ALBUM REVIEW: El Ten Eleven, It's Still Like a Secret

I love this modern profusion of loop pedals. It's opened up a lot of sonic possibilities, and it allows one or two guys pull pull of thick arrangements that would be impossible live. The loop pedal has become an instrument in it's own right, and a handful of acts these days revolve around it, even depend on it. More emotional than Ratatat and partying harder than Dosh, fitting somewhere less neon than the former and less wooden than the latter (who joins their current tour for most of this month), L.A.'s El Ten Eleven are not the first band of their kind, but they are bringing their own thing to the table. ETE kicked off their tour at the Mohawk in Austin last night to a full house crammed into the indoor venue, sweating it's collective ass off and fending off heat stroke with nothing but cheap tallboys and hope. Their enthusiasm was rewarded by a wash of guitar driven dance-rock, a duo sounding like a dozen.

El Ten Eleven's latest spinning plastic disc, It's Still Like a Secret, could be a dance record, but it's not unrelentingly blissful. It could be a power rock record if you're in the mood. If it spun slower it would be a fine rainy day record. It's dance music with depth, or it's post-rock with a sense of humor, but it defies easy labels and that's just another thing that's great about it. Because It's Still Like a Secret is almost a lot of different things, it's any of them when you want it to be. Guitarist Kristian Dunn and drummer Tim Fogarty have crafted a multifaceted style that suggests itself for many moods, and reaches in enough directions to be interesting without losing cohesion.

El Ten Eleven continues their U.S. tour until the end of October, supported by Anticon joysmith Baths. It's Still Like a Secret sees it's official release November 9th.

Cage at The Mohawk, July 6th RECAP

I only just recently came around to Cage. After years of hearing his name across other Definitive Jux releases, I sat down and listened to his albums not three days before seeing him live, and I'm feeling it. Hearing Cage really makes you wish that it was him you heard on the radio all these years ago and not Eminem, who upon hearing both sounds like the former's whiny kid brother, copying his style but doing it wrong. Comparisons between the two are not new, and both specialize in an angry brand of horror rap, brimming with blood and sometimes-wild, often-tragic drug use, but simply put, Cage's kung-fu is better than Eminem's. While he definitely is an album-over-performance artist, Cage's live set puts the personal intensity of his songs right in your face, which makes for a great show. Cage is supported on this tour, for last years LP Depart From Me..., by Timmy Wiggins, Kill City, and roster oddball, hardcore four-piece Hate Your Guts.

Wiggins opened things up with stripped-down blunt-smoking gutter beats courtesy of Chauncey (who rocked Cage's beats later that night), topped with heady hustle-and-grind rhymes. Kill City brought a warped ghettotech to the table that was pretty awesome, despite a third of their band showing up late thanks to a flight delay. Big props to whoever had the idea to get Hate Your Guts on this tour. First, a hardcore band was a cool change of pace before the headliner, and second because it was hilarious (and always is) to see kids at a show looking genuinely scared by heavy music. And third, because they were actually very good. Bravo to all, and thanks to the Mohawk for hosting, and for the cheap beers.