classic albums, atsonicpark edition # 1: at the drive in - acrobatic tenement
 

Okay, I'm taking over the "classics album" thing. I'll do it every now and then, not every day. I'm fed up over the supposed classic albums.. who really gives a shit about Strawberry Alarm Clock nowadays? Fuck that shit! Anyway, uhhh.. oh yeah. There is no criteria for these, just... I might focus a bit more on albums that aren't focused on or talked about as much. So yeah.


I first heard this back in late 2000. I'd heard In/Casino/Out and Relationship of the Command at the time, so when a friend burnt me this it took me aback... opening with the classic "Star Slight", which is such a weirdly perfect way to open the album and ending with "Porfirio Diaz" which announces that we're "proud to be pricks, proud to be assholes, picking up the pieces one by one.", this album is just filled with classic moments!

Okay, now I'm sounding like a reviewer. Fuck that. Basically, when I put this on, I didn't think it even sounded like At the Drive In... it sounded like some band who'd never heard hardcore before listening to Fugazi and trying to cover them with shitty equipment while stoned out of their mind. The guitars are ALL clean, which sounds GREAT... I've actually never heard an time of band this intense who played with all clean guitars... and the drumming is insane; I've never heard drums like this before.. jazzy but restrained... excited, loose, but somehow structured.. okay, I guess it's similiar to Discordance Axis's drummer. Except sexier!

The first time I listened to this, I was about halfway through the album and the power went out at my house, so I listened to this on headphones all night. I don't think the brilliance of it IMMEDIATELY hit me, but I kept coming back to it over and over. While many will argue that Vaya is At the Drive-In's best release, I think this one slightly edges over it. It's 10 minutes longer, the structures on every song are more interested, and the production on the album is unlike anything I've ever heard.

It sounds dirty but clean, excited but straightforward, all over the place but focused... truely a tight band who hardly ever played a bum note. Also, noted wanker and owner of 1000 effects pedal Omar Rodrigeuz plays bass on it, which is really the instrument he should have stuck with.

I know a lot of people listen to this album once or twice and toss it to the side, not impressed, and they go rock out to that song on IN/Casino/Out that goes "RUN N PUT YER QUARTERS IN!!!!!!!!!!" But to me, this was At the Drive-In's defining moment. I've yet to hear anything even similiar to this. And only last year did I meet someone who loved it as much as I did.

Ebroglio is my fuckin jam.

Any thoughts?

Repped.

This IS ATDI best output. The whole album is just perfect in a low-fi, young kids on drugs, making a record because they want to and the industry be damned sort of way. I've read that because Omar is left-handed, he just strung a right-handed bass for a lefty and couldn't afford to change the nut so the thing wouldn't intune properly, leading to the dead bass sound. Also, Jim didn't realize that he only got one take for his guitar parts so he just recorded a "scratch track" that ended up being what made it on the album.

I'm an "Initiation" person myself. Ced's scream for "you look so beautiful when your dead" gets me every time.

"Skips on The Record" is runner-up and is a mix tape staple. I find it funny how it sounds so much like "Schizophrenia" in the beginning.

Classic album, all around, hands down, "sink. swim. drown together."

Oh shit, I never noticed how it sounds like schizophrenia! And I never knew that about the dead bass tone/rough guitar track thing. That's hilarious and amazing and adds to the amazingness of this album, haha.


Bel aire colonial deluxe number five!

Never 'eard of 'em.

All the warmth the wool can give. Sheepskin costume of the truant officer.

YES. finally.

It's a pretty good album, but I much prefer the Vaya EP and Relationship of Command. They were fucking awesome live, I have to say.

I think everything they've released is great. But I'd have to say Relationship of Command is definitely their strongest album - that's the masterpiece, even though I haven't found myself listening to that particular album in years. I wore it out when it was first released and rarely get the urge to listen to it and prefer their other releases.


I don't agree with this statement. I think Jim and Omar worked really well together and Omar stepping up to guitar duties strengthened the band, not to mention their live set.

That, and I really dig his guitar playing. I am listening to his latest solo album on vinyl and it's fantastic.

Now, though, I must whack on Acrombatic Tenement.

I'm going to be picking this one up very soon. Initiation and Coating of Arms are super nostaligc for me, I used to listen to those songs a lot, before I really knew ATDI.

yes i like. atdi are pretty good and i got them after i got the first mars volta album whom i cant listen to anymore.....

This band were rubbish.

I don't have this one!!! i have Relationship of Command, which i LOVE, its this album really better? i don't know if i trust atsonicpark's judgement.

i didn't like it and i was a huge atdi fan. it's not as good as relationship of command or any of their albums for that matter. i think vaya was their best.

Why would you doubt my judgement? Even people who don't like me on here know I know my shit when it comes to music.

Either way.. this album is amazing.

After careful consideration, I have to say.. Relationship is by far their worst, Vaya is their best but it's just an EP.. so this wins in the full length department. Amazing.

Shit band + shit album. They suck.

Indiiiiiiieeee.

i just got this for my birthday (a friend bought it for me) and it's so great!!! it's warped and shit.

my favorite is relationship with this one edging it. vaya sounds great and frenetic, but the songwriting is very subpar, most of the songs are very unmemorable.

i really wish ATDI didnt break up when they did, they could have really been something special. i mean omar and cedric with all their arty pretentiousness and vast array of influences, and then jim and the rest of them brought the punk and the hardcore and it worked perfectly. instead, they broke up, omar and cedric brought their arty pretentiousness to levels of gayness i never thought possible with mars volta, and then the rest of the guys became a boring atdi tribute band called sparta. fuck...

i think ROC is their most realized. Maybe you dont like the slighly overly slick procudtion sonicpark? i think thats definitley one of the main faults of the alblum, being produced by ross robinson and all. thats his name right? the korn guy?

Nah, Ross is an AMAZING producer. I love his production. He makes guitars sound amazing. I think Relationship is good, it just lacks some of the energy of their other releases. And the last song isn't very good at all.

Ebroglio is a really great song, as is Initiation (I infinitely prefer the Radio version that was on one of the Relationship of command singles i bought though).
I dont know, i just think their brand of music is best recorded better and louder than this album is, ive owned it for years but never got into it i guess because of the production in part, but Ebroglio always did stand out for me even when i discounted the rest.

edit: At The Drive in fans who go on about how much they hate Relationship of Demand need to be sterilised.

whatever happened to him anyways? is he still producing records?

new label where the first band is going to be the "cool one" from limb bizkits new band. Actually, I remember reading an article about that dude in a guitar world waaaay back, like 99ish, and hes taste was pretty ok for being in a band that bad. He loved the jesus lizard and mr. bungle i remember. Interesting to see what his band will sound like.

i forgot that he produced vanilla ice's "rock" record.

that black light birns or whatever is called it's just super awful!!! badly played wannabe nine inch nails; of all things, it reminded me of the first 30 seconds to mars album (before jared leto discovered the used) and man it's embarrasingly bad. the only thing that's ok with that album is the electronics which were done by telefon tel aviv.

haha, its settled then. ross robinson is a talented producer with the absolute worst musical taste possibly ever among people who get paid to make music.

yes, i haven't really talked about ross robinson.

and i agree with release the bats, fucking awful bands (for the most part ) he works with but most of his production is top notch. take korn's life is peachy, that album's sound is creepy as fuck, it could be a steve stapleton with dj muggs behind the board on that one!

Ok, so i bought thus last week and have not stopped listening to it since, the really stand out tracks to me are 'Star Slight' which is just an amazing way to start an album, Jim and Cedric's vocals are fantastic!
'Schaffino' which is fantastic! i love this part the best - "When she knocked me over, I looked inside the hearse, Sprouting chauvanistic swine, And written were the words, Poking butter with this knife, Allergic to this concubine, Racing by in a '56 chevy, And we couldn't even pretend, To be alive"

'Skips on the record' which without Cedric's vocals doesn't sound ANYTHING like an At The Drive-In song, its great though!
'Paid Vacation Time' which starts with a beautiful guitar part and just gets better, which leads really well into 'Ticklish' and 'Blue Tag'.

I don't know if i love it more than 'Relationship Of Command' but i definitly love it more than In/Casino/Out. I am really loving this band at the moment, which just kills me as Sparta played in my town this time last year and i didn't go. DAMN!


you would never be able to tell,


do you think you can tell?

el paso rockin'

ARC ARSENAL!

greatest opening song on an album ever!!!!!!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=u11NAyqyaWU

(fan vid)

haha, omar is hilarious lookin, uber-junkie.

thats not very nice.

I can slightly, but I think it's mostly just how Jim plays.

Honestly, I don't even put this in the league with the other albums by ATDI. It's just so sonicly different, really. I prefer it to the others in a lot of ways. The rawness of it. Cedric is really just going crazy on it sometimes. One of my favorite parts is the very end of "Comminication Drive-In" where he shouts "Sink. Swim. Drown (?) together."

Edit: Ok, so basically, I just repeated and re-evaluated everything from my first post in this thread. Ah, how time changes things.

He was at the time. (A junkie of course). But, after Jeremy died he pretty much became straight edge. I don't even think he drinks caffeinated things anymore. But, he still is extremely thin. It's kinda sad when you look at it, because before Jeremy's death Omar was just as heavy of a user as him, so much so he'd become a recluse and developed a stutter.


PS. Nice sig pic btw screamingskull

wow thats sad (the recluse, stutter thing) but he's fine now! i saw him and Cedric being interviewed last month and they both looked the healthiest i have ever seen them :)
it's hard to imagine Jim Ward, who is from what i have read and seen of him, pretty clean cut being in a band with Omar & Cedric for such along time.

Yes.. "STAR SLIGHT".

Yeah, pretty much. Jim, Paul, and Tony, from all I've seen and read were pretty much clean, it was Cedric and Omar use that drove the band apart and ultimately brought about De Facto and The Mars Volta. It was really their drug habits that are responsible for the sounds (at least De Facto and early Mars Volta) that they put out. Jim and the others have always had a pretty even keel about things. I mean, Tony taught chemistry during ATDI's breaks.Maybe, not so much now that Paul has jumped ship and joined Cedric and Omar.

Hey, screamingskull, have you ever heard "Hell Paso", "El Gran Orgo", or "Alfaro Vive, Carajo" by ATDI?

if it's any consolation, sparta came here like 3 years ago to play at this nu metal festival and i really wanted to go see them (and to a lesser extent, ministry) but couldn't; afterwards, everyone who went were unanimous saying they pretty much sucked, didn't play well at all, and these people aren't sparta haters. keep in mind they came to a big stadium filled with korn fans.

also remember, jim and paul (or was it tony?) quit before recording in/casino/out because they couldn't stand cedric and omar.

i know that Jim quit ATDI for a year (1997) to go to college or something, but he dropped out of college and rejoined them. Thats why he's not on El Gran Orgo, and from what i have heard of El Gran Orgo it suffers hugely for not having him on it. It just seems weird to be in a band with people with those kind of problems for such a long time, i know that they travelled in different vans when they were touring, because Cedric and Omar flipped their van one time and Jim, Tony & Paul were like 90 miles away at the time.


Nope, and its killing me, i can't get a hold of copies of Hell Paso, El Gran Orgo or Alfaro Vive, Carajo. i have tried all the indie record shops in the city, and was going to try ebay once i get some money. Do you have them????

"position the stitches, like miles of torpedoes, permission was hinted, lungs that hollered in a sleeper hold"

"Alfaro Vive, Carajo" is probably the best of those 3.