Revolution Void is a project by producer and jazz pianist Jonah Dempcy, mixing jazz and breakbeat. You may remember acclaimed musicians who decided to produce drum and bass, and it turning out as complete garbage: nothing there for jazz fans, nothing there for drum and bass fans. Increase the Dosage, however, combines breakbeat and melodic electronica in a charming way that makes for something not only worth listening to, but also something you’ll keep coming back to for years to come.
With bass by Matthew Garrison, sax by Seamus Blake and Darryl Estes, and guitars by Nicolas Manel, there’s a lot of serious musicians contributing some excellent material to the album. This, and careful production, makes Increase the Dosage an exceptional package. Surprisingly, it’s free to download, released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 license.
Opening with Invisible Walls, we’re introduced to the main elements of the album: clever tricks and processing on the percussion, with Dempcy blending live drums and loops with electronic backdrops and riffs. Yet despite this infusion of electronica with jazz, there’s always enough space for the live performers to express themselves. The sax on Invisible Walls is never drowned out by the electronic pads and lead lines Dempcy brings in. This is also the case with Habitual Ritual, a slightly denser and more hectic piece.
Factum par Fictio has some amazing bass and keyboard playing, and I was somewhat reminded of Squarepusher’s live performances after Garrison’s barrage of notes had finished. If you want to relax, there’s more downbeat tracks like The Modern Divide and Headphonetic.
Amazingly, Dempcy can scratch using a variety of techniques, and he does this excellently on Double the Daily Dose. Instead of just sounding pasted on, as you’d find with similar jazz/breakbeat crossovers, it’s part of the music.
Revolution Void is a serious release by a serious producer, and I’m still amazed that Jonah Dempcy’s only 21. Increase the Dosage was originally released in 2004, and it looks like he’s recently put it up for free download, so check it out: Increase the Dosage