Tunes from the Team: Top Ben’s

This week we’re paying our respects to the greatest Bennie of all time.

Standard Daniel here, and there was only one standard beagle to ever exist; her name was Bennie. And where there were many Ben’s that came before her, and many to come after, this Bennie was the hands down the greatest. Musically speaking, there have been many “Bens” that were also great, and here’s a list of them for your enjoyment.

Allow me to explain and elaborate on some of these selections from the team.

  • Benjamin Booker shows up a couple of times on this list, and my is that you’ve never heard of him, and it’s time we remedy that. Booker is an old soul, playing a style of music that’s influenced by electric blues, classic soul music, and trashy garage punk. If you like the sounds of Alabama Shakes and Jack White, you will enjoy Benjamin Booker.
  • You knew Elton John would be on this list. This was a given.
  • Outkast is an award-winning rap duo from Atlanta, Georgia consisting of rappers Antwan “Big Boi” Patton and André 3000 Benjamin. ‘Behold a Lady’ isn’t the song you might expect me to pick, but I remember listening to it a lot in high school, so here it is.
  • There are a lot of Ben’s on this list that play singer-songwriter type music; easy listening and poppy. You have (in no particular order)  Ben Gibbard (who you might know more for his band Death Cab for Cutie or his side-project The Postal Service), Ben Rector, Ben Kweller, Benjamin Tod, Ben Harper, and Ben Lee. You should listen to both Transatlanticism and Plans by Death Cab for Cutie; those records is amazing front-to-back. Ben Kweller’s Ben Kweller (his third record) is a great fun record. I think that Ben Rector sounds like a praise-and-worship artist (that’s actually a compliment, I swear) and no one could possibly be offended by him. You should listen to ‘Using Again’ by Benjamin Tod, and that might offend some people (but they shouldn’t be offended, it’s the way he feels.)
  • I put a Radiohead song here from their record The Bends, and it’s sort of a joke, but also I will always put Radiohead here if I can.
  • I also try to put MF Doom on these lists if I can, and he was half of DANGERDOOM with Danger Mouse, and they have a song called ‘Benzi Box’, and it has nothing to do with what we’re talking about, but it’s still here.
  • There are a lot of bands that have members named Ben; the aforementioned Death Cab for Cutie and the Postal Service, Band of Horses (Ben Bridwell), Incubus (Ben Kenney [who was also in the Roots]), Mumford & Sons (Ben Lovett [he’s on of the Sons I guess]), and Galactic (Ben Ellman).

 

As always, I hope you enjoy listening to some new music, or some music you already knew. I hope music can keep you going and keep your spirits up when times are tough, like on Mondays.

See you next week!