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Live Sessions | El Ten Eleven

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El Ten Eleven

Session Date: February 11, 2012

El Ten Eleven is
Kristian Dunn – Guitar & Bass
Tim Fogarty – Drums

El Ten Eleven is a Los Angeles-based instrumental indie rock duo consisting of Kristian Dunn
and Tim Fogarty. What separates El Ten Eleven from their musical peers is that they are only
two musicians on stage creating pounding landscapes of sound with no laptops or sequencers.
Dunn switches off (sometimes mid-song) between a double-neck bass/guitar and a fretless bass,
while his feet dance on an extensive floorboard of looping devices and effects pedals. He plays
everything live, loops himself and juggles all the layers of tracks on top of each other. Fogarty
switches between traditional acoustic drums, roto toms and electronic drum pads, usually within
each song. To add to the insanity, Fogarty will occasionally loop himself as well.
The densely textured, atmospheric instrumental sounds of their first two full-length albums (the
self-titled debut El Ten Eleven and their follow-up Every Direction Is North) have been praised
alongside the work of such post-rock elite as Tortoise, Explosions in the Sky, and Sigur Rós.
With their third album, These Promises Are Being Videotaped, the duo took a leap in a new
musical direction more akin to the work of dance-rock envelope pushers Ratatat and Soulwax.

For their fourth full length, It’s Still Like A Secret (November 9, 2010), the duo has taken the best
elements of their first three albums and combined them into something extraordinary. “On each
record we learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t,” Dunn explains. “This is hopefully
the perfect amalgamation of everything we do.”

Like their last few LPs, the band has opted to self-release this one on their own label, Fake
Record Label, despite labels pursuing them. “I’ve had seven record deals, major and indie, and it
never seemed to really work,” reveals Dunn. “As soon as we started doing things on our own, El
Ten Eleven began to find some real success. That’s what our song ‘Ian Mackaye Was Right’ is
about. Doing things yourself.”

Testament to this DIY ethos is the pair’s unyielding touring regimen. A duo of road warriors,
they have built up their fan-base the old fashioned way: by getting out on the road and playing
their asses off at more than 400 shows. They have looped around America more times than they
can remember and although they have yet to leave the confines of North America, their music
has been heard loud and clear across the globe. “We have so many fans from all over the world,”
exclaims Fogarty. “We get emails from Moscow, Estonia, Australia, Malaysia, Japan…it’s
amazing!”

This far-reaching fanaticism is likely due to the universal appeal of the music they create.
After all, wordless music needs no translation. Perhaps because of this, the band’s songs have
been heavily used in the realms of television, film and advertising and continue to be highly
sought after. 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 band has just signed on to score his third film, “Urbanized,” which will be
released in 2011.

Set List:
Thanks Bill

El Ten Eleven Links:

Facebook
Twitter
iTunes 

Audio Production by Jason Suwito
Video Production by Josh Beck

 

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Audio


    • Thanks Bill

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