Revolution Void

I decided to release the first track off The Politics of Desire before the rest of the album. Kind of a sneak peek at the album, if you will. The track, Time Flux, is a dark and moody breakbeat track with Latin-tinged guitar. Let me know what you think! More at thesixtyone

I'd like to announce the upcoming release of a 4th Revolution Void album, The Politics of Desire, to be released for free in its entirety through the Creative Commons. It will include 10 new tracks spanning downtempo to midtempo jazz breaks.

I was hoping to release the album on 4-4-2008 to coincide with my partner Yuriko's birthday, but the mixing and mastering process took longer than expected. Right now there are 10 tracks, 5 of which are mixed and mastered. I expect the remaining tracks to take a couple weeks to finalize.

A large part of the mixing/mastering process for me is cyclical: each iteration involves doing a mix at my home studio, burning to CD-R and listening to the tracks on as many different soundsystems as possible. I take notes on what sounds good and what doesn't, fix the mistakes and start the process over again.

In any case, the album will be released sometime later this month or in early May. I'll post links here once it's released.

Thanks for reading (and listening)!

-Jonah

Variations by Michelle Anderst

This piece is from the series Drugs & Social Networking which looks at Seattle coffee shops as both social networks and drug dens. Familiar views of local coffee shops are shown, such as Capitol Hill's Cafe Vita.

I especially like this piece, which depicts a vintage organ.

From a press release by La Familia gallery, who is currently hosting a show by Anderst:

Anderst (who moved to Seattle from Medford, Oregon) wanted to pay tribute to the caffeine (drug) phenomenon, which serves as both a meeting/social scene as well as office space to many. "I believe the show is an accurate portrayal of these businesses that play a large part in the cultural life and art scene in this amazing town," says Anderst.

Labels: art

I learned about this while attending audio engineering classes at Shoreline Community College, but whenever I told anyone, they didn't believe me. Finally, thanks to a post on Boing Boing (and the magic of the Internet), I have located scientific evidence to back it up!

Figure 1 shows the pattern that produces this illusion. Two tones which are spaced an octave apart are alternated repeatedly. The identical sequence is played to both ears simultaneously, except that when the right ear receives the high tone the left ear receives the low tone, and vice versa.

Despite its simplicity, this pattern is almost never heard correctly, and instead produces a number of illusions. Many people hear a single tone which switches from ear to ear, while its pitch simultaneously shifts back and forth between high and low. So it seems as though one ear is receiving the pattern 'high tone - silence - high tone - silence' while at the same time the other ear is receiving the pattern 'silence - low tone - silence - low tone'. Even more strangely, when the earphone positions are reversed many people hear the same thing: The tone that had appeared in the right ear still appears in the right ear, and the tone that had appeared in the left ear still appears in the left ear.

The octave illusion has another surprising property - righthanders and lefthanders tend to hear this pattern in different ways. Righthanders tend to hear the high tone on the right and the low tone on the left, regardless of how the earphones are positioned. Yet lefthanders vary considerably in terms of where the high and low tones appear to be coming from. Moreover, the tendency to hear the high tone on the right and the low tone on the left is stronger among people with only righthanders in their family than among those with a lefthanded parent or sibling.

Alan Pasqua - The Antisocial Club I just picked up this CD and I'm lovin' it! Great mix of live improvisation and groovin' beats. At times it is a bit too polished for my tastes (I like it raw!), but overall, it's an excellent album and definitely worth checking out, especially if you're a fan of fusion jazz.

I tend to keep some distance from fusion in my work, especially the '80s-style fusion-rock-world-jazz that has become so prominent. Nonetheless, I can appreciate rippin' fusion solos as much as the next guy, and this CD definitely has some of those. The performances are top-notch, songs have a good amount of momentum and overall the album is a keeper.

Link

Labels: jazz review

This video uses the tune Wes Coast Feel, which was released as part of the Hiphop White Label series in 2007.

YouTube - Fengchia Night Market

Labels: video

In this video, the Revolution Void song As we may think accompanies photos and commentary by Jeff Emtman.



If you like the work displayed here, be sure to check out Jeff's deviantART page.

Labels: photography, video

This video features the R.V. track Weekend Amnesia alongside footage of snowboarding in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere.

Snow || Full mix



Here's an edited version:

Snow || Shorter edit

Labels: video

I'm working on a new album and looking for submissions by jazz musicians on any/all instruments.

If you're interested in collaborating, hit me up: jdempcy (at) gmail (dot) com

Thanks,

-Jonah

Labels: podcast

Shufflectro was featured in episode 21 of memekast. The show has a rotating cast of DJs, with this episode featuring DJ Mino, who holds residencies at Word of Mouth and The Extra Credit.

Link to post
Download MP3

Labels: mix

The song Obscure Terrain is featured in a compilation by LibÉRula Barriguda called The Dark Side of the Soul. The compilation is entirely instrumental and spans genres from downtempo vibey stuff (Beastie Boys' instrumental cut 14th St. Break) to rock (God is an Astronaut) and even the Grindhouse theme by Robert Rodriguez. Link

Labels: mix

Here are some tracks which can be used as building blocks, either for other songs or for soundtracks and segues.

These are all released under the Creative Commons Attrib license so you can use them for whatever you like (just give credit).

• Minimal Instrumental Hiphop Segue MP3 | WAV
  Sparse, minimal downtempo breakbeat and a Moog-ish bassline. This clip is only 34 seconds long so it would have to be a segue, incidental music or music cue.
• Hat Pusher Overkill MP3 | WAV
  Overdriven breakbeat with pushy hihats. Warning: Very loud!
• Too Cool for Homeschool MP3 | WAV
  This track starts with solo turntablism filtered with light delay. The beat drops-- a simple, crisp drum-machine breakbeat with sub bass. The beat is then filtered through a flanger while the turntablism continues.
• Biomythos (ambient soundscape mix) MP3 | WAV
  Sparse vibraphone evokes a sense of mystery, while a phased synth pad provides counterpoint. Remix of a track from the 2006 release Thread Soul.
• Filtered Breakbeat with Clav Solo MP3
  The main solo on this track is performed with the Native Instruments Elektrik Piano Clavinet (along with some filtering effects). The breakbeat has a lowpass filter using Ableton Live's built-in Auto-filter effect.

Labels: creative commons, hiphop, samples

An historic event in cinema, the first-ever Open Source/Creative-Commons-licensed full-length feature film to be shot entirely in HD, The Last Drug is already gaining momentum before the release. From the website,

The first reports on "The Last Drug" come out. A journalist even told me recently "...there are already rumors! We have to bring this story if we want to be the first" That sounds promising. Last week there was an article in "Prinz" and radio "Energy" broadcasted a report.

Meanwhile the cut is finished, sound design, compositing and rendering are worked on. As soon as all computer generated shots and animations of priority 1 are integrated, we go search for a sponsor - then we can see about a release date.

Production Stills: Incidentally, you can hear the Revolution Void track Double the Daily Dose playing in the background during this compositing session: Link

Labels: creative commons, film

The Revolution Void song Obscure Terrain is featured in the website Coloured Monde, portfolio of Greek artist and designer Alekos Damagas.

The track plays in the background as you navigate the site, which is fully Flash. In addition, the solo Hammond organ song Humans in Universe plays on the site.

You can visit Coloured Monde at www.colouredmonde.gr.

Labels: flash, website

The album Thread Soul has been featured in its entirety in the promotional Flash game Grolsch Gardens, playable at www.grolschgardens.com. It's refreshing to see high-quality sprite-driven Flash work. I love vector as much as the next guy but the developers of Grolsch Gardens have really done a superb job at creating a faux-3D environment using 2D sprites.

In addition to featuring my music, their "jukebox" page also features 7 other Creative-Commons-affiliated artists, most (if not all) of whom were found through Jamendo. While it may be a double-edged sword, I think it's great that big-league advertisers are looking to underground, independent musicians for music placement. I hope this trend continues, as it gives underground musicians a chance to reach a larger audience (myself included).

Labels: advertisement, creative commons, flash, website

This collection of tracks was released as part of the Hiphop White Label series. All of these songs are released to the public domain, granting free use to do anything you wish with them, including using the tracks in whole or part in commercial endeavors, without requiring to give credit.

1. Back in the Day
2. Cut-Up Piano Beatz
3. Wes Coast
4. Shufflectro
5. New York City
6. Epic Strings
7. Day Before New Year's
8. Desperate Measures Theme

Labels: hiphop

The album Increase the Dosage was my first release on Jamendo. I found Jamendo when searching for Creative Commons music. Previously, I had released music through OurMedia (and I still do), but I liked the selection of music and features on Jamendo and so I published the album there. Since then, I'm continually impressed with the features Jamendo rolls out.

Take their spiral, for instance. Not only is the spiral a fresh and unique way to find out about new music, but it's done entirely without the use of Flash. I have nothing against Flash per se but it is still nice to see widgets created in pure DHTML.

Perhaps the best thing about Jamendo is the huge community of users, both musicians and fans. It seems that their user base is very active as well, with a penchant for reviews, comments, and a voracious appetite for music. In other words, this is the perfect audience for Creative Commons musicians looking to get heard by the world at large. According to their site, as of Saturday, May 12, 2007, Jamendo has 3313 published albums, 113891 active members, and 37197 album reviews.

Jamendo provides quite a few excellent services for musicians and fans alike. In January 2007, they began sharing 50% of their advertising revenue with the artists. It is divided proportionately according to how many pageviews the artist received. So, if you received 2% of the pageviews on jamendo.com then you are entitled to 1% of their advertising revenue. It's an astounding gesture, and is certain to attract more musicians to the site. The site is already growing like wildfire-- when I published Increase the Dosage in June 2006, there were 2225 albums on Jamendo, and the number of published albums has already increased by over 1000 since then. At this rate, an average of 90 albums per month are being added, all of which can be downloaded in their entirety for free. This is truly a revolutionary time, an online renaissance of open-source music.

Besides the great functionality and incentives for bands, Jamendo simply has a great online community with which to discuss your favorite bands, share playlsts and promote your favorite artists. You can review artists and comment on reviews. If you promote an artist (by emailing their link, writing a review, adding them to a playlist or otherwise recommending them) then you become part of that artist's "BuzzTeam." Your username and icon will appear on that artist's page along with a number, representing how many times you have promoted them. This gives an incentive to fans to promote their favorite artists, and is an innovative way to encourage audience participation and interaction with the bands.

Labels: creative commons, jamendo

The tune Infornography was used as a music bed in an episode of Mark Forman's Getting a Leg Up podcast. (note: site automatically plays music). It appears the song title was influential as well. Mark writes, "I've been motivated to get back to doing some more thematic podcasts again— hence today’s MindField show (title mashed-up from the trendy software and cool tune by Jonah Dempcy)."

Tracklist and Download Links
Mark Forman's Getting a Leg Up podcast

Socialize 4:31 Metal Hearts* Media Screws 4:49 Kalas*Digital Data 3:26 ASHWAN *Vision 4:59 Angel Tears*Agenda Suicide (adult. mix) 4:41 the faint*Bet You Never Thought 4:52 Brighton, MA*Words That I Employ 3:03 Coach Said Not To*Words Were Barely There 3:03 The Temporary Thing *1,000 words 2:31 Burning Bright*Background music: Infornography 4:15 Revolution Void

I should point out that I did not originate the word. Rather, I first heard it from the Japanese animation television series Serial Experiments Lain.

Interestingly, there is even a Wikipedia article for the word infornography. The meaning, according to Wikipedia, "is an addiction to or an obsession with acquiring, manipulating, and sharing information. People "suffering" from infornography are generally people that greatly enjoy receiving, sending, exchanging, and digitizing information."

Labels: podcast

This electro breaks track got its name because when I hear it, it elicits images of vast cyberpunk cityscapes or post-apocalyptic fields a la Mad Max. It is a hard electro breakbeat with overdriven bassline. Overall, the whole thing is very compressed, giving it a harsh electronic quality. Synth pads balance out the otherwise aggressive sonic palette, evoking a sense of vastness.

Vast Fields (MP3 6 MB)

Lightswitch is a minimal electro-IDM track I did a few years back. I think it would work well as a soundtrack. It has a somewhat tense, tech-y mood that might work well in a sci-fi film or game.

Lightswitch (MP3 4.2 MB)

Improvised jam with David Levin on drums and yours truly on keys. The chord progression goes || C-7 | Bb-7 Eb7 | Ab | G7 || (similar to the vamp in Red Clay). See if you can spot the Bill Evans quote!

Revolution Void instrumental hiphop remix of the jazz tune by Rockin' Teenage Combo.

Download MP3 | Detail page @ the Internet Archive

Revolution Void has been featured on the April edition of the excellent nu-jazz, downtempo/chillout, house, and latin music podcast Chill with The Chola:

Positive Persuasion 04-01-07

• Download

For my April Podcast I found myself being driven towards a positive influence. I also found myself inspired by a wide range of styles and tempos which really makes this month's mix flow well.

While listening to this 70 minute mix, I think you will find yourself transcending a simple state of relaxation. You will find that all of your stress melts away and you are left with a smile on your face. Each song is light and charming and sure to brighten your day!

Link

Labels: mix

This "unreleased rarity" (rare because it has only existed thus far on my hard drive and/or miscellaneous CD-R demos) centers around an aggressive 7/8 rhythm and accompanying Latin synth melody, hence the title Freaking 7.

The song has a repetitive, driving drum track and sitar loop. The synth loop is a variation of a tradition Latin melody which was adapted to 7/8 instead of 4/4.

Overall, this track is more aggressive than most R.V. material so I never found an appropriate avenue to release it until now. That's why I decided to release it now, under a Creative Commons Attrib license granting free use as long as credit is given. Here's a link to the 256kbps MP3:

Jonah Dempcy - Freaking 7 (9.4 MB MP3

Jamendo has released another cool widget on their artist pages: the "BuzzTeam." Apparently a BuzzTeam is a group of fans who have recommended the artist. Here's the BuzzTeam for Revolution Void:



I have to say, this is pretty cool! It's great to be able to see not only how many fans there are for an artist, but how much the grass-roots online promotion method is working. In my case, I have found it to work quite well.

Previously, I blogged about how great it was that Jamendo is now sharing 50% of its advertising profits with artists. Well, their service keeps getting better and better. With features like this being released, it's safe to say that Jamendo has established itself at the forefront of the renaissance of free music.

Labels: creative commons, jamendo

This track is a jam I did a couple years back using Ableton Live and the Native Instruments Elektrik Piano clavinet sound. The whole track was made in about an hour, so it's really just a rough demo that never got finished. But, I thought some people might enjoy listening so I figured I would post it online. It has been released to the public domain, so anyone can use it for anything they like (including commercial purposes, of course).

Thematically, I could see this song fitting in a video game or an action scene of a film. The track centers around a filtered breakbeat groove and has a clav solo which was recorded on top in one take.

Filtered breakbeat with clav solo
MP3 2.4 MB

dAdA RAdiO's electro-jazz radio show REVERBERAÇÕES recently featured a couple of Revolution Void tracks. Here's a link where you can hear it: Download MP3 (59 MB)

Labels: mix

The track Invisible Walls has been featured in Unknown Origins podcast episode 7: Full Moon Edition.

From the site:

Well, here we go again. We were kinda wired tonight, and I think it shows a little.

Here's this month's podcast, (right-click and Save-As to Download). You can also download from here, if you'd like a faster download.

31 Knots - Sedition's Wish
Gomez - Sweet Virginia
The Veils - Advice For Young Mothers To Be
Talkybit 2
Peter, Bjorn, And John - Amsterdam
Andrew Bird - Heretics
Terence Trent D'Arby - This Side Of Love
Talkybit 3
Julie Doiron - No More
Feist - Sea Lion Woman
Fulton Lights - Thank God For The Evening News
Talkybit 4
Cadence Weapon - Sharks
Revolution Void - Invisible Walls
Cansei de Ser Sexy - Music is my hot sex
Talkybit 5
Tom Waits - Ol' 55
The Streets - Dry Your Eyes

As you can see, it's a pretty eclectic mix! But variety is the spice of life, as they say.

Labels: mix

This is a white label remix of the Desperate Measures theme, a track that I made with Michal Gola back in 2002. The original mix of the track was featured in the 2004 short film Queen of Beasts to great effect. This track features koto and flute, making a somewhat exotic-sounding instrumental hiphop tune.

Hiphop White Label 8 - Desperate Measures Theme (alternate mix)
MP3 5 MB

Like all tracks released in this series, this track is public domain and can be used for whatever you want (including sampling, remixing, commercial uses, etc).

Alas, I am reaching the end of my back-log of white label hiphop tracks. So, until I produce some new tracks, the Hiphop White Label series will be postponed indefinitely. But, stay tuned for other new, rare and unreleased tracks. I will try to post new material every Sunday if possible. Thanks for listening!

This week's installment is another collaborative track I did with Michal Gola. This one was written on the day before New Year's Eve, 2002. Like last week's track, it features a sampled and reconstructed drumloop from funk master Bernard "Pretty" Purdie. This track has a somewhat ominous feel, thanks to a synth strings loop that fades in and out. It also has a thumping deep bass. Turn up the sub for this one!

Hiphop White Label 7 - The Day Before New Year's
MP3 8 MB

Note: As with all tracks released in the Hiphop White Label series, this song has been released to the public domain.

This is a free jazz mix I did back in November 2001. I did the mix digitally on the fly using about 20 instances WinAmp opened simultaneously. It is very abstract and can be a bit abrasive, so be warned. At times, I picked all of the tracks from an album and played them simultaneously, building walls of sound that break into torrential cascades of chaotic improvisation.

Incidentally, although the mix itself qualifies as free jazz, most of the included tracks are not technically labeled as such -- In fact, the mix consists of mostly modern and classic jazz tracks, including some highly recognizable tunes. See if you can recognize any of the tracks, it's like a game.

Free Jazz Mix
MP3 23 MB

I did this track back in 2003 with the assistance of Czech graffiti artist and hiphop producer Michal Gola. It has a drum beat provided by Bernard "Pretty" Purdie and some orchestral strings from who-knows-where. Mike and I used to joke that this song would be good for a car commercial.

Hiphop White Label 6 - Epic Strings
MP3 4.4 MB

This is a short video featuring the track Biomythos off my latest album Thread Soul. The video is by Vancouver, B.C. video jockey eightprime. He describes the process for creating the videos as "audio-responsive computer feedback," using photographs of buildings in Vancouver as source images. The result is a hypnotic, kaleidoscopic mixture of mathematical and fractal forms with modern architecture.

Labels: video