He was vocalist and songwriter in the Australian alternative, electronic, and hip hop duo The New Pollutants, along with producer and musician DJ Tr!p.
Late in high school he started making electronic music, inspired by crossover hip hop bands, such as Rage Against the Machine, Beastie Boys, and later DJ Shadow.
ACMI described the soundtrack as "an infectious and unique approach ranging from Germanic trip hop and lo-fi electronica to unforgettable classical and breathtaking cinematica".
[18] In 2011, a newly updated score was composed to the 2010 restoration version, which has an extra 30 minutes of footage originally thought lost.
[19] On 7 March 2021, the film was screened with The New Pollutants performing their re-score live at Federation Square in Melbourne,[20][21] presented by Insite Arts.
[4] The New Pollutants' favourite live venues in 2002 were Mojo West, Skylab at Minke, the Rhino Room, and the Crown and Sceptre Hotel in Adelaide city centre.
[4] They gained national airplay on JJJ as well as local stations 2SER (Sydney), 4ZZZ (Brisbane), 3RRR (Melbourne), Three D Radio (Adelaide), RTR (Perth).
[25][26] During his time as part of The New Pollutants, Speed also released some songs on his Myspace page, described as following "a skewed and slightly surreal geeky hip-hop aesthetic".
[7] The Sydney Morning Herald described it thus:"The opening sounds like a scene from The Godfather; it closes with a hybrid of hip-hop rock.
[28] Chris Downton noted in Cyclic Defrost: The Dreamer appears primed to take his compositions and productions to a new audience considerably broader than those previously familiar with his work as one half of The New Pollutants.
Particular apparent upon even an initial listen is the diversity of musical touchstones and influences that have gone into its creation, with everything from Central European folk instrumentation ("You Should Be Dancing") to 1950s-styled rock n' roll ("Ready For Action") / skiffle and jazz-tinged dub ("Can't Get Home") rearing its head over the album's fourteen track running length".
[27] In 2014, as Mister Benjamin Speed, three tracks were featured on Triple J Unearthed: "Hello goodbye"; "Shhh... You had me at death"; and "Ballad of the last used man".
[29][27] In 2008, Speed composed the score for the feature documentary film A Northern Town, which won an AFI Award.
[7] In the same year, he composed the score for the short film Street Angel, based on the comic of the same name.
[5] He also composed the music for Closer's TV series The Hunting, and Aftertaste, for which he was nominated for best score at the 12th AACTA Awards.
[43][44] In 2023, Speed composed the score for the film The Portable Door starring Christoph Waltz and Sam Neill.
[46][47] He also composed the scores for Miss Nikki and the Tiger Girls (2012); In My Blood It Runs (2019);[48] A Game of Three Halves (2020); This Is Port Adelaide (2021);[49] Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022); Embrace Kids (2022);[48] The Defenders (2023);[49] and Make It Look Real (2024).
He said that he mainly composed scores, songs, and sounds to accompany visual media, but thinks of it "as making music for inspiration".
[1] While living in Adelaide, Speed was working as a music teacher, for which he won a South Australian Award for Excellence in Arts Education.
As of March 2021[update] they were living in LA with their son, with Speed flying back to Australia regularly for work.