Benjamin Speed

Benjamin Speed

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

Music

The New Pollutants

File:TheNewPollutantsLive.jpg

The first live performance by The New Pollutants. Adelaide Fringe Festival 2002

In 2001 Speed teamed up with fellow solo artist Tyson Hopprich (DJ Tr!p) to form The New Pollutants, a band that played at some major Australian festivals including the Falls Festival in 2004/5, Big Day Out in 2003 and as headliners of the 2004 Adelaide Fringe Festival In 2003 the group was voted Most Popular Dance Act by DB Magazine readers. 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. Between 2002 and 2004. During this time they released a full length album, Hygene Atoms, a 12" EP Urban Professional Nightmares and a 7" single Sid-Hop. The New Pollutants sound traversed through a number of different genres including lo-fi, trip hop, electro, Commodore 64 music, 1950's and 60's pop, comedy, alternative hip hop and electronica.

Some live reviews of performances garnered quotes such as

• "If you hear of these guys playing near you go and see them - very fat and funky gigs that totally blow away any boring preconception of two guys playing machines. These guys look like they are having a ball when they play, grinning from ear to ear.” Vice Magazine (Live Review) July 2003
• "The New pollutants have an air of intellectual ferment about them that isn’t exactly common place in the Hip-hop scene. “ The Wire (Live review) UK - December 2002

Solo Career

Speed began performing solo shows in Adelaide in 2000 with Ben Frost and released two 'Speed Presents' EPs as Mr Tappin' Fresh and The Other Half. He performed at the Adelaide Fringe Festival and This Is Not Art Festivals before forming The New Pollutants with DJ Tr!p. After moving to Sydney in 2007, Speed's debut solo album The Dreamer was released by Creative Vibes.

Reviews of the album include quotes

• "...this is an inventive energy filled debut, it’s self assured, hilarious and sad. It’s hip-hop with soul that strays far from hip hop’s roots into this bizarre role playing where Mr Speed takes on various alter egos, singing in accents, whispering in your ear or cutting it from the dance floor. He’s got killer production, but perhaps more importantly he’s got range and dexterity.",
• "Impossible to classify and stubborn in its will to take you on a deranged musical bender, The Dreamer definitely pushes the boundaries of kitsch and glitch but its plight is a brave one. In an Australian market flooded by singular dimension hip hop that lacks daring and imagination, Mr. Speed’s debut is a diamond in a coal mine. Highly recommended.",
• "The word quirky was coined to describe things exactly like this and that is in no way a bad thing."
• "He’s someone who understands that each day is an opportunity to manifest destiny. He’s living his dreams through until they are firm reality. Both streetwise and spiritually profound, The Dreamer comes across like some kinda guidebook for a blissed-out urban lifestyle."

Performances

As Mister Speed and The New Pollutants, Speed has performed alongside the likes of

Anticon Augie March Billy Bragg The Bird The Black Keys Bob Brozman Buck 65 The Cat Empire Chicks On Speed Clare Bowditch Curse Ov Dialect Cut Copy Deftones

De La Soul Dexter from The Avalanches Donavon Frankenreiter Dsico Foo Fighters Four Play Freq Nasty Frost Gonzales The Herbaliser The Herd Hilltop Hoods The Hot Lies

Hrvatski Janes Addiction Jebediah Jimmy Eat World The John Butler Trio Kid Kenobi Kid Koala Kool Keith Kraftwerk DJ Krush Light Surgeons The Living End Luke Slater

Machine Gun Fellatio Mad Professor Manitoba Mia Dyson Missy Higgins The Music Neotropic The Panics PJ Harvey PNAU Queens of the Stone Age Resin Dogs Rocket Science

Sage Francis Sarah Blasko The Spazzys Spiderbait Sub Bass Snarl TZU The Vasco Era Veruca Salt The Vines The Waifs Wilco Xavier Rudd You Am I

among others.

Film Work

File:Metropolis@ACMI.jpg

Flyer of The New Pollutant's Metropolis Rescore at The Australian Centre for the Moving Image

Metropolis Rescore

In 2005, The New Pollutants were commissioned by The Adelaide Film Festival to compose and perform a new soundtrack to the silent film Metropolis. This project has subsequently performed at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) , as a part of the 2006 Commonwealth Games Cultural Festival and at the 2006 Perth Revelations Film Festival.

The project collected reviews such as

• "Speed and Hopprich’s score was a gift". Adelaide Advertiser
• "The New Pollutants match, and in many ways surpass the genius of Lang’s vision, by making it vibrant, topical and alive.” (Peter Wintonick)
• "One of the highlights of the Revelation Perth International Film Festival"

Solo Work

In 2005, Speed composed his first in a series of many collaborations with The People's Republic of Animation (PRA) for a short animation 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, a film that was a 2006 Tropfest finalist. In 2007 Speed composed for the animated short music-film Sweet and Sour which premiered at the 2007 Adelaide Film Festival and has since won multiple awards and played at numerous international film festivals. He composed music for the winning Tropfest Supershort Series film Safer In A Wild World, which has also been chosen for official competition in the 2008 Annecy International Animated Film Festival in France.

Speed has since composed for the 2008 Tropfest finalist film Glass and has recently completed his first feature film projects The Tumbler and A Northern Town (documentary), the later of which has been selected in competition for the Dendy Awards at the 2008 Sydney Film Festival. Later in 2008 Speed will be working on a short film project called The Cat Piano with Nick Cave. It is a film written and directed by Eddie White and produced under the banner of The PRA.

Filmography

Name	Director / Producers	Format	Release year
OK, Lets Talk About Me	Sophie Hyde, Bryan Mason & SBS	TV documentary	2005
Metropolis Rescore	The New Pollutants	feature film rescore project	2005
Errorism: A Comedy of Terrors - Series 1	Eddie White & The PRA	short animation	2005
As Long As I'm Rollin'	Jackson Pellow & Film Australia	short documentary	2005
Carnivore Reflux	Eddie White, James Calvert & The PRA	short animation	2006
The Catch	Yasemin Sabuncu – The Feast Festival	short film	2006
Birth	Paul Leeming & The Sydney Film School	short film	2006
Errorism: A Comedy of Terrors - Series 2	Eddie White & The PRA	short animation	2006
Ayen’s Cooking School for African Men	Sieh Mchawala, Vida Films & SBS	TV documentary	2007
Sweet and Sour	Eddie White, The PRA & Shanghai Animation Film Studio	short animation	2007
Fruitloop	Kyra Bartley	short film	2007
Mitsubishi Lancer "Safer In A Wild World"	Eddie White, James Calvert & The PRA	TV Commercial	2007
Who Wants to Be A Celebrity Chef	Rose Aldahn / AFTRS	short documentary	2007
Everyday Heroes (Opening Titles)	AFTRS TV Department	TV Magazine	2007
Purgatory	Natalie Polomo (Exec Prod) & AFTRS Year of 2007	4 part TV mini series	2007
The Ghastly Gourmet Cooking Show	James Calvert, The PRA & Nickelodeon Channel	short animation TV pilot	2008
I Was A Teenage Butterfly	Eddie White, The PRA & Nickelodeon Channel	short animation TV pilot	2008
Glass	Jayne Montague / Windermere Blue Films	short film	2008
A Northern Town [1]	Rachel Landers, Dylan Blowen, Pony Films & SBS	feature documentary	2008
The Tumbler	Marc Gracie, Stacey Testro, Mondayitis & Ztudio	feature film	2008
Street Angel	Lucas Testro / AFTRS	short film (In Production)	2008
Cat Piano	Eddie White, Ari Gibson & The PRA	short animation (In Production)	2008
The Mystery Of Flying Kicks	Matthew Bate & Plexus Films	short documentary (Pre Production)	2008

Discography

Solo

• Mr Tappin' Fresh (2001)
  Mr Tappin' Fresh
  (2001)
• The Other Half (2001)
  The Other Half
  (2001)
• The Dreamer - (Creative Vibes) (2007)
  The Dreamer - (Creative Vibes)
  (2007)

The New Pollutants

• 
  Hygene Atoms
  (2002)
• Sid Hop (2003)
  Sid Hop
  (2003)
• Urban Professional Nightmares (2004)
  Urban Professional Nightmares
  (2004)
• 
  Metropolis Rescore Project
  (2005)

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 Collectve - 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)

Personal Life & Education

Speed is a vegetarian, a teetotaller and is partner to actor and singer Aimee Horne. Growing up in Adelaide with his mother Elizabeth Speed (nee Cheryl Wilsdon), Speed attended Glenunga International High School and has since graduated with an honours degree in Music Technology from the Elder Conservatorium of Music at Adelaide University. He is now currently completing a Masters Degree in Screen Composing at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) in Sydney. .

See also

• List of Australian composers
• List of people from Adelaide

External links

• Template:Myspace (Solo Career)
• Template:Myspace (Film Music)
• Template:Myspace
• Template:Myspace
• Template:Myspace (documentary)
• The Dreamer on Creative Vibes
• Interview in Cyclic Defrost Magazine
• Interview in IF - Australian Film Magazine
• The People's Republic Of Animation