Benjamin Speed

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Benjamin Peter Speed (born 27 June 1979 in Adelaide, South Australia) is an Australian musician who composes scores for film, television and theatre. He performs and records as Mister Speed and was vocalist and songwriter in the Australian alternative, electronic and hip hop band The New Pollutants.

Growing up in Adelaide, Speed graduated with an honours degree in Music Technology from the Elder Conservatorium of Music at Adelaide University and has a Masters Degree in Screen Composing from the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) in Sydney.

Music

Early Career & The New Pollutants: 2000–2005

	The Muse Song by Benjamin Speed from The New Pollutants album Hygene Atoms
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Speed started making computer based music in 1998 and put on solo shows in Adelaide alongside Ben Frost in 2000. He performed at the Adelaide Fringe Festival and This Is Not Art Festivals, supported Anticon on their Australian tour and released two 'Speed Presents' EPs as Mr Tappin' Fresh and The Other Half. In 2001 Speed met electronic musician Tyson Hopprich (DJ Tr!p) and in 2001 they formed The New Pollutants.

From 2002 to 2004 they released a full-length album, Hygene Atoms, a 12" EP Urban Professional Nightmares and a 7" single Sid-Hop.^[1] The New Pollutants sound traversed through a number of different genres including lo-fi, trip hop, electro, Commodore 64 music, 1950s and 1960s pop, comedy, alternative hip hop and electronica.^[2] The New Pollutants were musically aligned with such Australian acts such as Curse Ov Dialect, The Herd, Music Vs Physics, TZU and MKB.

The New Pollutants played at Australian festivals such as the Falls Festival in 2004/5, Big Day Out in 2003 and were headliners of the 2004 Adelaide Fringe Festival opening concert.^[2][3] In 2004 the group was voted Most Popular Dance Act by DB Magazine readers.^[4] The group also played on Triple J Radio's Mix-Up during the Amnesty Freedom Festival in 2004, Adelaide University O'Ball 2003 & Newcastle's This Is Not Art (TINA) Festival in 2002.^[3]

Mister Speed: The Dreamer 2006–2007

After moving to Sydney in 2006, Speed signed to Creative Vibes record label and released his debut solo album The Dreamer in 2007. The album was based on hip hop, indie rock, pop, world music, electronica, reggae and experiemtal genres. A review in the Sydney Morning Herald described the album by saying "The opening sounds like a scene from The Godfather; it closes with a hybrid of hip-hop rock. In between there are snippets of 1950s French soundtracks, moody trip-hop and multiple samples. The vocals sway between Beck and Buck 65, moving from the philosophy of art to observations of love." ^[5]

The Dreamer became a feature album on FBi Radio (NSW), Three D Radio (SA), 3PBS (Vic) and Edge Radio (Tas) and the song Everybody Needs Somebody was put up on the Triple J website for exclusive download.

Film

Metropolis Rescore

In 2004 as The New Pollutants, Speed composed and produced a new soundtrack to the silent film Metropolis with Hopprich and premiered it at the 2005 Adelaide Film Festival.^[6] The live performance also featured actor/singer Astrid Pill as vocalist and musician Zoe Barry as cellist. The soundtrack has been described as "an infectious and unique approach ranging from Germanic trip hop and lo-fi electronica to unforgettable classical and breathtaking cinematica." ^[7] Metropolis has subsequently performed at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI),^[8] as a part of the 2006 Commonwealth Games Cultural Festival and at the 2006 Perth Revelations Film Festival.^[9] In 2010, it was performed at the Sydney Opera House and was also played at the 2011 Mona Foma Festival in Tasmania. Since then, a newly updated score is being composed to the 2010 restoration version which has an extra 30 minutes of footage originally thought lost. The updated score was premiered at the 2011 Adelaide Film Festival ^[10]

The People's Republic Of Animation

In 2005, Speed composed for the first of many collaborations with The People's Republic of Animation (PRA) in a series called Errorism: A Comedy of Terrors. He received the Best Original Score award at the 2006 St Kilda Film Festival for the animated short Carnivore Reflux,^[11] a film that was also a 2006 Tropfest finalist. In 2007 Speed composed for the animated short music-film Sweet and Sour which premiered at both the Adelaide Film Festival and the Shanghai International Film Festival in 2007 and has since won multiple awards and played at numerous international film festivals.^[12] He composed music for the winning 2008 Tropfest Supershort Series film Safer In A Wild World, which was also chosen for official competition in the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in France.^[13] In 2009, Speed composed the music for The Cat Piano which features Nick Cave as narrator ^[14] and in 2010 won an APRA/AGSC Award for his work on The PRA's children's series Itty Bitty Ditties.^[15]

Other Work

Speed composed for the 2008 Tropfest finalist film Glass and the 2011 Tropfest Finalist The Maestro.^[16] He did the feature film The Tumbler, which premiered at the 2008 Perth Revelations Film Festival,^[17] and was selected for the 2008 São Paulo International Film Festival ^[18] and has scored feature documentaries A Northern Town in 2008, which was nominated for a Dendy Award at the 2008 Sydney Film Festival,^[19] and was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2008 Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards,^[20] and The Snowman in 2010, which won the Australian Documentary Prize ^[21] and was nominated for an AFI Award.^[22]

Filmography

Awards and nominations

Film

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Music

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Discography

• Speed Presents: Mr Tappin' Fresh EP 2001
• Speed Presents: The Other Half Of Humanity EP 2001
• The New Pollutants - Hygene Atoms 2002
• The New Pollutants - Sid Hop 7" 2004
• The New Pollutants - Urban Professional Nightmares 2004
• The New Pollutants - Metropolis Rescore 2005
• Mister Speed - The Dreamer 2007
• Benjamin Speed - Street Angel (Soundtrack) 2009

Compilations and Collaborations

• DJ Tr!p - Various: Right (2002)
• DJ Tr!p - Various: Acute (2002)
• DJ Tr!p - Various: Reflex (2002)
• SubFM - La Trobe University - The Fine Line (2002)
• Surgery Records - 2002A2D: Analogue 2 Digital (2002)
• Semikazi Collective - 2002 Compilation (2002)
• DJ Tr!p - Paintbox Compilation 12" (2003)
• 3D Radio - Depth Charge 3 (2003)
• MISA - Sounds of MISA Volume 2: Setlist (2003)
• ABC — Sound Quality Volume 2: Approved for Export (2003)
• Soobiesta - Straight Out Of Brisbane (2004)
• 52Nd Sydney Film Festival - Music for Film: Cults Classics Curios (2005)
• Blank Tapes CD Sampler 5a & 5b (2005)
• Cyclic Defrost Presents: Interesting Music from Australia (2005)
• Mythical Records - Odyssey of Rapture vol.1 (2008)

See also

• List of Australian composers
• List of people from Adelaide

External links

• Official Site
• The Dreamer on Creative Vibes
• Interview in Cyclic Defrost Magazine by Chris Downton
• Interview in IF - Australian Film Magazine

References