Benjamin Wynn a.k.a. Deru is an Emmy Award-winning composer, sound designer and producer. Deru grew up in Chicago, where his earliest influences came across the airwaves of the legendary University of Chicago radio station, WHPK. Listening to hip-hop and specifically its use of static in music, Wynn began his first forays into manipulating sound. He continued his sonic explorations at the California Institute of the Arts, where he studied synthesis, digital signal processing, acoustics, music theory and composition, and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Music Technology. While at CalArts, Ben also delved into world music, studying Balinese gamelan, African drumming and hand percussion. His multi-layered musical sensibility combines hip-hop, electronic, world music and classical composition. As Deru, Wynn has released three albums on Mush Records, Merck Records, and Neo Ouija respectively, as well as remixes and tracks for compilations on labels like Hometapes, Ghostly International, Mille Plateaux, and a ballet score for Wayne McGregor and the Paris Opera Ballet. 2014 ushers in the next phase of Deru’s journey, as he partners with Friends of Friends for “1979”, his most extraordinary project to date. 1979 is a concept album and sculptural object, featuring nine songs by Deru accompanied by nine short films by video artist Anthony Ciannamea, that are housed in a customized handheld video projector. The subject matter is nostalgic and emotive, focusing on common origins and shared human experiences. A limited run of the projectors will be produced, and the videos will be made publicly available through an interactive website featuring a gallery of user-submitted “memories”. “1979” will be released in Summer 2014 on Friends of Friends in vinyl as well digital formats. Words from the artist on “1979”: “There’s not a doubt in my mind that memory is our greatest gift. Our memories give us access to time, identity and dreams. I have long explored memories through stories and songs, documenting them in order to share them further. “1979” is a celebration of memory in it’s essential, shared nature.”

Anthony Ciannamea is a Chicago-born filmmaker and designer inspired by the intersection of technology, mythology, and mysticism in storytelling. After nearly a decade as an interface designer and creative coder in Chicago, Anthony co-founded ScenicStudio.tv and has spent past few years directing a series of music videos and a feature-length documentary (“Outliers, Vol. I: Iceland“). The now San Francisco-based creative director is currently focused on bringing his analog, lo-fi cinema aesthetic to live performance visuals as well as helping artists and independent labels introduce dimensional narrative into releases. Obsessed with blending digital processes and modern tools with an anthropological curiosity to re-contextualize the past, he recently spent the past year producing live visuals as a monthly resident at Low End Theory SF, on tour with Shigeto, as well as events for Deru and Prefuse 73. Anthony runs EFFIXX – a small studio focused on making beautiful things and telling stories with physical objects in real spaces.

Telefon Tel Aviv is an experimental electronic duo formed in 1999 by two New Orleans high-school friends, Joshua Eustis and Charles Cooper. Following years of playing in various local bands and learning the ropes of electronic music production, Eustis and Cooper wrote the demos for what would become Telefon Tel Aviv in 1999. Shaped by a diverse set of influences that included British electronic music (Autechre, Aphex Twin, Jega) and Black American music (house, techno, bounce rap), Telefon Tel Aviv were the latest in a growing lineup of American musicians that sought to carve their own lane and add something meaningful to a growing international conversation about what the meeting point between hip-hop, soul, and electronic music could be. In between the German and U.S. release of Immolate Yourself, Charles Cooper passed away unexpectedly. Following Cooper’s death the Telefon Tel Aviv project went on hold. In 2014, Eustis released a solo album on Audraglint Recordings as Sons of Magdalene called Move To Pain. After years of self-doubt, Eustis decided to revive the Telefon Tel Aviv alias in 2016, writing and touring under the moniker.