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General Admission (standing) - Doors at 7PM
El Ten Eleven’s Nowhere Faster, the duo’s 16th release, was forged within that unease. Across eight tracks, it considers not just nothingness but velocity—the strange urgency that propels us forward even when the destination remains unclear. We are committed to acceleration, convinced speed itself might save us. The 33-minute album slows just long enough to pose the harder questions: what are we running from, and what do we think we can outrun?
That tension appears even in the album’s artwork, once again created with longtime collaborator Rob Fleming. It depicts a classic liminal space: familiar, anonymous, quietly unsettling. A stained glass-colored building and a streetlamp blur at the edges, suggesting motion that feels less like escape than enclosure—the kind that traps rather than transports.
Nowhere Faster emerged from Kristian Dunn and Tim Fogarty’s longest break from touring and recording in their 23 years together, though “break” is something of a misnomer. Dunn’s famously restless creative pace never slowed. Instead, he began writing for not one but two drummers, handing Fogarty one of the most demanding challenges of his career. The record also marks a first for the band, weaving real strings and piano throughout, deepening the palette of what is already one of their most layered works.
The album’s titles and sounds draw from moments scattered across the band’s 23-year history. Opener “Uncanny Valley Girl” marks the return of long-retired effects like the delay pedal, stacking basslines into a dense, enveloping wall. It’s a clear-eyed take on AI-era paranoia, anchored by Fogarty’s steady rhythm—snare taut, cymbals gently alive—giving the sci-fi unease something solid to lean on. “Bjork’s Alarm Clock,” meanwhile, takes its title from an insult hurled at the band by a guitarist of a punk band on their first tour; you can almost hearDunn and Fogarty’s quiet laughter beneath the buoyant bass and bow-scratched strings.
Still, Nowhere Faster is not a retreat into nostalgia. El Ten Eleven remains invested in risk and reinvention. The record continues to center Fogarty’s propulsive drumming and Dunn’s bass-driven experimentation: the first four tracks (“side A”) feature electric bass, while the latter half(“side B”) shifts to acoustic bass processed through pedals, subtly altering the album’s emotional weight. “Last Night In The Kitchen” reaches for the slick, sleazy bombast of classic Bond themes, opening new corridors for Dunn’s ever-expanding musical ambition.
Tall Tall Trees is the musical id of songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mike Savino, a pioneer in the realm of experimental, DIY banjo music. Accompanied by his trusty Banjotron 6500, a highly customized, electrified banjo and effects pedal setup, Savino has wowed audiences since the 2009 debut of his self-titled album with his eclectic and innovative blend of psychedelic folk, rock and world music. His work seems to actively evade comfortable definition, upon first listen one will recognize the tenderness of Cat Stevens, the melancholy introspection of Elliott Smith, the anthemic psychedelia of Pink Floyd, and a deep abiding respect for Earl Scruggs. Savino often performs solo, showcasing his fleet-footed loop pedal mastery, as well as alongside long-time collaborator and fellow innovator, Kishi Bashi. He has recently collaborated with fellow psych-banjo maestro JD Pinkus of the Butthole Surfers, releasing Ponder Machine, a psychedelic banjo opus on the Shimmy Disc label. Tall Tall Trees latest release and 5th LP, Stick to the Mystical I, featuring a collaboration with Josiah Wolf of the band Why? is out on Joyful Noise Recordings.