Acrobatic Tenement

Acrobatic Tenement
Studio album by At the Drive-In
Released August 18, 1996
Recorded Late July, 1996
Genre Post-hardcore
Length 32:20
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
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Consequence of Sound
Drowned in Sound 10/10 link

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

Only one of the album's tracks made it to the 2005 compilation album, This Station Is Non-Operational, with "Initiation" appearing as a live BBC recording.

Background and recording

Reflecting upon the aftermath of recording Acrobatic Tenement, vocalist Cedric Bixler stated: "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 Omar. 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 and Paul 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."[2]

Writing and composition

"Ebroglio" was written about Julio Venegas, a close friend of the band, who committed suicide in 1996. Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López, as The Mars Volta, would later record and dedicate the album De-Loused in the Comatorium entirely to Venegas.

Track listing

  1. "Star Slight"  – 1:18
  2. "Schaffino"  – 2:49
  3. "Ebroglio"  – 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 Díaz"  – 2:58

Personnel

References