Title: Relationship Of Command
Artist: At The Drive-In
Year: 2000
Label: Grand Royal Records
Having Relationship Of Command appear on this list interests me for several reasons. First off, At The Drive-In were only a band for the first year of the 2000s, making them essentially one of the last 1990s bands rather than one of the first of the new decade. Second, I used to love this album, end to end. Harkening back a few years, when I was an excitable high schooler learning his way around a bass guitar, the limitless energy and spastic rhythms on Relationship Of Command were irresistible. Time has not been kind to this album, though. Revisiting it for this project, the technical skill of the band is irrefutable, but some of that excitement has aged into semi-formless flailing. But I'm not the one picking these albums. Relationship Of Command has found a place in the new canon of great albums and still has an impressive legacy seen in other modern music.
At The Drive-In were a five-piece band formed in El Paso, around the multi-racial nexus of guitarist Jim Ward and singer/professional spazz Cedric Bixler-Zavala. After getting their primordial musical ooze straightened out over the course of their first releases, the band settled into a post-hardcore punk juggernaut, fueled by unpredictable rhythms, Bixler-Zavala's evocative lyrical style and some certified guitar pyrotechnics from Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. By 2000, this combination had gelled into the explosive songs found on Relationship Of Command, such as the first single, "One Armed Scissor." Incorporating an impressive sense of melodicism and local Mexican music into the usual sturm and drang of hardcore, At The Drive-In distanced themselves from the pack with genuinely catchy tunes like "Pattern Against User."
Their proximity to Mexico also informed their lyrics, especially on the Relationship standout "Invalid Litter Dept.," which dealt with the rape and murder of young factory workers through oblique lyrics like "in the company of wolves was a stretcher made of cobblestone curfews." This strong political angle kept Bixler-Zavala's lyrical shenanigans from spiraling too far out of control, keeping things grounded in some level of relatable themes. Combined with the band's often staggering ability to pull gorgeously crafted songs out of their back pocket, best heard on the churning "Quarantined," it really looked like At The Drive-In were ready to dominate the 2000s right out of the gates.
Relationship Of Command held up its end of the bargain, as critics greeted it with a hail of approval. It snuck into the lower reaches of the Billboard 200. They even got Iggy Pop to do guest vocals on a couple songs (just listen closely to "Rolodex Propaganda"). At The Drive-In seemed to be firing on all cylinders, with their newest album being their crowning achievement to date. However, behind the scenes, the band was rapidly pulling in two very different directions. Bixler-Zavala and Rodriguez-Lopez veered towards a druggier, more experimental side, full of mind-splintering guitar and time signatures, pushing the surreal, artistic side of the band further. Meanwhile, Ward, bassist Paul Hinojos and Tony Hajjar set their sights on a more commercial brand of alt-rock. Finally, in 2001, these differences proved impossible to overcome and At The Drive-In splinted in half, becoming the modern prog noodleheads The Mars Volta and the intermittently interesting Sparta. Both bands have found loyal fan bases and have continued to chase their chosen paths to the most logical conclusions. Yet, neither band has been able to record something that tops the remarkable fusion of Relationship Of Command. This album has become the last word from a band that bowed out right when opportunity seemed to be knocking, pursuing two extreme musical visions instead of trying to conquer the world with both. Maybe such a goal was beyond their reach. Maybe it was all for the best. We'll just never know.
Next up on The New Classics: Up The Bracket, The Libertines
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
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Thank you for reminding me of the origination of Mars Volta and Sparta. Of course! You can hear both influences from the original cast of characters. Musical evolution!
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