_patashnik

As unfair as it is to immediately caricature any French artist as being some kind of sexually charged, Gauloise-sucking imitator of Serge Gainsbourg, it’s impossible to discuss Mlle Caro & Franck Garcia’s debut without slipping slightly into cliché»

32188

Krafty Kuts - Back To Mine

Review by ben_patashnik

The Back To Mine series has always proved to be a bit of a mixed bag; after all, seeing as it’s subtitled “Personal collections for after hours grooving” there’s always going to be something of the laid-back about it and, indeed, however hectic Krafty Kuts aka Martin Reeves’ personal collection gets it never quite lets itself go in one particular direction»

31342

Pet Genius - Chromatic Blues / Pet Genius

Review by ben_patashnik

It’s not strictly fair to entirely dismiss Stephen Brodsky's Pet Genius project out of hand immediately, even though from the most cursory glance at the make-up of the band they appear to not be taking themselves seriously at all»

31293

Kites - Hallucination Guillotine / Final Worship

Review by ben_patashnik

Commonly, it’s not beyond the realm of reviewers to talk about the images that the music they’re listening to can evoke. Kites? Boring, meaningless violence»

29527

Sonic Boom Six - Arcade Perfect

Review by ben_patashnik

If you’d heard Sonic Boom Six in 2004 you could have written them off. But today they represent something the industry has been seeking out for years»

28369

Terra Diablo - Deluge Songs

Review by ben_patashnik

Frustratingly enough, because this style of music isn’t typically ‘appreciated’ by DiS this review’ll be written off as a wanker journalist trying to kick an uncool band because they’re not Battles»

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