1) A Japanese indie rock band. 2) A singer-songwriter from Bay Area. 1) The Japanese indie rock band Bentham was formed in 2010. The band consists of vocalist and guitarist Tatsuya Ozeki (?? ??), guitarist Motoki Suda (?? ??), bassist Reiji Tsuji (? ??) and drummer Takashi Suzuki (?? ?). Backing vocals are by Takashi and Motoki. 2) Bentham is the musical alter ego of Ben Paulos, a Bay Area singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Paulos started playing music as a kid in Iowa, playing trumpet in the school band, picking up guitar in high school. In college he dabbled in jazz, Balkan and West African music, but mostly stuck to rock guitar. His first major band was Laughing Academy, in Boston, circa 1988-1993. That was an art rock trio plus singer that recorded three albums (but released one and a half), played New England and New York clubs, and garnered national airplay before folding. Laughing Academy members went on to play in Sugar, the Willard Grant Conspiracy, and Transmissionary Six. Bentham was launched in Boston, then continued in Madison, Wisconsin in the late 1990s, in a lineup featuring Ken Keeley, John Driscoll, and Rick Cavalieri. Since a move to San Francisco, Bentham has been hibernating, though the songwriting has continued. Now in 2011, two elpees of songs written from 1995 to 2005 are finally coming out, easing some of the backlog. "Miss Wisconsin" and "Pacific" are songs written while living in Madison and San Francisco. The band is anchored by Chicago journeymen rhythm section Gerald Dowd on drums (Robbie Fulks, Justin Roberts) and Matt Thompson on bass. Paulos supplies vocals and guitar, and a variety of other things. The records have cameo appearances by Wil Hendricks (Lofty Pillars, Calamity & Main, Teatro Zinzani), Han Wang (Invisible Cities), Scott Steward (Funkstrosity), Amy Apel and Harry Chomsky and Tom Fattaruso (Freeway Philharmonic), Rosemary McBride (Kensington Symphony Orchestra), Marcus Schneider, Tom Webb, and Jessica Reich. The songs were recorded by Jay O'Rourke and Danny Shaffer in Chicago, and Scott Steward in Oakland. They were mixed and fixed by Wallysound in Oakland. Pacific features strings, horns, keyboards, and many recorded sounds, while Miss Wisconsin tends more toward straight out rock. The range of times and places, people and experiences are reflected in the wide variety of songs. The two albums feature the pure pop of "Parachute" and "Kiss Me Hello," jazzy murder ballads like "The Cold Cold Sea," the sonic squall of "My Letter" and "Eyes," the epic strings of "On the Beach," the lo-fi chimp rock of "The Party's Over," and even the mock(ing) C&W of "Bad Country Song."