At The Drive-In

At The Drive-In: VayaVaya (1999)
Fearless Records

Reviewer Rating: 5

User Rating:

Contributed by: thricedoesntequalgodthricedoesntequalgod
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on April 30th 2004Pulsating bass; Slow latin-sounding drums; a quaint echoing guitar; a clapping sound; pause; Cedric Bixler's voice. At the Drive-In is present in the air. Rascuache is a prime example of ATD-I's sound. A verse which goes back and fourth between a slower and intense 2 1/2 seconds. A sped up chorus.

Pulsating bass; Slow latin-sounding drums; a quaint echoing guitar; a clapping sound; pause; Cedric Bixler's voice. At the Drive-In is present in the air.

Rascuache is a prime example of ATD-I's sound. A verse which goes back and fourth between a slower and intense 2 1/2 seconds. A sped up chorus that leaves your heart pounding. Repeat. One of ATDI's strange guitar leads comes in, followed by an echoed voice that gives you a mental image of Cedric himself, viewed through a cracked mirror.

A double-bass beat opens the song. Cue Bass. "T-Minus, 10 seconds and counting, 10 seconds to go". These are the half-muffled words that you will find yourself trying to repeat after spoken. A country-sounding guitar comes in, pushing you slowly to the edge as it builds up. Then rocks in the chorus that falls somewhere in between In/Casino/Out and Relationship of Command on the ATDI scale. If you listen closely, past the production, you can hear a cool guitar riff in the midst of the strumming guitar. Somehow, the production on the guitars works, with its thick, choppy sound.

Ursa Minor is more reminiscent of Mars Volta, and to some degree you can really hear the influences peeking out like sunshine on a cloudy day. A strange strumming jumps back from right to left, playing with your ears, and a static-induced bass leads us home. "So I guess this is goodnight.." is whispered into our ears, but it isn't the end of the night for the song. Dual vocals are prominent throughout the song and a rarely used (by ATDI) palm mute is used during the slower part of the song

Keliotrope decides to speed things up, from the bat. A high-pitched lead guitar is consistent throughout the whole song, proving to be one of the main focuses in the song (the other being vocals). In the final chorus, a cool drum beat or two is shown off and the rythm guitar is noticably turned down, giving the two focuses more power.

For track 5, Metronome Arthritus, we refer back to Ursa Minor's Mars Volta reference. This down-tempo tune starts off with static, among other things, and then jumps to Bixler (version 2003) for a little while. Static rejoins the verse and soon after, a bass/lead guitar duo gets added to the mix, undistorted. The chorus is repeated for one last time, and you can tell that the song has been building up throughout, to reveal even more emotion this time around.

300 MHz starts off with a very space-like feel to it, maybe some of that much talked about Rage Against the Machine bass influence. Towards the middle of the song, you hear heavy breathing and whispering, giving the song a dramatic tone.

198d starts off with a very space-like feel. A slow beeping noise catches your attention by being unique to the album. A soft riff is repeated accompanied by soft vocals. The volume is raised a notch or 6 for the chorus, spitting emotion in your face. After being repeated twice, a small piano/bass/guitar part is played, and what might've also made a nice closing to the album turns into a heartfelt, catchy, minute-long ending.

Seen by many, including myself, as ATDI's best album, I believe this is an example of their most concentrated work. If these seven songs were part of a full album, it would probably be their most widely favored collection of songs. I'll take it as-is.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

thejewvolta (December 9, 2005)

everyday
I wake up
I take my shower
while Im getting dressed
I listen to VAYA
amazing

Anonymous (June 21, 2004)

whoever compared good charlotte to at the drive-in can hurl themself off a bridge.

Anonymous (May 7, 2004)

i love how these guys use double bass on some on there songs these guys ruled and i really have respect these musical influences on me.

hardcorechick

threechordsandthetruth (May 7, 2004)

oh, and this review reads like a sports match report.

threechordsandthetruth (May 7, 2004)

fuck, we lose.

mikeinflames (May 6, 2004)

maroon 5

Anonymous (May 5, 2004)

So to the fruits who think ATDI sucks. Name some awesome bands you listen to.

Anonymous (May 5, 2004)

Yea, cause I bet you can name a band that sounds like them or they imitate. Don't like em? That's fine but don't act like they aren't original.

mikeinflames (May 4, 2004)

i have more respect for the odours coming out of my ass after i eat taco bell than i do for these guys
thier music is nothing special

Anonymous (May 4, 2004)

Oh, and though ATDI blows ass, I just noticed who reviewed this album, and I have come to this conclusion:

BEST

USER

NAME

EVER!!!

Anonymous (May 4, 2004)

Crap.

Anonymous (May 4, 2004)

anybody know how the hell you pronounce rasuache?

threechordsandthetruth (May 4, 2004)

http://the.poster.below.me.has-a-small-penis.com

(i hope i did that right, i'm not about to test the link in the college library).

Anonymous (May 4, 2004)

Why isthis band so popular? this band sounds like good charlotte, they both suck major ass. This band sux!

Anonymous (May 3, 2004)

"A country-sounding guitar comes in"

okay, once again, staccato guitar parts are not ska, and sliding guitar notes (not even worth considering a slide guitar part, which would still not mean its country) is not country.

wyzo

Anonymous (May 3, 2004)

song by song reviews are boring.and what's with all the technical mumbojumbo thrown in there?

in the words of A.W.S.O.M.O. - LAME!

good ep though. the one thing that always makes me laugh about this band is their song names. don't get me wrong i really dig the music, but who in the fuck is gonna feel comfortable yelling out "Play Proxima Centauri!" at one of their shows. not that they have shows anymore, but you get my point.

Anonymous (May 3, 2004)

Awesome EP ...

Anonymous (May 3, 2004)

man i was totally about to write a review of this.

Anonymous (May 2, 2004)

not overrated, really good. you can call any band with fans overrated, but keep those comments aimed at blink182, yellowcard, and goldfinger types man. at least ATDI is listenable, unlike most rock that was big in its time. kid rock, limp bizkit, you get the idea. they cant help if they were popular or not. furthermore, they have really cool hairstyles and no white honkey-asses screwing up their rockfest these days. go VOLTA

mikeinflames (May 2, 2004)

one of the most overrated bands ever

Anonymous (May 2, 2004)

thriceequalsgodplusthehansonbrothersequalsthricetheanalpenetrati on

Anonymous (May 2, 2004)

so overrated

Anonymous (May 2, 2004)

Is 'Catacombs' on every copy of 'Relationship...' or just certain countries?

'Cause the one I have has it on the end. It actually sounds a better closer than 'Non-Zero Possiblity' does.

Anonymous (May 2, 2004)

This score is for ATDI and threechordsandthetruth (for knowing Münster's durango95).

Anonymous (May 1, 2004)

thriceequalspoop

Anonymous (May 1, 2004)

holy shit...when did they finally put out another album!! haha. just wanted to rile a few of you dorks into a frenzy. type type type ......i'm so punk.

ThreeChordsAndTheTruth (May 1, 2004)

..there's a spelling school?

slippy (May 1, 2004)

In response to thricequalsgod, I have all the other atdi cds and I like them all, its just I think the band really understood their own sound by the time relationship of command was released. though I understand why you might say vaya is better, I am personally connected with RoC, I can't help it.

ElVaquero (May 1, 2004)

1. Rascuache
2. Proxima Centauri
3. Ursa Minor
4. Heliotrope
5. Metronome Arthritis
6. 300 Mhz
7. 198d

Go back to spelling school.

Anonymous (May 1, 2004)

el gran orgo is the best atdi ep

Anonymous (May 1, 2004)

"palm mute is used during the slower part of the song"How is this relevent to anything? This review really sucked.

sk8punx4evr (May 1, 2004)

proxima centauri was the first atdi song i EVER heard. 4 years later, i'm still hooked!

Anonymous (May 1, 2004)

I really liked the review...great ep, and probably their best release...except for 300mhz...I really don't like it.

Anonymous (May 1, 2004)

Great EP!
Poor review!

joeg (May 1, 2004)

1. the bold typed "at the drive in is in the air" is supremely gay

2. song by song reviews suck

inagreendase (May 1, 2004)

"the Relationship production (which was done by who? I dont remember.)"

Ross Robinson (Glassjaw, Soulfly, Korn).

ThreeChordsAndTheTruth (May 1, 2004)

"Keliotrope"
you mean Heliotrope.
This was an EP. A fucking good EP.

thriceequalsgod (May 1, 2004)

I think the point I was making is that if this had the production of Relationship, it would prove to be a much better release.

Anonymous (May 1, 2004)

people who say this is overrated need to get kicked in the face while being tied down.

dignin (May 1, 2004)

if its better because of the production its still a better record, emotion does make something better.

thriceequalsgod (April 30, 2004)

"I still say Relationship of Command is the best thing ATDI ever did."

Although Relationship of Command is truely an incredible album, I think that is largely due to its production. If you listened to some of their older stuff a little better, theres some more emotion in some of it.

Someone brought this up in the Relationship... review. theres a b-side called "Catacomb" floating around somewhere. Theres also another version of the same song called "Catacombs". one of the versions has the same production as in/casino/out and the other has relationship.. The difference is so obvious, and although its the same exact song, the Relationship production (which was done by who? I dont remember.) is sooo much fucking better. That man is a genious.

ElVaquero (April 30, 2004)

How can this be their best album if this is an ep.

I love the band and the ep, but the review and the reviewers name just blow.

SilentStorms (April 30, 2004)

Damn good EP. I personally enjoy the harder and less experimental Relationship of Command though...but then again I love Mars Volta, so that point just fell apart. Anyways, in my top 5 EPs of all time, Proxima Centauri and 198D are sick songs, but the majority of the album is amazing ... except for track 6, which is only mediocre (in my opinion)