Anger is an energy

"Our music's obvious, blatantly obvious", admitted Benefits' Kingsley Hall in an interview with the Quietus' Patrick Clarke last year. But that doesn't make it any less effective - quite the opposite, in fact.

Witnessing Hall and his band live, as I did at Clwb on Monday night, is like throwing yourself in front of a line of tanks and being repeatedly run over. I just about lived to tell the tale, in the form of a review for Buzz.

In the current political, economic and social climate, with shitstorm following shitstorm, it's at least heartening to have the likes of Benefits and Bob Vylan raging against the machine, determined to fight the good fight.