Mr Speed

Mr. Speed (aka Benjamin Speed) started making music on his home computer in 1998, releasing two EPs — Speed Presents: Mr Tappin' Fresh and Speed Presents: The Other Half of Humanity — while earning a degree in Music Technology from Adelaide University. In 2001 he met DJ Tr!p, aka Tyson Hopprich, and the two formed electro/hip-hop group the New Pollutants. Speed rapped as well, as contributing beats and production for the duo's two albums, Hygene Atoms in 2002 and Urban Professional Nightmares in 2004. The duo also wrote a new score to accompany the 1927 silent science fiction classic, Metropolis. Their Metropolis Rescore debuted at the Adelaide Film Festival to critical acclaim and Speed began composing for short films, primarily in association with the People's Republic of Animation, and moved to Sydney to work towards a Masters in Screen Composing at the Australian Film Television and Radio School. During this time, he'd continued making tracks on his own, pursuing a skewed and slightly surreal geeky hip-hop aesthetic, putting the songs on his MySpace. Australian label Creative Vibes discovered the songs and signed him for a record deal that resulted in his solo album The Dreamer in 2007. It was named after Speed's claim that all of the songs were inspired by alternately prophetic, lucid, and waking dreams. He also continued composing scores, including that of the short animated film Street Angel, based on the comic book of the same name, in 2009.