GDEB

The sounds of Goddamn Electric Bill were never meant to leave Jason Torbert’s bedroom. But the one-man band, a propulsive blend of ambient electronic, folktronica and post-rock music, made its way out to the world anyway. Since 2004, Goddamn Electric Bill has been nominated for several San Diego Music Awards, licensed music for television and film, released two full-length albums on London’s, 99X/10 Records (run by former The Cure keysman Roger O’Donnell), including the new 2008 release “Topics For Gossip,” and been featured in San Diego CityBEAT, Music Matters Magazine and The San Diego Union-Tribune. But Torbert isn’t new to the musical arena. Torbert’s suburban childhood was spent playing trombone in high school and college jazz ensembles. It was at University of Oregon that Torbert began his seven-year stint as the bassist for a popular punk outfit called Cigar. The band signed to a label run by Pennywise guitarist Fletcher Dragge and toured internationally before calling it quits. Jason tried his luck at a few other projects, including one band that signed to Jim Ward’s (At The Drive-In/Sparta) label, Restart Records, but Torbert figured out that the band life wasn’t for him. It was the sounds Torbert made on his own – from bass, guitar, rhodes, sitar, mbira, vocals, percussion and synthesizers – that turned into Goddamn Electric Bill. And it is those sounds that Slug Magazine called “jaw-dropping cinematic tracks” and Rip It Up Magazine called “uplifting in both mood and subtlety.” And it is those sounds that continue to cause a stir.