Benefits and Hang Linton at The Bodega

Words & Photos: Tom Gensler

Electronic music is an intricate and infinitely expandable art form, one that's hard to master and even harder to convert to the live setting, but extremely effective when done right. Benefits manage to perform a compelling, powerful and intense electronic live show with ease, displaying a true showcase of both their incredible musical talent and songwriting ability. I went down to the Bodega to watch them on their “The Constant Noise” tour, in promotion of their most recent album, with excellent support from Hang Linton. But first, we spent a short while in his orbit, getting to know him.

First of all, when asked about his set list, he laughs and replies with an endearing “I don’t have a set list”, going on to say that tonight he will be “winging it”, with a slight leaning towards “song of the new ep”, he’s “testing it”. Its brilliant to see an artist who loves music and the creation of it as an art form, and it so clear that Hang truly loves what he does, which hugely adds to the vibes of his music and him as a person, resulting in an effortless positive and charming energy all round.

Hang’s positivity is something I can really get behind. He’s smiley and powerful, a friendly yet fiery force of musical nature, but he promotes these incredible mantras, such as “They want you to think you’re alone, your not alone.” and “Together we will thrive”. These weave their way into his stage performance but also his not-on-stage mode, both of which are identical, though with the latter missing Hang’s incredible guitar playing.

 His self-reflective approach to his work is a really big standout. He says that he’s “experimenting with more guitar” both in the live setting and on his future tracks, which is in some ways a slight departure from the beat-heavy music that thrives off well-crafted SFX he is known for.

Hang is one of the UK’s most promising alternative acts. Mixing an obvious love of everything electronic with punk, DIY spirit and loud, skill full guitar playing, this live set was an absolute joy to watch and a true sight to behold. For me, the standout track here was Radiator, the first ever song I heard of Hang’s back last year. Radiator’s sound and energy is reminiscent of Nottingham’s infamous Sleaford Mods, but feels more like an expansion of what they are; Radiator is a punchy, powerful song about the state of society that doesn’t let up, but is in no way held back by its electronic state, and is in fact elevated by the breakbeats and out-there SFX that accompanies. As a work, its truly beautiful, a piece of punk poetry in motion.

Hang’s guitar playing is something extremely unique, though, and something that pushes his sound and his set as a whole into new heights. His playing style sort of mixes elements of punk and rock, even bordering on metal, but feels new, and I’ve certainly never seen anything like it but its insanely good. His guitar tone is fuzzy, stompy and loud, perfect for the setting and his music, his notes bounding off the Bodega’s walls perfectly.

Overall, this was a joyous, positive and riotous set to watch and I’m expecting huge things from Hang in the future.

Mixing underground dance, with heavy modern European leanings, with high energy and resounding poetry and spoken word, Benefits provide an intense, powerful and overall incredible headline set, both sonically and visually. Everything about this act impressed me, but honestly, the staging stood out. The staging was essentially a big split down the stage’s middle, the two sides parted by a wall of synths and kit, which honestly is incredible to see nowadays. Its reminiscent of LCD Soundsystem, the sort of huge modular areas of kit that form the sound, and it massively pays off for the duo, as its as visually striking and enticing as the music is.

Offering a wide selection of tracks across a 45-minute set, with a slight favouring towards the most recent release from the Teeside post-punk and dance duo, Constant Noise. These newer songs, such as the title track, take Benefits’ signature electronic sound and vibrant, determined energy and take it into new heights; Constant Noise as a track and album showcase Benefits sonic versatility. Its punchy, potent and riotous, echoing everything the band are.

The usage of the violin within this live electronic set is an absolute game changer on all levels. Its resonant, beautiful and actually fully adds to the music and isn’t just an instrumental gimmick or distraction. Honestly, everything Benefits do in the way of creating and maintaining powerful sound in order to provide a powerful, emotional backbone for the vocals to seamlessly flow off is incredible work, a visual and audible testament to the talent of this incredible duo.

Benefits aren’t just changing things with their music, they’re trying to set out a new standard for gigs in the UK with some rules that they’ve added for this tour, based off survey completed by fans. These rules include two-act bills, 10pm finishes to allow for easy travel back, and rigid set times at 8 and 8:45, and most importantly, capped ticket prices at £12 without fees.

Whilst these changes may not seem much they hugely affect the gig in the best way and show that Benefits want to endorse and promote the UK music industry in a more positive light by bending things towards the fans. These changes hugely pay off and to be honest, more bands should be following suit with this style of show as it completely works.

Overall, Benefits are an absolutely fantastic electronic act of the very highest standard, and one of the best live acts in this field for definite. The new content is insanely good and their old music still has the same, powerful, resounding effects. These are 100% worth going to see, and I can’t wait to see more of them in the future.