El Ten Eleven

Over the course of 20 years and 11 albums, El Ten Eleven has continued to redefine the potential of bass guitar and drums. With an arsenal of pedals, labyrinthine arrangements, and a deft use of looping, Kristian Dunn (bass) and Tim Fogarty (drums) create two-man symphonies. With New Year’s Eve, the duo melds electrifying disco grooves with their tried-and-true experimental rock atmospherics. The album’s eponymous opening track plots the emotional topography of high hopes and sinking disappointment. Beginning with woozy bass drones powered by an Electro-Harmonix Superego Synth Engine (Dunn’s new “secret weapon”), the track eventually swells with Fogarty’s shape-shifting rhythms and lush textures. Followed by the scruffy groove of “Meta Metta” and triumphant crescendo of “Isn’t Everything Enough,” it’s impossible not to feel hope, or something like it.