El Ten Eleven (elteneleven.com) will perform live at The Record Exchange (1105 W. Idaho St. in Downtown Boise) on Record Store Day (recordstoreday.com) at 5 p.m. Saturday, April 16. As always, this Record Exchange in-store performance is free and all ages. El Ten Eleven also will perform at Neurolux (neurolux.com) later that evening (8 p.m.); advance tickets ($8) are available at The Record Exchange.
Keeping in line with their incessant touring regimen, Los Angeles-based instrumental duo El Ten Eleven (elteneleven.com) are on their second tour of the year and it’s only April. The pair, comprised of Kristian Dunn on double neck bass/guitar and fretless bass and drummer Tim Fogarty, will showcase their jaw-dropping musical acrobatics in Boise at The Record Exchange and Neurolux on Record Store Day.
Although their fourth album may cheekily be called It’s Still Like A Secret (released Nov. 9, 2010 on the band’s own Fake Record Label imprint), El Ten Eleven’s brand of pulsating instrumental rock is far from a secret. For the past eight years, the duo has been exciting listeners with a collection of albums filled with densely textured rhythms, rumbling bass and an ingenious use of guitars and looping pedals, steadily amassing a following by playing more than 400 shows. All of this has caused Relix to feature the band as one of “5 Artists You Should Know About” in their “On The Verge” section in the April/May 2011 issue.
Likened to “watching two superheroes do their thing” by SF Weekly, El Ten Eleven’s live show is truly a technical marvel to witness as the duo recreate their pounding landscapes without the help of a single computer or sequencer. Instead, Dunn wields a double-neck bass/guitar and a fretless bass and records and loops himself live while his feet dance on an extensive floorboard of pedals. His partner in crime, Fogarty, wreaks havoc on his drum kit and electronic drum pads while also occasionally looping himself. “As each layer upon layer is set, El Ten Eleven’s songs coalesce into head nodding, cog-spinning music machines,” LA Weekly exclaimed about the musicians’ method.
Like their instrumental contemporaries such as Explosions in the Sky, El Ten Eleven’s music is highly sought after and has been heavily used in the realms of television, film and advertising. Of significant note are two highly acclaimed PBS documentaries — Helvetica and Objectified — both of which were nominated for Independent Spirit Awards. These films, directed and produced by Gary Hustwit, were scored by Dunn and prominently feature El Ten Eleven’s music. The highly anticipated next installment, Urbanized, will be released this year and once again feature music by El Ten Eleven and Dunn, including several pieces composed exclusively for the film.
Praise for El Ten Eleven and It’s Still Like A Secret:
“They drive somewhere between a roughed-up version of Sigur Rós and Ratatat you wouldn’t dare bring home to your parents.” — Filter
“The act is a wonder to behold live, but on the group’s fourth album, the layered sound is just as hypnotic.” — Los Angeles Magazine
“Bassist-guitarist Kristian Dunn and drummer Tim Fogarty indulge in plenty of effects and loops to fill out their sound with glittering layers, but always keep the instrumentals focused on bright pulses and punchy hooks.” — The Onion
“What El Ten Eleven does — as just two people — is a thing of beauty and something that usually takes the hands of many more.” — Daytrotter.com
“No duo anywhere is melded tighter than these two.” — The Stranger
For more information on the fourth-annual Record Store Day (April 16) at The Record Exchange, including in-store events and the release of more than 200 exclusive CD and vinyl titles, visit therecordexchange.com/recordstoreday.
