Kristian Dunn and Tim Fogarty have been creating music as El Ten Eleven for some time. This is the duo's eighth album and tenth release. You might have heard the band's music in documentaries such as Helvetica (Okay, maybe that's just me). In any case, a taste is more than enough to induce a craving.

El Ten Eleven Banker's Hill (Topshelf Records)

Using loops and amplifier effects, the pair creates an astonishingly complex sound from just bass and drums (electronic and acoustic). The end result is not unlike Trans Am (without the keyboards) or Don Caballero (without the feedback). And, of course, Pell Mell. Totally.

So, yeah. Soaring instrumental tracks that never lose their propulsive centers. I've always been drawn to artists who can tell stories with music as well as lyrics, and those who tell stories with only music are particularly intriguing. El Ten Eleven (the name comes from the Lockheed L-1011, a competitor to the 747 that never quite caught up) sometimes sounds like it is speaking rather than playing (and no, I'm not talking about the vocoder bit).

Totally entrancing. El Ten Eleven knows its business, and it serves up a set of sterling instrumental rock. Pretty much unputdownable.

Jon Worley