At The Drive-in

People that can, do. people that can't do, teach. people that can't do that, criticize.

Yet more fuckups and underachievers. I'm feeling Calvinistic today.

-- dave q (scrape100@hotmail.com), August 15, 2001.

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There Ethan another 'proper' answer so you don't feel so alone.

Sounded like an interesting approach, give a band that already plays hard and give them a producer who makes Limp Bizkett sound hard. I guess being in the middle of nowhere at the time, I missed the promotional push and found these guys on my own sweet little time which helps alot. Though I still think one of the lines should be "Drinking with Jello" and not what it actually is.

I just find it hard to really get a handle on _Relationship..._. It's trying to be eclectic (using piano, changing speeds, throwing the split-finger for strikes), but that damn voice just runs into every song and starts spewing the clumsiest stream-of-consciousness poetic nonsense. That one song where he REPEATS that stanza about "...and the guillotine laughs again..." is quite grating. Iggy Pop's voice is the best thing on that record - he's charismatic and cheeky, while the ATDI guy screams like there's a beartrap on his bozack.

Plus, Grand Royal released the wrong song as the first single. It's the song BEFORE "One-Armed Scissor".

What really annoys me is that I WANT to like these guys, and I give _Relationship..._ second and third and fourth chances to impress me, and I get stonewalled every time.

North of America look like Pavement, sing like Pavement, write songs like Pavement but have at elast moved away from sounding like Pavement. Well only one of them is a physical carbon copy for SM. Formed from The Motes and The State Champs in Nova Scotia their first ep (Elements of an Incomplete Map) on Matlock records was mindfucking brilliant at points. First full length on Matlock (These Songs Are Cursed (assumed its about the fun time they had recording/producing)) was more punkier but had too many instrumentals.

Havent heard much from them in recent years since they went south, other then Walking In Great Coats on the 4 Dots compilation of Halifax/Moncton/Olympia/Bellingham bands. If you have the time and patience try finding the split 7" from The Motes/State Champs on Ant Records I think.

One of the members interned at CMJ for a bit, they write great tour diaries (if a bit windy) and can kickass at foozball when the need arises. They also have a rumoured addiction to FIFA 99.

Napster/Morpheus inclined souls search songs: Cities and Plans, Killed In The Ratings, Eliel Saarinen, Route of Sorts & What a Melee.

ps. As I tried finding out how to spell "Eliel Saarinen" on cdnow I came across the great lost classic lp "Sounds Of North American Frogs".

My problems with ATDI are 1) they take themselves too seriously, and 2) whenever they do come up with a good song, they ruin it halfway through by switching gears and playing something entirely different. I suppose this is to prove that they are true artists (again, the pretension factor). It kills any momentum the song may have had and is completely uncalled for.

I think they're mostly notable as a band who can strike that sunny/sloppy pop tone and then segue effortlessly to kick-kick-scream- scream-scratch-scratch.

Questions, though: "ATDI can actually play their instruments." This doesn't exactly seem like justification for handing out a Nobel Prize, now, does it? And I've never thought of them as displaying a much greater instrumental capability than Pavement, much less any particularly amazing degree of skill. So what exactly do you mean?

Also: "As for their time changes, i guess not every band is content with 4/4." That's a straw man; no one's complained about them not playing in 4/4. The complaint was that they wind up sabotaging perfectly good moments with their obsessive need to display their ability to shift gears. And I'm inclined to agree with the above poster that this is a result of trying too hard to establish their artistry; very few of those shifts actually make structural sense within the songs themselves.

Bill

Dude, is this addressed to me? I don't recall saying ATDI was your favorite band. I don't recall saying anything much about Pavement, either, other than (a) I don't think North of America sound much like them, and (b) I don't see ATDI as being any more skilled as instrumentalists than they are.

Ditto on Drive Like Jehu, who are postively MONSTROUS, especially live. I'm more of a "Yank Crime" (second album) man myself, but unfortunately I think it's outta print. (The perils of major labels...) Jehu were, along with MBV and the Swans, the LOUDEST band I've ever heard.

All this leaving aside the fact that virtuousity seems like a non- issue here: otherwise we'd be talking about Maria Callas or Joe Satriani.

The new record is still holding up well - still love it.

where's jim?

^ On ILX with amnesia, it seems!

man I asked Cedric on Twitter why they were touring with the pro trump dude from DFA 1979 and his answers were so weird to me considering him and Omar have been like suck Mexican American activists for years smh

https://i.imgur.com/jcyhA45.png

I can see where he's coming from, didn't this stuff about DFA dude come to light p recently? Cancelling a tour or removing a support act & finding a new one is pretty hard & I imagine the contracts they have don't allow ideological differences as legitimate reasons for reneging. And, as gross & weird as the PB are, it's a step below working with abusers/predators/etc., which I'm sure they've done too, knowingly or not.

eh the "its just a paycheck" is such a bullshit reason though from someone that has been an outspoken pro-Mexican activist for years. he's an idiot.

and no the DFA dude has been appearing on the Gavin McInnes show for years. people just don't give a shit about them enough to care. another reason why the "paycheck" reason sucks.

WHERE'S JIM!?!

imo Cedric & Omar have been wildly inconsistent w/r/t their relationship with their fans & their activism/ideology/how much they actually give a shit... they've pulled the most cliched rock star shit before in the past... specifically thinking of the time Cedric made The Mars Volta cancel a show at the last minute because he got into a fight with Thomas Pridgen...

xp I didn't know DFA dude had been on there for years. I mean yeah, "it's just a paycheck" is another example of him negating the righteous DIY / humanist attitude of ATDI and the first several TMV records. over the years I've learned they're not that principled when it comes to getting paid.

yah i guess they really are sucky idiots

that is disappointing

the other day reading his feed on Weinstein etc I thought his writing style was similar to urs ch4ki lol

(you totally owned him there though, sheesh)

Chaki ask him if he slings crack out of the van, and if not, why not, it's good money

my general reaction to this is to shrug it off tbh. at the end of the day they're still touring america playing stuff like "Invalid Litter Dept"

ha slightly off topic but I was thinking about how Cedric used to introduce "Hulahoop Wounds" in the 90s... he'd rattle off a list of people that inspired them, like "THIS IS ABOUT THE PEOPLE THAT HAVE INSPIRED US TO DO WHAT WE DO... PEOPLE LIKE CLIFF BURTON, SYD BARRET, OTIS REDDING, LENNY BRUCE, KATHLEEN HANNA, ANDY KAUFMAN..." i was just laughing imagining him listing like 50 people and running over their set time lol

ANDERSON COOPER, ROBBIE ROBERTSON, BIG BIRD, SYLVESTER STALLONE

CHARLES NELSON REILLY AND SQUEAKY FROMME. GOOD NIGHT BIRMINGHAM!

any music journos reading this - it would be cool if you asked them about this during this next tour press cycle

great set from 98/99

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNfPW-hLo4A

they're putting out an ep soon

Precision, watch the scalpel make roads
Hear them talk in paranoid parables
Widows, six legged lost and found

nice xp. haven't revisited the new LP much but glad they're making more new music

inseminating motives of lukewarm persistence
let the thieves in through the front door
let them take what they've been missing

i love you cedric

Song Cycle!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV0ldjAKiLo

Holy shit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma02w2oAnZs

new ep is really good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4ZPTIY1OHs

I was expecting castoffs from the album sessions but these are actually great?

yeah, they're great. better than anything on the album

i don't agree with that entirely but these songs really push their sound forward

"tilting at the univendor" is still the best nu-atdi track

this makes me want to revisit the record, if nothing else this EP is very encouraging in that it shows them moving forward as you said, in that sense it reminds me of Vaya, which can only be a good thing

newly uploaded show from 1999, check this setlist:

Alpha Centauri
Chanbara
Heliotrope
Lopsided
Initiation
Pickpocket
Porfirio Diaz
Ursa Minor
Hulahoop Wounds
Napoleon Solo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ9nO2cF95g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGRAxNuTF1o

hell yeah

One of Jarvis Cocker's choices from the Later archives the other week (tho I still think One Armed Scissor is the more exciting clip)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mojvh0burw8

pretty much the peak of sounding like absolute ass yet being the most captivating live rock band in history

relationship of command is outstanding!!

not entirely confident omar was in tune for that one

assuming some overlap from the emo thread but a lot of us dig Youth Novel on here. just found this cover recently
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEgp96cysjg

One of my all time favorite concerts was seeing these guys open for The Get Up Kids in the student union at University of Illinois in 1999. I was there to see GUK (in my defense it was the '90s still) and I hadn't heard a note from these guys, but they absolutely killed despite playing for probably 75 people in an awkward interior courtyard space.

jim ward released a new solo album today btw. haven’t heard it

and while I'm here. Relationship of Command is one of the greatest albums ever made by anybody and it changed my life for the better but these days In/Casino/Out seems to be the only album I want to listen to by them. that and some of the Relationship b-sides that weren't on my cd version

if in/casino/out had slightly better production it would be their best in my mind no question. i say this knowing ppl hate the production of relationship of command, i personally love that it hurts my freakin ears

jim ward released a new solo album today btw. haven’t heard it

― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, June 11, 2021 7:53 AM (twenty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

"blink twice" is pretty good... he should make a sparta album in this exact mode

i'm relistening to wiretap scars... forgot this excellent-sounding (if a little hotly mastered) record was recorded by jerry finn. makes deloused sound even more like a mountain of ass