It helps to have people who know people. If it weren’t for Day&ADream contributor Brad Gilmore mentioning Twenty-Eleven’s “Lost My Smile” in his “The Best… For Now” countdown, I would have never heard of the group. Twenty-Eleven is a local Houston group composed of Gilmore himself and Tre Will rapping; Dallas Jones on vocals; Tyler Tran on disc-jockey duties; and Avery Davis on production. Twenty-Eleven has made a little bit of noise through their collaborations in monthly Houston S.P.E.A.K. outings and their initial myspace page. And as a follow-up to their easy listening piece Renewable Energy, they’ve dropped a self-titled effort, Twenty Eleven, for the fall.
Listeners will quickly find that the most distinctive thing about the Twenty-Eleven EP is its sound. From start to finish, Twenty-Eleven is unlike anything you might’ve heard recently in terms of beats and melodies – it’s hard to think of anything I could really compare any of the songs to, excepting perhaps “Go Ask Alice” (which I’ll come back to); and for the group, that’s a good thing. One particularly good example of this is “What About Now,” which opens with a trippy beat, but then evolves into a smoother riding beat that still contains tinges of the trippiness. The subtle reverb and mellow drum tap on “Ford Taurus” is another instance. It’s hard to describe, but once you listen to it, you’ll find this is a perfect description. This distinctive sound provides Twenty-Eleven with another way to stand out from the rest of the music market, especially on the Houston scene, and I found it very refreshing.
Twenty-Eleven is also a good example of chemistry. Often, when it comes to group efforts, there’s always the concern that one person will outshine or get more of a chance to show their talent than the other members. That’s not the case on this album at all. Each song is a lesson in balance, Gilmore and Tre Will exchange verses, Dallas Jones kills his hook efforts, and Davis’s production is consistently superb.
“Betty White” is one of the best starts to an album this year. It features sweet instrumentation with a ticking high-hat hit that seems to serve as a pulse for the song. “Betty White” further demonstrates that aforementioned chemistry/cohesiveness, showcasing both Gilmore and Tre Will’s respective rapping styles and Dallas Jones’ soulful voice – especially on the hook, “Don’t try to stop me ‘cause I’m on fire… You know I’m ballin’ to the max-im-mum, ballin’ to the extreme” – for the first (but far from the last) time on the album. “11:11” uses a slow guitar that steadily evolves into a nice rock ballad of sorts and Jones’ hook is a melodic masterpiece. It’s one of those joints you could see yourself riding out in the countryside to. “Feelin’ Good” has a smooth lullaby feel to it; and “Go Ask Alice” reminds me of Wale’s “Diary,” telling an engaging story with subtle yet poignant lyrics like “All she saw was Plain Jane/ so she had to change her frame” and closing with a spoken word portion. And lead single “Lost My Smile” needs no introduction; but if you haven’t heard it, it’s an amazing track with a pulsating guitar beat that makes good use of the album’s sole feature, Julia Barbier.
Probably my biggest and only issue with Twenty Eleven’s EP is that many of the tracks sound too similar. This is admittedly very nitpicky, given that 90% of the Twenty Eleven EP sounds like nothing else out right now, underground, mainstream, or otherwise; yet by the time you reach Track 10, “The Prelude,” you’ll start noticing how it sounds basically like a slower version of “11:11” minus the ballad feel. So it’d be nice if they mixed things up just a bit more on their next effort.
A prevailing theme of The Twenty-Eleven EP seems to be getting their voices out there, from the line “I’m just hopin that the people stay listenin’” on “11:11” to the echo effect on outro track “Be Heard” that makes the words “Can anybody hear me?” sound like a legitimate plea for the people’s ears. But don’t mistake this for a request – it’s a demand to hear them out, because there’s something for everyone on The Twenty-Eleven EP, whether you’re looking for something to rock with, ride to, or something new to add to your iTunes. I hope at the least, this is a sign of more fresh sounds to come.
FINAL SCORE:
