At The Drive-in
In/Casino/Out (1998)

review by: Dustin Pangonis
Date: 6/1/03

Ultimately, it's passion that draws me to music. Conviction. Sincerity. Call it what you will. It's that mysterious "x" factor in music, "that feel" that the best songs just seem to have, and the lesser ones just can't attain. It's not something you're likely to find in a top forty single, unless you're an impressionable and foolish fourteen year-old girl. And I fail to see how some soulless, six and a half-minute hard rock song about sex, demons, or sex with demons is going to do it if you're not a brain-dead teenage guy. But when you can find music with that practically indescribable feeling, it's precious, and you hold onto it.

At The Drive-In's In/Casino/Out is one of those records for me. I still remember my first time hearing this band, the brutal assault of "One-Armed Scissor" off their last album "Relationship of Command". It was in the glory days of Napster, and I clogged my screaming 56k modem downloading half the album before I saw it in a store and immediately bought it. The band's sound grabbed me like only a pair of groups, Nirvana and the Pixies, had managed to do before.

Cedric's wailing vocals are a huge trademark: the band's detractors call it tuneless wailing. For my part, I am won over by the pure passion in his voice. Have you ever heard someone's voice described with a line like "she could sing a page out of the phone book and make your cry"? Cedric's lyrics sometimes read like an abstract technical manual, but he still overpowers me with his emotion. The rest of the band doesn't slouch either and I could spend paragraphs talking about any aspect of the band's sound, but it all comes down to the fact that it's original, powerful and compelling.

To pinpoint highlight songs on this album is difficult, especially when a band like ATDi is more about small, memorable moments in a song: a single lyric, an intense shout, a burst of distortion, and not a catchy chorus or poppy guitar hook. The band barely even relies on conventional song structures, so it's more like the kind of record that gets a weird line stuck in your head all day than one that has you singing along.

Still, even on an album this strong, there are standouts. "Napoleon Solo" begins with a delicate clean guitar pattern, as one guitar comes in each speaker, playing nearly the same notes, and building to what could be a crescendo into distortion before backing off and leading into a perfectly aching vocal melody. When they do crank up the amps a minute later, it's all the more powerful for the wait.

As the song builds, the vocals begin to let loose and pour forth with raw emotion. By the end of the song the words are being screamed, contrasted against a relatively smooth background melody. One of the other band members repeats the short phrase "You know, you know" as Cedric wails "This is forever!/No turning back/Cause this is forever!" before backing off for just a second and letting the final lyric "But you can't get the best of us now" roll off his tongue like an exhausted sigh, an emotionally drained retreat.

See that? Two detailed paragraphs on what isn't even my favorite song on the album. I could go into the sloppy post-punk bliss of "Pickpocket", the closest thing the album has to a ballad in "Hourglass", or how "Transatlantic Foe" is quite possibly the most perfect album closer ever just as easily and passionately. But music like this has to be experienced. No, not everyone will connect with this album like I have, and even those that do may find it takes a lot of listening, like I did. But music this unique has few parallels, and those looking to push their idea of what a great rock record can be will find plenty to love about it. And maybe, just maybe, your love of the record can reach the level of passion the musicians put into making it.

At The Drive-in
El Gran Orgo (EP) (1997)

review by: Dustin Pangonis
Date: 9/2/02

Let me start this review off by making the point I want to make, and then elaborating later: If you are any kind of an At The Drive-In fan and you do not own this fantastic album, go find it. Now. Get offline, throw away your empty can of Diet Coke and go to the nearest record store. It's can be hard to find, but is more than worth the effort. Hell, if you're any kind of a rock n' roll fan you owe it to yourselves to hear some ATDI. You get to work, too.

If you didn't already do what I told you, I guess you probably want to know WHY you should go buy "El Gran Orgo". Fine, I'll tell you.

For those of you who don't know, At The Drive-In were an exciting, fresh new rock band putting out great albums for a few years. They got on a major label and their single "One-Armed Scissor" starting getting airplay. So naturally they went on hiatus for about half a year then broke up.

To describe their sound is difficult. I could refer to them as hardcore, indie, punk, or even the dreaded 'emo'. Lead singer Cedric Bixler just called them a rock 'n roll band, and I tend to agree. 'El Gran Orgo' is just that. A six song EP that gives you seventeen minutes of great music.

This album should appeal to any ATDI fan. Even if you've only heard "Relationship of Command" and stumbled onto this you'd enjoy it. One of the most unique things about "El Gran Orgo" is it's fairly straightforward lyrics, by At The Drive-In's standards, anyway. ("Oh dear. 'Speechless' is almost normal," said a fellow ATDI fan during our discussion of this subject.)

The band's later releases feature very abstract, although still very personal and emotional, lyrics. For comparison, lyrics like "For our amusement/We bring stares to the defendants/Mechanical panaceas/Absolved by history/Phonetic paralysis/Inflicted through morality/The seed that it nurtured/Was a wilted bouquet" from "Rolodex Proganda" demonstrate the band at the peak of their ability to make you run circles in your mind trying to figure out what the hell they're trying to say.

I have this theory about At The Drive-In in which the band made a bizarre pact to make their lyrics more abstract with every release. "Give It A Name" might just be the closest the band came to doing a love song, and hearing it certainly was a surprise for someone who started with "Relationship of Command."

But as I said, the more straightforward nature of EGO is the charm of the album. It starts with the aforementioned "Give It A Name", an upbeat two and a half minute, dare I say pop song that deals, quite simply, with the end of a relationship. The song is delivered with the typical ATDI energy, giving it an almost triumphant feel at times as Cedric sings lines like "So take those diamond bland shaped tears/And maybe I'll see you in twenty years/And I will always wear your ring/You know the one that turned my finger green".

With that, the momentum of the album never lets up, aside from a quiet fifty-second breather in the middle.

The best example of the album's excellence is its closer and best track, "Speechless". The song is one of ATDI's finest moments, combining all their best qualities: an energetic, passionate performance, a dynamic instrumental performance, and some of Cedric's most heartfelt vocals. It deals with the difficult subject of rape, but doesn't belittle the issue. Lyrics like "Hiding bruises he brings you roses/Says "I'm sorry" now it's okay/No hard feelings, no deep meanings/You were once special/But just for a day" evoke the victim's feelings of betrayal and shame.

The song goes to a whole new level when the guitars drop out during the bridge and allow the bass and drums to play under the lines "All those lonely nights/You stayed up and cried/Sick to your stomach with butterflies/He says "come here and hold me close/You never really seem to smile when I touch you", helping bring the song toward it's emotional peak. The repetition of the line "She's reaching for something right" and the final scream that end the song beautifully wrap up the song and the album.

At The Drive-In's break-up was a big loss to rock, with the exposure they were starting to get they could have helped bring more exciting new rock music into the picture. As it stands, they left behind several great albums, and this is one of them. Do yourself a favor and look into this one.