Acrobatic Tenement

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Acrobatic Tenement
At the Drive-In - Acrobatic Tenement cover.jpg
Studio album by
At the Drive-In
ReleasedAugust 18, 1996
RecordedJuly 1996
StudioCommercial Soundworks (Hollywood)
Genre Post-hardcore, emo, punk rock
Length32:20
Label Flipside
Producer Blaze James, Doug Green
At the Drive-In chronology
¡Alfaro Vive, Carajo!
(1995)		Acrobatic Tenement
(1996)		 El Gran Orgo
(1997)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Consequence of Sound C+ [2]
Drowned in Sound 10/10 [3]
Pitchfork 6.5/10 [4]

Acrobatic Tenement is the debut studio album by American post-hardcore band At the Drive-In, released on August 18, 1996, on Flipside. [5] The album was reissued by Fearless Records in 2004, along with the band's subsequent albums In/Casino/Out and Relationship of Command , and was re-released again in 2013.

Contents

Only one track from Acrobatic Tenement appeared on the band's 2005 retrospective compilation album This Station Is Non-Operational , with "Initiation" appearing as a live BBC recording.

Background and recording

Then bass player Omar Rodríguez-Lopez has noted that the recording of Acrobatic Tenement was the band's first time recording at a twenty-four track studio, that they only had a total of three days in the studio, and the band engaged in alcohol and cannabis use, all of which he argues had a detrimental effect on the album. [6] The album has been noted for its lack of guitar distortion, due to guitarist Jim Ward believing that his distortion-free recorded parts would not be used for the final master. [6] [7] Acrobatic Tenement was recorded at Commercial Soundworks in Hollywood for only $600 (equivalent to $1,203in 2024) after the band concluded a tour of the United States. [3]

Acrobatic Tenement was initially released on August 18, 1996, exclusively on compact disc through the Los Angeles–based independent record label/fanzine Flipside , after some of its editors saw the band perform in Los Angeles. [8]

Reflecting upon the aftermath of recording Acrobatic Tenement, frontman Cedric Bixler recalled in 2013: "Before [the album's release], the band had broken up. We did a U.S. tour and we decided to split up. I always needed Jim to be there, but he'd had a falling out with ]. We'd made a bunch of dumb moves at the time—kicked the drummer [Ryan Sawyer] who was on the record out, and then the other guitar player [Adam Amparan]—but then Tony [Hajjar] and Paul [Hinojos] came and played. Omar switched to guitar at the time, because he played bass on that album, so when we played live, it was a lot different." [9]

Much of the album, particularly the track "Embroglio," was inspired by the life and suicide of Julio Venegas, a friend of the band. Venegas' death later inspired the concept album storyline of De-Loused in the Comatorium , the debut album by Bixler and Rodríguez' subsequent project the Mars Volta. [10]

Track listing

No.TitleLength
1."Star Slight"1:18
2."Schaffino"2:49
3."Embroglio"2:47
4."Initiation"3:26
5."Communication Drive-In"1:44
6."Skips on the Record"3:07
7."Paid Vacation Time"3:33
8."Ticklish"4:35
9."Blue Tag"3:17
10."Coating of Arms"2:46
11."Porfirio Diaz"2:58
Total length:32:20

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/album/r350159
  2. ↑ Bray, Ryan (March 7, 2013). "At The Drive-In – Acrobatic Tenement [Reissue]". consequence.net. Consequence Of Sound. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  3. 1 2 Tarry, Lucy. "Album Review: At The Drive-In Acrobatic Tenement". drownedinsound.com. Drowned In Sound. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 3, 2002.
  4. ↑ Cohen, Ian. "Double Review of Acrobatic Tenement and Relationship Of Command". pitchfork.com. Pitchfork. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  5. ↑ "At the Drive-in". Archived from the original on April 22, 2000. Retrieved October 1, 2018.
  6. 1 2 "At the Drive-In". Buddyhead. 1999. Archived from the original on February 4, 2005. We didn't know what we were doing. We gained a lot of fans because they liked the way it sounded. They liked the tones and clean guitars but it was a complete accident. For example, Jim did his guitar tracks all on clean and he thought he was going to be able to go back because he thought they were scratch tracks essentially and it wasn't. The engineer said "No. We're done with your tracks." I guess Jim was under the impression he was going to go back and do them and then we were like "No, those were your tracks." It was our first time in a studio using all 24 tracks before that it was 2 track live. Our first experience and we only had 3 days to do it. We basically didn't know what we were doing. We went in there, we recorded, we drank beer, we smoke pot; everything we should not have done. We didn't take it 100% serious I guess.
  7. ↑ Cepeda, Eddie (2017-06-14) (June 14, 2017). "At the Drive-In's 'El Gran Orgo' EP Captured a Band Struggling to Survive". noisey.vice.com. Vice. Retrieved October 9, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  8. ↑ DaRonco, Mike. "All Music Guide Biography". allmusic.com. All Music Guide. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Cedric Bixler-Zavala Talks At the Drive-In Reissues, His Real Mars Volta Role". April 24, 2013. Retrieved November 15, 2019.
  10. ↑ Diaconescu, Sorina (June 26, 2003). "Secrets Of The Sun". laweekly.com. LA Weekly. Retrieved July 26, 2003.
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