Articles by Stuart Benjamin

Deerhoof are back, and Deerhoof will never let you down. All hail Deerhoof. Stuart Benjamin is conquered once again by the USA’s greatest alternative band.

In November 2022, Sydney based Art As Catharsis celebrated its 10 year anniversary. A by-word for innovative and experimental music that’s far from run-of-the-mill, Stuart Benjamin caught up with label owner and friend of E&D, Lachlan Dale for a look back.

More great arty, indie, pop from our Roman friends Sterbus – They came, they saw, they did the gardening….

Busting out of the pandemic lockdown with a fistful of dreamy psychedelic disco stompers, we welcome the return of NYC art rock band Guerilla Toss.

The E&D team gallop their horses to Bristol and Manchester to cover The Utopia Strong and Teeth Of The Sea. Live, direct, and in the flesh. Boy have we missed this. . . !

The Holy Family proffer a mind crushing aural journey into unknown lands and territories. Do we take the golden way or the crooked path?

Cobalt Chapel return with an album of dark psychedelic brilliance. Cobalt Chapel for Eurovision I say, and they would if I had any influence. Which I don’t. But what better music to demonstrate the UKs psyche.

Blanck Mass meditate on the nature of pain, but what can we find in this fine new release? A word perhaps we all once knew, but is for the moment, out of our reach.

Sterbus is the pseudonimo for Emanuele Sterbini and Dominique D’Avanzo, who though hailing from Rome have been making something of a splash in the UK experimental scene. Well, mostly the Cardiacs/Tim Smith and affectionate friends scene. And if that wa …

Here at the subterranean, blast shielded headquarters of Echoes and Dust, one of my erstwhile colleagues described the album as “a children’s Zeuhl album, baby’s first avant prog record. It’s adorable.” Which on first hearing is a fair description. But it’s yet another triumph for France’s burgeoning experimental/RIO scene.

If pop should be anything it should be experimental (it rarely is) but if you listen to Le SuperHomard’s MeadowLanePark you’ll understand exactly what is missing from the homogenized hit parade of 2019. This is grown up pop music, satisfying, and glorious.

French Rock In Opposition band Ni return to their first full-length player since last year’s collaboration from Poil. No knights here who say their name, just a whole bunch of phobias and bludgeoning riffs. Every band however deserves to make at least one really heavy album, and this is theirs.

Brickwork Lizards are a sometimes surprising mix of Middle-Eastern/Eastern European folk group, 1920s gin-joint jazz-band, and rap ‘n’ roll dynamics. ‘How hipster’ you might say, but whilst most things hipster have an air of the inauthentic, the Lizards make this combination work delivering a record that is, by turns, joyous, melancholy, sinister, and uplifting.

Lusterlit’s new EP is something of a joy for both lovers of music and books, and well-worth seeking out if you haven’t found it already. Simply gorgeous.

CAN didn’t just fool The Kids into listening to Jazz, they also produced a number of singles all of which are brought together in this collection for the first time. Essential for fans and a great leaping in point for the new and curious…

Cult Japanese experimental noise-core band Melt-Banana have returned to our shores! Echoes and Dust check out the Bristol date of the band’s not-to-be-missed UK and Ireland tour.

Perhaps some of you missed Hinterlandt’s Ode to Doubt when it was released on Art as Catharsis back in January? Well, now’s your time to make amends, and make friends, with this sublimely gorgeous recording.