Acrobatic Tenement
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox album|
| name = Acrobatic Tenement
| type = Album
| artist = At the Drive-In
| cover = At the Drive-In - Acrobatic Tenement cover.jpg
| alt =
| released = August 18, 1996
| recorded = July 1996
| venue =
| studio = Commercial Soundworks (Hollywood)
| genre = Post-hardcore, emo, punk rock
| length = 32:20
| label = Flipside
| producer = Blaze James, Doug Green
| prev_title = ¡Alfaro Vive, Carajo!
| prev_year = 1995
| next_title = El Gran Orgo
| next_year = 1997
}}
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = AllMusic
| rev1Score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r350159|pure_url=yes}}
| rev2 = Consequence of Sound
| rev3 = Drowned in Sound
| rev4 = Pitchfork
}}
Acrobatic Tenement is the debut studio album by American post-hardcore band At the Drive-In, released on August 18, 1996, on Flipside.{{Cite web |url=http://atthedrive-in.net/sounds.htm |title=At the Drive-in |access-date=2018-10-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000422124127/http://atthedrive-in.net/sounds.htm |archive-date=2000-04-22 |url-status=dead }} 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.
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
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.{{cite web|last1=DaRonco|first1=Mike|title=All Music Guide Biography|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/at-the-drive-in-mn0000932154/biography|website=allmusic.com|publisher=All Music Guide|accessdate=2015-10-07}} The record was recorded at Commercial Soundworks in Hollywood for only $600 ({{Inflation|index=US|value=600|start_year=1996|fmt=eq|cursign=$}}) after the band concluded a tour of the United States. 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.{{cite web|last1=Cepeda|first1=Eddie (2017-06-14)|title=At the Drive-In's 'El Gran Orgo' EP Captured a Band Struggling to Survive|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/at-the-drive-in-el-gran-orgo-1997-the-year-emo-broke/|website=noisey.vice.com|date=14 June 2017|publisher=Vice|access-date=2017-10-09}}
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 Omar [Rodríguez-Lopez]. 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."{{Cite web|url=https://www.spin.com/2013/04/cedric-bixler-zavala-at-the-drive-in-reissue-reunion-mars-volta-interview/|title=Cedric Bixler-Zavala Talks At the Drive-In Reissues, His Real Mars Volta Role|date=April 24, 2013|accessdate=November 15, 2019}}
Much of the album, particularly the track "Ebroglio," 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.{{cite web |last1=Diaconescu |first1=Sorina |date=26 June 2003 |title=Secrets Of The Sun |url=http://www.laweekly.com/music/secrets-of-the-sun-2136602 |accessdate=2003-07-26 |website=laweekly.com |publisher=LA Weekly}}
Track listing
{{Track listing
| title1 = Star Slight
| length1 = 1:18
| title2 = Schaffino
| length2 = 2:49
| title3 = Ebroglio
| length3 = 2:47
| title4 = Initiation
| length4 = 3:26
| title5 = Communication Drive-In
| length5 = 1:44
| title6 = Skips on the Record
| length6 = 3:07
| title7 = Paid Vacation Time
| length7 = 3:33
| title8 = Ticklish
| length8 = 4:35
| title9 = Blue Tag
| length9 = 3:17
| title10 = Coating of Arms
| length10 = 2:46
| title11 = Porfirio Diaz
| length11 = 2:58
| total_length = 32:20
}}
Personnel
- Cedric Bixler-Zavala – lead vocals
- Jim Ward – guitar, backing vocals
- Adam Amparan – guitar
- Omar Rodríguez-López – bass guitar
- Ryan Sawyer – drums
References
{{reflist}}
{{At the Drive-In}}
{{Authority control}}