Benjamin Stefanski (born 17 April 1987), better known by his stage name Raffertie, is a British composer and producer, based in London, England. Recording for Ninja Tune between 2010–2013, he now records at Mercury KX and his own label, Super Recordings, which he has run since 2010. Beginning in 2014, Stefanski began to work on film and television scores under the same stage name.

Career

On graduating in 2010 from

Birmingham Conservatoire Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is a music school, drama school and concert venue in Birmingham, England. It provides education in music, acting, and related disciplines up to postgraduate level. It is a centre for scholarly research and doct ...

with a degree in Classical & Contemporary Music Composition, Raffertie had already become established in the world of electronic music. Recognised as both a producer and DJ he has a reputation for performances filled with a dynamic energy that saw him play across Europe from

Fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is no ...

Space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

as well as festivals

Glastonbury Glastonbury ( , ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury is less than across the River ...

and Bestival before he had graduated. Raffertie has experimented with numerous styles, displaying the depth of his production skill across releases for Planet Mu, Black Acre, Super Recordings,

Domino Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also called '' pips'' or ''dots'' ...

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

, Moshi Moshi and Ninja Tune for which he has received accolades from

Simon Reynolds Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English music journalist and author who began his career at ''Melody Maker'' in the mid-1980s. He subsequently worked as a freelancer and published a number of books on music and popular culture. Reynold ...

, Huw Stephens and Mary Anne Hobbs. Hobbs first championed Raffertie when he did a session for her on 7 January 2008 on her

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

Experimental show. He also did another session on BBC Radio 1 for Rob Da Bank in June 2009. In April 2009, Raffertie's first remix of the Scottish act Franz Ferdinand " No You Girls" (the original reached No. 22 in the UK Singles Chart) was released on

. Also, in 2009 Raffertie played at

Glade Festival Glade Festival was an electronic dance music festival, founded by Nick Ladd and Ans Guise, which originally started out as Glastonbury Festival's Glade Stage, which was established by Luke Piper and Mark Parsons who also became founding partne ...

and his track "Do dat" featured on A Trak's Fabric Live 45 mix in March. "7th dimension," released on Planet Mu, was record of the week on

Nick Grimshaw Nicholas Peter Andrew Grimshaw (born 14 August 1984), nicknamed "Grimmy", is an English broadcaster and author. He became known for having hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1. He is also known as a television presenter for his Channel 4 rol ...

's show on BBC Radio 1 for the week of 18 January 2010. After graduating in 2010, Raffertie founded Super Recordings and, in 2011, signed a record deal with independent UK record label, Ninja Tune. "Visual Acuity EP," his first physical release for Ninja Tune was record of the week on Nick Grimshaw's show on BBC Radio 1, who described it as "Crazy, but so, so good." It also received airplay from Rob Da Bank, Lauren Laverne, Huw Stephens, Jen Long and Mary Anne Hobbs. The debut album '' Sleep of Reason'' was released in August 2013 on Ninja Tune. It was followed by the EP ''Be It All'' in 2018.

Film composition

Subsequent to the release of his debut album, Raffertie has largely worked as a

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

composer, including a remix of The Heavy's 2009 hit " How You Like Me Now?" for the season 3 finale of '' Suits'' in 2014. He has produced the music for ITV's series ''

Strangers A stranger is a person who is unknown or unfamiliar to another person or group. Because of this unknown status or unfamiliarity, a stranger may be perceived as a threat until their identity (social science), identity and Character structure, chara ...

'',

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

's series '' Alex Rider'', the 2021 films '' Zone 414'' and ''

Bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not Castration, castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e. cows proper), bulls have long been an important symbol cattle in r ...

'', the 2022 film '' One Way'', and the 2023

series The Continental: From the World of John Wick. Raffertie also scored the feature film '' The Substance'', which debuted at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival in May 2024.

Press

*''

DJ Magazine ''DJ Magazine'' (also known as ''DJ Mag'') is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Lati ...

'' March 2009. *''

Mixmag ''Mixmag'' is a British electronic dance and clubbing magazine published in London. Launched in 1983 as a print magazine, it has branched into dance events, including festivals and club nights. History The first issue of ''Mixmag'' was printe ...

'' June 2009 his "Wobble Horror EP," released on Planet Mu, received a review of 4/5. *''Mixmag'' October 2009 Raffertie's remix of Akira Kiteshi's "Boom N' Pow" received a review of 4/5. *''iDJ'' April 2011 double page spread on Super Recordings. *'' Clash'' "One To Watch" feature September 2011.

Discography

Albums

*'' Sleep of Reason'' (Ninja Tune) – 2013

Singles

*"Not Asleep" / "Not Awake" ( Ninja Tune) *"7th Dimension" ( Planet Mu) *"Wobble Horror!" (Planet Mu) *"Pumpin Like Reeboks" (Black Acre)

EPs

*''Visual Acuity'' (Ninja Tune) *''Rank Functions'' (Super Recordings) *''Antisocial'' (Seclusiasis) *''Mass Appeal'' (Ninja Tune)

Remixes

*Wolfgang "The King And All His Men" (

) *The Heavy "How You Like Me Now?" (Counter Records) *Daedelus "Overwhelmed" (Ninja Tune) *Astrid Williamson "Pour" ( One Little Indian) * Throwing Snow & Py "Wallow" (Super Recordings) *Malente & Jay Robinson "Pop" (Fat!) *Mr Fogg "Answerphone" (Kicking Ink) *Vision of Trees "Sometimes It Kills" ( Moshi Moshi) *Photomachine "Technicolor" (Super Recordings) *Taylor "CMB" (Super Recordings) *Bang On! "Hands High" ( Big Dada) *Niki & the Dove "Dj, Ease My Mind" (Moshi Moshi) *CocknBullKid "CocknBullKid" (Moshi Moshi) *Silver Columns "Cavalier" (Moshi Moshi) *Rudi Zygadlo "Filthy Logic" (Planet Mu) *Starkey "Stars" (Planet Mu) *Wild Beasts "Dancing on Our Tongues" (

) *Franz Ferdinand "No You Girls" (Domino) *Rogue Element "H.I.V.E" (Exceptional) *Akira Kiteshi "Boom N' Pow" (Black Acre) * Hybrid "All Torque" (Sony Computer Entertainment Europe)

References

External links

Official websiteSoundcloud.com
{{Authority control 1987 births Alumni of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire British electronic dance music DJs British film score composers British male film score composers British remixers Living people Mercury KX artists People from Bognor Regis