Apparently, the Lollapalooza promoters (or webpage/poster designers) think At the Drive-In is the sixth-most popular band performing at this year’s festival. I’m sure Brittany’s linked to the full line-up already, but if not, here ye be. This puts them just ahead of some fairly big names, including The Shins, Passion Pit, Sigur Ros, Franz Ferdinand, etc. But I’ll be honest: Hadn’t heard of ’em til now. Apparently, I’m no expert on post-hardcore of the late ’90s - early ’00s. Please accept my sometimes slower, yet often-more-broadly-expressive-and-creative-than-hardcore apology.
These rockers, who formed just after their apparently emotionally oppressive high school years in El Paso (Spanish for ‘The Paso’), Texas, are kind of a big deal in their sub-sub-genre (punk-hardcorepunk-posthardcore, if you’re keeping score). They’ve influenced plenty of bands with creative, rainy-day names that you’ve never heard of, who also express their waves of inner turmoil through the muse of fast-and-loud rock, stage-writhing, and affected-intellectual crowd banter.
Don’t get me wrong: I like these guys. (I also like Rage Against the Machine; they’re kinda similar. If you’re not in that camp, even just a little, there may be no hope for you.) As do Spin and Rock Sound magazines, and the BBC, mate. Their noise is tight, fun to listen to, really pretty un-joyful. And they’ve paid their indie dues – well, collectively; there’s been a carousel of membership but whatever – having basement-bar-bus-toured for the better part of a decade while developing a solid fan base.
And they’ve been gone long enough to marinate a solid fan-yearning buzz. They split up in 2001, but as of January this year they've pulled a Blues Brothers – clearly they’re broke, assisting a religious institution avoid tax trouble, or both – and announced reunification for the purposes of "nostalgia." Whatever. Can y’all still get loud, angry, and innovatively expressive? Your fans will know the difference. Lolla fans will…probably be dehydrated.
On this track from their third and final LP, the slow-burning rhythm (SO post-hardcore) is actually a pretty sweet jam. I love the loping bass lick, blissed-out guitar notes floating all over the place, and Cedric’s (lead singer) crazy bendy-knee thing he has going on. Oh, and his man-siren gives me the tinglies.
Things get a little too slow and proggy for my tastes during the spacey improv session in the song’s midriff, but when the hardened groove comes back around in the last minute: Pay dirt. Got to get me one of those billowing rock afros… or is it Rock-a-fro? Punk puff? Ro-fro? Afro-rock? Wait, apparently, that is a thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment