Congratulations to Athena Barkdull, winner of the second annual Record Exchange Mixtape Contest!

Athena’s mix, Feels Like You, features songs from My Morning Jacket, Sigur Ros, Damien Jurado, Sufjan Stevens, Broken Social Scene, Explosions in the Sky, Van Morrison, Sharon Van Etten and a bunch of other artists we really like.

Oh yeah, and she created some really pretty artwork and included a notebook with poetic musings on each track. Needless to say, it was a stellar piece of mixtape-itude — which made our decision easily unanimous.

Thanks to Boise Weekly writer Tara Morgan for being a guest celebrity judge (and for her great article on Record Store Day)!

You can hear Athena’s mix following the El Ten Eleven Record Store Day in-store at 5 p.m. today!

El Ten Eleven (elteneleven.com) will perform live at The Record Exchange (1105 W. Idaho St. in Downtown Boise) on Record Store Day (recordstoreday.com) at 5 p.m. Saturday, April 16. As always, this Record Exchange in-store performance is free and all ages. El Ten Eleven also will perform at Neurolux (neurolux.com) later that evening (8 p.m.); advance tickets ($8) are available at The Record Exchange.

Keeping in line with their incessant touring regimen, Los Angeles-based instrumental duo El Ten Eleven (elteneleven.com) are on their second tour of the year and it’s only April. The pair, comprised of Kristian Dunn on double neck bass/guitar and fretless bass and drummer Tim Fogarty, will showcase their jaw-dropping musical acrobatics in Boise at The Record Exchange and Neurolux on Record Store Day.

Although their fourth album may cheekily be called It’s Still Like A Secret (released Nov. 9, 2010 on the band’s own Fake Record Label imprint), El Ten Eleven’s brand of pulsating instrumental rock is far from a secret. For the past eight years, the duo has been exciting listeners with a collection of albums filled with densely textured rhythms, rumbling bass and an ingenious use of guitars and looping pedals, steadily amassing a following by playing more than 400 shows. All of this has caused Relix to feature the band as one of “5 Artists You Should Know About” in their “On The Verge” section in the April/May 2011 issue.

Likened to “watching two superheroes do their thing” by SF Weekly, El Ten Eleven’s live show is truly a technical marvel to witness as the duo recreate their pounding landscapes without the help of a single computer or sequencer. Instead, Dunn wields a double-neck bass/guitar and a fretless bass and records and loops himself live while his feet dance on an extensive floorboard of pedals. His partner in crime, Fogarty, wreaks havoc on his drum kit and electronic drum pads while also occasionally looping himself. “As each layer upon layer is set, El Ten Eleven’s songs coalesce into head nodding, cog-spinning music machines,” LA Weekly exclaimed about the musicians’ method.

Like their instrumental contemporaries such as Explosions in the Sky, El Ten Eleven’s music is highly sought after and has been heavily used in the realms of television, film and advertising. Of significant note are two highly acclaimed PBS documentaries — Helvetica and Objectified — both of which were nominated for Independent Spirit Awards. These films, directed and produced by Gary Hustwit, were scored by Dunn and prominently feature El Ten Eleven’s music. The highly anticipated next installment, Urbanized, will be released this year and once again feature music by El Ten Eleven and Dunn, including several pieces composed exclusively for the film.

Praise for El Ten Eleven and It’s Still Like A Secret:

“They drive somewhere between a roughed-up version of Sigur Rós and Ratatat you wouldn’t dare bring home to your parents.” — Filter

“The act is a wonder to behold live, but on the group’s fourth album, the layered sound is just as hypnotic.” — Los Angeles Magazine

“Bassist-guitarist Kristian Dunn and drummer Tim Fogarty indulge in plenty of effects and loops to fill out their sound with glittering layers, but always keep the instrumentals focused on bright pulses and punchy hooks.” — The Onion

“What El Ten Eleven does — as just two people — is a thing of beauty and something that usually takes the hands of many more.” — Daytrotter.com

“No duo anywhere is melded tighter than these two.” — The Stranger

For more information on the fourth-annual Record Store Day (April 16) at The Record Exchange, including in-store events and the release of more than 200 exclusive CD and vinyl titles, visit therecordexchange.com/recordstoreday.

Finn Riggins and Hillfolk Noir will kick off the fourth annual Record Store Day (recordstoreday.com) at The Record Exchange (1105 W. Idaho St., Boise) with an in-store and RSD release party at 6 p.m. Friday, April 15. As always, this Record Exchange in-store event is free and all ages.

The split 7-inch, released through Tender Loving Empire (tenderlovingempire.com) exclusively for Record Store Day, features new, previously-unreleased songs. The limited-edition release will be available for the first time worldwide at the RSD kickoff event. Artwork for the 7-inch was created by Kelly Knopp (knoppart.blogspot.com).

TRACK LISTING:
A. Hillfolk Noir — “Indie Rock Song Blues”
B. Finn Riggins — “Some Are Knightz”

The event will include live performances by both bands.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Experimental indie-pop trio Finn Riggins (finnriggins.com) is the result of a longtime collaboration between Cameron Bouiss, Eric Gilbert and Lisa Simpson. Having met while completing their music degrees at the University of Idaho, the trio began playing music together in 2000, an endeavor that would ultimately culminate in what is now Finn Riggins. Finn Riggins has released four albums, with the latest, Vs. Wilderness (Tender Loving Empire), earning heaps of critical praise and providing the catalyst for extensive national touring, including opening slots for Built to Spill.

Fronted by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Travis Ward, Hillfolk Noir (petometz.com) has been described as a dark, country-tinged, swampy-swingin’, hillbilly-delta-blues-ragtime word machine. The band calls it Junkerdash, but no matter the descriptor, you’ll find Hillfolk Noir’s psychedelic swamp-shack rags equally spooky and toe-tapping. Hillfolk Noir released a pair of critically-acclaimed albums, Live at the Old Idaho Penitentiary and Skinny Mammy’s Revenge, in 2010.

For more information on Record Store Day (April 16) at The Record Exchange, including in-store events and the release of more than 200 exclusive CD and vinyl titles, visit therecordexchange.com/recordstoreday.