FEATURE: b:Sides
by Mike Gwertzman
At 22, Lucas Rodenbush already has an impressive resume that includes lauded work on labels like Plastic City, Soma and Yoshitoshi - and he's just hitting his stride.
Lucas Rodenbush, better known to his fans as e.b.e., makes music built entirely by his own hand. He refuses to rely on lifted loops and pre-programmed synth patches that can suggest lazy production. "I was taught to make sounds myself," explains the 22 year old from San Jose, CA. "You have to explore and find your own thing instead of having it handed to you. When you come up with something totally unique, it sounds neat, but when you can take that sound and make music out of it, its very profound."
Thoughtful and thorough, Rodenbush's dedication to crafting his music radiates from his records. For the genre dependent, his style can be described as tech house, techno or deep house. But regardless of the tag, his music resonates with fans of complex atmospheric dance tracks.
With his discography steadily growing, e.b.e. has already been championed by some of the heaviest hitters in the dance industry. Donald Glaude, Danny Tenaglia, Nick Warren and Carl Cox have all licensed e.b.e. tracks for mixed CDs, and Scotland's Slam hooked him up with the Soma label. Warren even picked "Inner Energy" from the Energy EP, e.b.e.'s first release, to include on the Cream Live CD. He's done tracks for labels like Chicago's Afterhours and Plastic City America and is doing remixes for Twisted. Business is starting to pick up at his San Jose home studio.
It's no surprise that e.b.e. records are favorites with big room DJs around the world. His EPs feature the kind of tight and precise tracks that experienced jocks drool for, with cuts veering from filtered, peak-hour percussion workouts to symphonic sun-is-rising excursions. But there are common elements that weave his work: layered analog melodies that circulate in and out of the mix, reverberating wooshes and pans that envelope sound systems and driving rhythms that don't conform to simple beat patterns.
He makes complex tracks that utilize only a few elements at a time. Check e.b.e.'s recent Synaptic Flow EP on Soma and Square Three EP, his latest release on the Solid Trax label (Rodenbush runs the label in conjunction with San Jose's Solid Grooves record store), to hear this less is more philosophy at work.
Rodenbush cites Basic Channel, Jeff Mills and house DJs like Johnny Fiasco, Chez Damier and Derrick Carter as musicians who helped him discover dance music's complexities. While his first EP was a full on drum roll and acid lined rave anthem, his latest material is more mature and refined.
"I finally figured out that I didn't have to polish everything," Rodenbush says. "You can present a thought more naturally if it's just an infinite loop. It's ongoing. Basic Channel taught me that."
As his profile continues to rise, don't expect Rodenbush to start doing just any remix work thrown at him. Good music takes time to create, and good music is all e.b.e. is looking to make right now."
"I always want to put something out that's quality," he says. "I don't like shortchanging people. I feel like making music is a true representation of the person you are. If you are really serious about it, there's no sense in fucking around."
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