Artist Spotlight: Josh Benash

Josh Benash was always the catalyst for the insanity of Eyeball Records band Kiss Kiss. The circus feel and the wide, chaotic instrumentation put the band on a level of theatrical wildness rarely heard since Cursive's The Ugly Organ. While part of the band has gone to the simple (albeit great) alternative rock band Hidden Hospitals, Benash's solo effort shows that he has lost none of his quirkiness. Benash shows no hesitation to be experiment or be weird, taking hints from Animal Collective ("My Little Noose") and noise-pop ("She Is Bad"), while also contributing the frontrunner for oddest song of the year with "The Pancake Song". The Dismal, The Beautiful is a case of Benash not being constrained by expectations or any other musical restraints, and while it may be one of the more hard to listen releases of the year so far, the pure strangeness of the album makes it worth listening to. You can stream and purchase The Dismal, The Beautiful on Benash's Bandcamp page, which you can find here.