Last night I performed on KXLU again, this time just as Surface 10--myself.

A Lone Reply (2001) - Dean De Benedictis

Dedicated to the spirit of Native Americans and mastered by Robert Rich, these ten terrific tunes are captivating ambient tone poems that harken back to the heyday of spacemusic maestros like Steve Roach, Jonn Serrie, Kevin Braheny and Rich himself. Haunting, mesmerizing, unsettling at times but also poignant, optimistic and beautiful, De Benedictis makes music for the subconscious, music that awakens cross-cultural cellular memories in an orgy of rebirthed engrams. The bone-on-stone patter that underlies the catchy rhythms of "Avenging Illfated Visions" is followed in delicious and deliberate counterpoint by the crystalline emptiness of "What the Wind May Not Tell You;" together they represent the earth-ether duality of De Benedictis' inspiration. But the masterwork here must be "As the Ocean Emptied," an epic aural adventure that grabs the imagination from first note to last. It's a tale of naked new land claimed, of ego and achievement, and of gods deprived. And we all know that old saying, "whom the gods want to punish, they first grant a heart's desire..." Hence, the intimate, almost suffocating closeness of "Bilagaana Weaps, In Quiet Memory," a tune that inverses the grand proportions of typical soundscapes yet still manages to create a vast interior space in which deep emotion rises. This is not easy music to hear, but it is profound.


-PJB

-New Age Voice Magazine-

DEAN DE BENEDICTIS - A LONE REPLY (2001) ::::: Every once in awhile, a CD comes seemingly out of nowhere and just blows me away. De Benedictis has done solid music before, generally in modern ambient and experimental electronic styles, but nothing prepared me for my reaction to A Lone Reply.

The musicianship on this very tribal work is simply stunning. He rightly credits Steve Roach and Robert Rich for inspiration, and thanks Loren Nerell for his assistance, so that should give an idea of the musical direction. This is one of the most consistent, captivating 80-minute sets of music I've heard in some time. It is haunting and dramatic throughout, full of grace and power. Synthesizers meld with a vast array of primitive instruments from around the globe.

Dedicated to the American Indian, it actually calls up images of several ethnic backgrounds, though the Indian roots remain throughout. Sometimes, the music is haunting and slightly dissonant, as on "What The Wind May Not Tell You." At other moments, like "Embraced," the mood is brighter and prettier. Though the music generally leans toward the dark side, it is all beautiful, all brilliant. If you like ambient with a healthy dose of tribal beats and flutes, this is among the very best. A Lone Reply is a masterwork that deserves a wide audience.

2001 (c) Phil Derby
Exposé Magazine

Dean De Benedictis Ð "Salvaging the Past" (Spotted Peccary - 2005) * This record label has never released a CD that I didn't like. Spotted Peccary could be the most consistent record company out there, at least for me anyway. Dean De Benedictis has put together an album that fuses qualities from the older days of ambience (Tangerine Dream) to the most modern ambient soundscape. He uses a variety of instrumentation to express his inner musical creativity. "The Tech Atonement of Bilagana" teeter tooters between flutes leading the way to dramatic piano and deep ambience. "Chasm Enchanted" is more melancholy and reflective. De Benedictis uses a swooshing electronic sound to sweep us under dark gray skies. Drums strike like thunder in "Occur." De Benedictis surrounds the drums with tapping percussion, swirling synth lines and sparkling melodic trimming. Heavenly voices open the doors to "Grid Holy 4." The electronic notes that echo throughout the track remind me of Charles BernsteinÕs score for APRIL FOOLS DAY. Though this tune is upbeat and certainly not scary. I felt at hypnotic peace while listening to "Where Is The Northern Sorrow?" De Benedictis creates raindrops of electronic ambience in "Sweltering Gazes of Sonora." Notes drop down from above splashing onto the composition. There is an emotional stillness, an emptiness captured in "Then Bled A Tear." "Death for Music" drips liquid notes on top of dreamy melodic foundation. The whip crack like percussion that hits every twenty seconds or so is nice. I truly believe that this track represents what it must sound like inside the head of Dean De Benedictis. "Memories Echo Far Ablaze in The Valleys" is constructed with a large wall of ambient sound that stands up around the emotional center of the arrangement. The longest track on the album "Same Drone, Different Story" wraps up the CD. It runs over sixteen minutes long and features the feel of the atmosphere of a faraway land. Flutes return to blend with the exotic percussion. Acoustic guitar breathes life into the audio space, taking the track to a state of elation.

--MantaRay Pictures - Terry Wickham - director, writer, journalist...

www.mantaraypictures.com/deanmusic.htm

DEAN DE BENEDICTIS - SALVAGING THE PAST (Spotted Peccary, 2005) • De Benedictis is better known to the world-at-large as Surface 10, under which he has released many a fine recording, most recently on Ian Boddy's stalwart DiN label. Operating under his christian name, his music is no less fascinating. In fact, the differences between Salvaging the Past and S10 material are negligible—De Benedictis' talent runs rampant, regardless. Treading less abstract waters than S10, a bit more attention paid to the melodic capabilities of his tools separates the personas somewhat; still, this man got's some synths and he knows how to use them.

The outcome ultimately belies this recording's title, De Benedictis, like some savior of electronica, on a grand mission to rescue lonesome studio wizards from their self-imposed categorical purgatory. Thus the sequencer dance underpinning "Grid Holy 4" exeunts from machineries of joy, alive with carpet crawler shimmers and sonic aurora boreali, buoyant and lustrous. "Sweltering Gazes of Sonora" bounces along on giddy waves of zero-g, Tangerine Dream music for those who don't like Tangerine Dream music. It's all in the fingers, y'see, and by any measure, De Benedictis has the agility of a ballet dancer; adroit, light on his "feet," deft of digit and lobe. Ideas don't hurt, either—and this fella's got 'em in spades.

--DARREN BERGSTEIN, e/i Magazine (www.ei-mag.com)