El Ten Eleven

For a band composed of only two members , El Ten Eleven makes a lot of noise. Guitarist (and bassist) Kristian Dunn and drummer Tim Fogarty have been making music since 2002.

Their take on post-rock is an interesting one. Because of their limited personnel, most of their songs start off with simple melodies and slowly begin to build up. It's difficult to understand why this is the case if you've never been to one of their live shows, but it becomes extremely apparent why their song structures are the way that they are.

I saw El Ten Eleven at a small venue and it was a shame that they didn't have too many people there, because the sound they made was immense. The stage was very small and the guys and their equipment had just enough room when they were up there. When they first came out on stage, they introduce themselves with a simple "Hello, we're El Ten Eleven," and joked about being from California and how nobody likes Californians. Then they simply started playing for the rest of the night.

Kristian plays a doubleneck guitar, with one neck having your standard six strings, while the other neck has four, and functions as the bass. Dunn uses a slew of pedals on the ground to create sounds and loop them, so he can play multiple parts all at once. He sometimes uses a fret-less bass as well. It's worth watching live just to see how he accomplishes all of this on his own.