Acrobatic Tenement

Acrobatic Tenement is the debut studio album by American post-hardcore band At the Drive-In, released on August 18, 1996, on Flipside.^[5] 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.

Acrobatic Tenement
Studio album by At the Drive-In
Released	August 18, 1996
Recorded	July 1996
Studio	Commercial Soundworks (Hollywood)
Genre	Post-hardcore, emo, punk rock
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	C+[2]
Drowned in Sound	10/10[3]
Pitchfork	6.5/10[4]

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.^[6] The record was recorded at Commercial Soundworks in Hollywood for only $600 (equivalent to $1,203 in 2024) after the band concluded a tour of the United States.^[3] 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.^[7]

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."^[8]

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.^[9]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
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 Diaz"	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