The Sound Of Falling

(photo by wanderingz)

Sometimes MySpace can be a real hassle. It's all fun and all, but I have a backlog of friend requests as long as my arm which I feel it's only fair to give a decent crack of the whip to. So I set aside some lunch hour to have a listen, starting from the oldest, and what do I find but a good'un straight off.

Ebb is a Swedish artist, which is very in these days, so good start, well done. What also helps is that he purveys a kind of easy-access glitch-pop, nothing too demanding, but very well-presented. Ebb's is a wintry sound, one that has space and room to swing a cat, and is filled with little sweeps ad flourishes, chorus-y vocals in his pleasing Swedish brogue, and looping little hops and glitches. These are becoming semi-ubiquitous these days- semi because obviously not every band incorporates electronic elements at all, but ubiquitous because it seems like every band/artist that has some of the same elements: muffled synth loop? Check. Off-kilter, unexpected beat pattern? Check. Occasional odd vocal effect? Check. Drum effects that make it sound like a loose connection with your headphones? Check.

It's not really a problem as such, but there's no way this sort of thing can be considered avant-garde any more. Fortunately, even when we're relegating this one revolutionary sound-styling to everyday pop, there's artists like Ebb, and songs like I'm All Made Of Music and Life Is On TV that elevate themselves above such criticism and carve out a necessary place for themselves. So good for him, Ebb comes recommended by Betty.

The Music
Ebb - Silent Lucy (requires Quicktime)

The 'fo
Artist: Ebb
Website: ebbmusic.com, MySpace
Recommended: Loona
Label: Gay Monkey
Buy: From Ebb
More: Hype Machine; elbo.ws
Tags: Ebb; Sweden; electronica