Dean De Benedictis is an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

performer The performing arts are The arts, arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which involve the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art ob ...

, and producer of experimental and alternative music. He is a trained musician and has released albums as a solo artist as well as played with groups such as

Brand X Brand X were a British jazz rock band formed in London in 1974. They were initially active until 1980, followed by reformations between 1992–1999 and 2016–2021. Despite sometimes being considered to be a Phil Collins side project (due t ...

and The Strato Ensemble. De Benedictis has recorded under his own name and under the alias "Surface 10", a project in which he gained attention in

ambient Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...

and

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

circles. His discography crosses over several genres, but he is primarily known for merging these genres into techno tribal and

ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes Musical tone, tone and atmosphere over traditional Musical form, musical structure or rhythm. Often "peaceful" sounding and lacking Musical composition, composition, beat, and/or structured melod ...

. De Benedictis is the founder of both Fateless Records, and the Fateless Flows Collective, a Los Angeles group of electronic composers. He has released three albums with the Fateless Flows Collective through the Fateless Music label. De Benedictis is the co-founder and producer of Cyberstock, an outdoor music concert and visual arts display held in the Santa Monica Mountains. In its long history, the event has showcased such artists as

Nels Cline Nels Courtney Cline (born January 4, 1956) is an American guitarist and composer. He has been a guitarist for the band Wilco since 2004. In the 1980s he played jazz, often in collaboration with his twin brother Alex, a percussionist. He has wor ...

, Thomas Ronkin, and Richard Derrick.

Early musical career

De Benedictis was educated in Southern California. He is the son of theater and television composer Richard DeBenedictis. His first influences included

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, ) is a Germany, German Electronic music, electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk was among the first successful a ...

and

Soulsonic Force Soulsonic Force (also referred to as Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force) is an American electro-funk and hip hop ensemble led by Afrika Bambaataa who helped establish hip-hop in the early 1980s with songs such as " Planet Rock." They were also ...

. Later, he found influence in the progressive jazz fusion, and the Berlin School ambient music genres. When De Benedictis was barely out of high school, he began scoring and composing television source music for several years. Here, he created music in a wide variety of pop styles. At the same time, he was experimenting with electronic music on the side. In his early career, he moved through many

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...

and

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

bands. In 1996, De Benedictis released his debut ambient electronic music CD on Hypnotic/Cleopatra Records. It had a borderline

space rock Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drummin ...

sound. Early on, he was inspired by such artists as

Tangerine Dream Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup of the grou ...

and

Mark Isham Mark Ware Isham (born September 7, 1951) is an American musician and composer. A trumpeter and keyboardist, Isham works in a variety of genres, including jazz and electronic music, electronic. He is also a prolific and acclaimed composer of Film ...

but he has since recorded in several other styles. In ''A Lone Reply'' (Fateless, 2001), he produced a more tribal sound, and credited artists such as Steve Roach, Robert Rich, and

Loren Nerell Loren Nerell (born November 30, 1960) is an American composer and performer of ambient American music and Balinese gamelan. As a composer, Loren has written music for film, theater, dance, and interactive multi-media. He has performed with the Kr ...

. Several reviewers called ''A Lone Reply'' "among the very best" of tribal music, and "earns a place alongside essential works like ''Undercurrents in'' ''Dark Water'' ( o yuki) and ''Soma'' (Roach and Rich)." After his debut album as Surface 10, De Benedictis's music continued to grow more experimental and sentimental, and he began to diverge from the dance format of

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

. The label wanted more dance music, but De Benedictis was taking a different path. De Benedictis left

in 1999, and began recording on independent labels, including his own, at that time.

Fateless Records

The label was founded in 2001 De Benedictis. It specializes in

, and

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

. It began with the release of "A Lone Reply". Before 2011, De Benedictis was the only artist on the label. In April 2011, he announced the official relaunch of the Fateless Records and that he would, for the first time, begin carrying other artists on the label. The announcement was made on April 17, 2011, on

KXLU KXLU (88.9 FM) is a radio station broadcasting out of Loyola Marymount University in southwest Los Angeles, California. It was first on the air in 1957, and in 2007, celebrated its 50th anniversary. It is a non-commercial college radio statio ...

in Los Angeles. Some of these artists are veteran recording artists, while others are debuting on this label.

Roster

* Dean De Benedictis * Smite Matter * Zygote * Fulg3ncy * Vic Hennegan

Discography

Full-length releases as Dean DeBenedictis * ''A Lone Reply'', Fateless, 2001. * ''Salvaging the Past'', Spotted Pecarry, 2005 * ''A Cambient Variations'', Fateless, 2008. Full-length Releases as Surface 10 * ''Surface 10'', Hypnotic/Cleopatra Records, 1996 * ''In Vitro Tide'',

DiN Records DIN or Din or din may refer to: People and language * Din (name), people with the name * Dīn, an Arabic word with three general senses: judgment, custom, and religion from which the name originates * Dinka language (ISO 639 code: din), spoken by ...

, 2000 * ''Borrowed Time'', Space for Music, 2000 * ''Surface Tensions'',

, 2006 Compilations featuring Surface 10 * ''Space Box'', Hypnotic/Cleopatra Records, 1996 * ''Ambient Time Travelers'', Hypnotic/Cleopatra Records, 1996 * ''Tangerine Ambience'', a tribute to

, Hypnotic/Cleopatra Records, 1996 * ''A Tribute to the Music of

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

'', Hypnotic/Cleopatra Records, 1997 * ''Earth Ritual'', Hypnotic/Cleopatra Records, 1997 * ''Hypnotic Illusions'', Hypnotic/Cleopatra Records, 1997 * ''Ultimate Drum 'N' Bass'', Hypnotic/Cleopatra Records, 1997 * ''Trancespotting'', Hypnotic/Cleopatra Records, 1997 * ''Saturday Night Fetish'', Hypnotic/Cleopatra Records, 1997 * ''The Carnival Within-A Tribute to

Dead Can Dance Dead Can Dance are a British-Australian band founded in Melbourne in 1981 by Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard, before relocating to London the following year. The Australian music historian Ian McFarlane described Dead Can Dance's style as "const ...

'', Hypnotic/Cleopatra Records, 1997 * ''Loraine'', Peach, 1998 * ''DiN 10'',

, 2001 * ''Novabeats Sound System Volume 1'', Novabeats, 2004 * ''Fateless Flows Collective Volume 1'', Fateless Flows, 2004 * ''You Wish You Heard It Yesterday-Volume 3'', Android Folk, 2005 * '' Shadowmath: Fateless Flows Collective Volume 2'', Fateless Flows, 2005 * '' Undergrounded: Fateless Flows Collective Volume 3'', Fateless Flows, 2006 Full length compilations * ''Exempli Gratia'' (as alias Cathexis, with George Sarah), Hypnotic/Cleopatra Records, 1997 * ''Solar Prominade'' (as alias Enterphase, with Jeff Filbert and Fred Becker), A.D., 2004 Full-length releases with The Strato Ensemble * ''Drawn Straws'', Fateless Records, 2007

References

External links

Dean DeBenedictis Biography
* Echoes ( PRI) interview, May 2006
Fatelessmusic.com

Cleopatra Records

DiN Records website

The Stratos Ensemble
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Benedictis, Dean American ambient musicians American male composers 21st-century American composers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American male musicians