Ben Deitz, founding member of the New York City club collective Trouble & Bass died on Saturday, May 9. He DJed under the monikers Math Head and Passions and had released music on Trouble & Bass, French label, Kitsuné and Terminal Dusk. The cause of death has not been revealed at this time according to Fact Mag.
Trouble & Bass founder, Luca Venezia, better known to most as Drop The Lime, eulogized Deitz in a message on Soundcloud attached to an early track produced by Deitz.
"In 2002, before Trouble & Bass even existed, I put together this compilation called 'Nobody Compilate' of various young NYC based artists, and Ben was the first to contribute and help curate the compilation. Given that we both went to the same high school, and shared strong punk rock roots, we illegally placed these home printed CD-R copies of the compilation in shops like HMV and Tower Records in sections like IDM, D&B, and Electronica to reach the right people and it hilariously caught buzz."
"All that was printed for contact info was this random NBDYUNDRTHS_N@AOL email address, but the excited/confused mails of — 'I tried to buy your CD and was told I could just have it for free as it wasn't in the system' were frequent. Soon after, Star Eyes joined forces as did Zack Shadetek, The Captain, and AC Slater, and the same DIY attitude evolved even more, creating Trouble & Bass into a label and crew. With the recent tragic passing of such a magical, influential, and driven soul, I wanted to share this track with the world. With the recent tragic passing of such a magical, influential, and driven soul, we felt it was important to share the track Math Head had contributed. It's such a strong and honest glimpse into the furiously original production of music he soon progressed into. You will be missed greatly Ben. We love you."
Trouble & Bass had just thrown its last ever party at Verboten nightclub in Brooklyn on April 18 with a lineup that included Drop The Lime, Jubilee, Addison Groove, Tony Quattro, Doctor Jeep and Petey Clicks. They released their final compilation at the end of March as well, which included music from Deitz.
This is the second tragedy to strike the New York city electronic music scene in 2015. Earlier in the year, Fool's Gold Records co-founder Dust La Rock was found dead at the age of 38.
Stream the newly shared song "Loc.cit" below.
