Convexity

Jared "Jae" Lee Tompkins (born July 17, 1998), known professionally as Convexity, is an American composer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist active in electronic dance music since 2012. Known for their retro-futuristic music style inspired by jazz and funk, they are considered an influential figure in the Fizz movement and the broader underground dubstep scene. Raised in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, they gained initial recognition following the release of Timequake EP (2021) on British producer Chime's record label Rushdown. After several stints of label management and ownership, Tompkins founded and currently manages the Fizz record label Telefuzz.

Early life

Tompkins was born on July 17, 1998 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, moving to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina only a year afterward.

Tompkins's grandmother introduced them to piano when they were 5 years old, putting color-coded stickers on the family heirloom piano and writing sheet music where notes were color-coded to the stickers. Their father bought them Magix Music Maker from Circuit City when they were 7 years old, which was their first exposure to a digital audio workstation, and began arranging loops and playing with MIDI and sequencers at this age. During middle school, Tompkins developed an interest in tracker software such as MadTracker and Renoise, inspired by artists such as Binärpilot.

While attending Scholars Academy for high school education, Tompkins participated as a baritone saxophone player in the Socastee High School Marching Braves.

Tompkins participated in the Clemson University Tiger Band for one year as an alto saxophone player. They received a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Performing Arts (Audio Technology Concentration) from Clemson University in May 2020. They were honored with the Outstanding Student In Performing Arts (Audio Technology) Award for the 2019-2020 school year, and were employed as the department intern before graduating.

Tompkins uses any pronouns, primarily they/them, and are loosely a part of the Furry community.

Career

Tompkins was introduced to Noisestorm in 2011 from a Minecraft Machinima video, and was promptly introduced to Monstercat soon after and developed a fascination with dubstep and other bass music. Tompkins started producing dubstep using Renoise under the alias c0nvexity in March 2012.

After years of failing to reach an audience, in late 2016, Tompkins felt there was a gap between the biggest record labels and the smaller passionate communities beginning to pop up on Discord, which was a new platform at the time. As a result, Tompkins founded the netlabel Xpanse Records in October 2016 in order to help give a platform to the underground bass music scene. Xpanse Records kickstarted the careers of artists such as gyrofield, Euan Ellis, Cloudcage, Feathervane, and more before it ceased operations at the end of 2019.

During the peak of Xpanse's success, Tompkins released their first successful song “Cosmic Kittens” in March 2018, which was promoted by YouTuber CaptainSparklez and covered by streamer The8BitDrummer. Around this time, Tompkins rebranded their project to Convexity and started taking music more seriously.

Tompkins self-released their debut album Complications in June 2020 as their senior capstone project for Clemson University. Later that year, Tompkins was discovered by British producer Chime, the pioneer of the Color Bass movement, who signed them to her record label Rushdown. Tompkins debuted on Rushdown in April 2021 with their single "Entanglement". Months later, Tompkins released Timequake EP via Rushdown, which began earning them support and recognition across the underground bass music scene. Tompkins became A&R for Rushdown at the start of 2022 until it ceased operations in mid-2023.

Tompkins went on to release on various different labels and participate in various community events over the years. Most notably, Tompkins debuted alongside Chime on Canadian electronic music record label Monstercat in January 2024 with the single "Liminal". Later that year, Tompkins went on to release Transmissions EP on American label Disciple. Tompkins went on to debut on British label Never Say Die Records in 2026 alongside Iraqi-Canadian producer euphee with a mashup remix of American producer Ace Aura's singles "Shattered" and "Gem World".

Tompkins became an integral part of the Fizz movement at its debut, and in April 2026, founded the Fizz record label Telefuzz, which they currently own and operate.

Musical style and influences

Tompkins's current sound is a forward-thinking blend of jazz, funk, vaporwave, and bass music, inspired by the styles of jazztronica artists such as Haywyre and Anomalie, as well as funk legends such as George Clinton and Bootsy Collins. Tompkins's current style of dubstep is inspired by Eptic, Teminite, Veksyu, JoeB, OCTANE, and many others.

In 2021 with the release of "Lattice" from Timequake EP, Tompkins inadvertently created a meme within the underground bass music community about using unconventional snares and percussion, especially when Chime exclaimed "What even is that snare?" during a performance that used the song.

Tompkins is proudly autodidactic, having self-taught piano, music theory, and jazz theory, feverishly studying and advocating for alternate theories, such as George Russell’s Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization, and Wayne Shorter's and Jacob Collier's ideas on nonfunctional harmony.

Fuzz

Fuzz (stylized FUZZ, short for Super Hip-Notic Trans-A-Phonic GroovalisticprosiFUZZtication) is an audiovisual aesthetic and alternate universe created by Convexity that the Telefuzz label and community follows. Fuzz first made an appearance in Convexity's 2023 proto-fizz song FUZZSTEP. The aesthetic of Fuzz is derived from several points of inspiration, primarily P-Funk Mythology, as well as analog horror, vaporwave, and retrofuturism.

In the lore of Fuzz, the protagonist represented by Convexity continually sends transmissions from ***** County, an unnamed oppressive regime that exhibits supernatural control over the region and clamps down any dissent. ***** County is a metaphor for the corporate consolidation of electronic dance music and the continued direction of risk aversion that prevents Fuzz from propagating. After receiving a decree from Dr. Funkenstein to be their own label, Jae created Telefuzz to distribute Fuzz as widely as possible, rescue refugees from ***** County (now otherwise known as the Zone of Zero FUZZativity), and start a revolution against THE MACHINE that represents the County government.

After the debut of the Fizz genre, Fuzz adopted the values of Dark Fizz / Fizz Extremism, especially its anti-establishment ideology. The finalized tenets of Fuzz after the debut of Telefuzz include Extreme Information Density, Endless Pursuit of THE ONE (FUZZentelechy, analogous to The Thing), Mogging Slopbots (The Placebo Syndrome), and Rejection of Corpsloplidation (The Zone of Zero FUZZativity).

Abridged discography

This list only shows the portion of Convexity's discography that is considered to be officially Fizz music.

EPs

• WHAT REMAINS (2026, Telefuzz)

Singles

• FUZZSTEP (2023, SILKENWOOD)
• SWOG LAMP (with KERO) (2024, artbyFORM)
• THE ITEM (with KERO) (2026, Telefuzz)

Remixes

• Anomalie - Velours (2022, Independent)
• The Gap Band - I Like It (2026, Independent)
• Ace Aura & Nytrix - Shattered Gem (with euphee) (2026, Never Say Die Records)