El Ten Eleven
Wednesday, December 13th, 2006I don’t normally do this kind of thing. See, I listen to a lot of bands. A lot of albums. A lot of songs. Sometimes I’m struck by a band and I think “Damn. That sure is a nice song.” Other times I’m simply floored by a band. You know, like the first time I listened to Explosions In The Sky.
Then I listen to a band and it goes beyond “floored”. It’s probably something that only happens once to everyone. When you listen to a band and your world is made better for it. Your life is better because of a body of music. That’s not something that does or should happen everyday.
I’m talking about this band El Ten Eleven. They’re everything that is perfect and good in this world encapsulated in two men playing a guitar and drums.
When I say “guitar” I don’t mean any old guitar either. He plays a double-neck Gibson that has a bass on one neck and a regular guitar on the other. At the same time. He’ll loop one riff into a DL4 then he’ll start a new one. Then he’ll lay some more bass on top. Then you’ll wonder why your mind is stuck inside of itself like a small child wearing a jacket that is much too large for him.
I want to take this opportunity to talk about one song on their self-titled album in particular. See, this song is called Fanshawe and it’s the most epic work on the entire thing. There is a part in the song. In this part the guitar starts making these tones that I call “the neeners”. It’s an army of neeners comprised of 1/8th notes and they fly all over the place. You might think that is a disorienting thing to endure. That’s why the bass guitar comes in to ground you. The bass line slides in ever so gently with a battalion of 1/4th notes and it lets you know that it’s ok to bob your head. Even though the neeners have established themselves as hegemon in the land of Fanshawe, you can still bob your head. Everything is going to be ok.
And they’re recording a new album. And that means they’ll be touring soon. And that means I’ll get to see them. And then nothing can go wrong.
