''This Station Is Non-Operational'' is a
compilation album
A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...
by
El Paso, Texas
El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...
-based
post-hardcore
Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. Like the term " post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad conste ...
band
At the Drive-In
At the Drive-In was an American post-hardcore band from El Paso, Texas, formed in 1994. The band's most recent line-up consisted of Cedric Bixler-Zavala (vocals), Omar RodrÃguez-López (guitar, vocals), Paul Hinojos (bass), Tony Hajjar (drums ...
, released May 24, 2005 by
Fearless Records
Fearless Records is an American independent record label that was founded in 1994. Fearless is based in Culver City, California, and is best known for its early pop punk moments captured in the ''Fearless Flush Sampler'' and ''Punk Bites'' releas ...
, four years after the band went on indefinite hiatus. Its tracks span the band's career from 1997 to 2000, with selections from ''
El Gran Orgo'' (1997), ''
In/Casino/Out
''In/Casino/Out'' (stylized as ''in/CASINO/OUT'') is the second studio album by American post-hardcore band At the Drive-In, released on August 18, 1998, through Fearless Records. Produced by Alex Newport, it is the band's first full studio albu ...
'' (1998), ''
Vaya'' (1999), and ''
Relationship of Command
''Relationship of Command'' is the third studio album by American post-hardcore band At the Drive-In, released on September 12, 2000. The album combines an aggressive edge with a melodic drive, harmonious, emotive vocals, and surreal lyrics. Whil ...
'' (2000), as well as several rare tracks taken from
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
Songs
* "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004
* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
* "Single" (William Wei song), 2016
* "Single", by ...
s and a previously unreleased
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
of
The Smiths
The Smiths were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Manchester in 1982, composed of Morrissey (vocals), Johnny Marr (guitar), Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (musician), Mike Joyce (drums). Morrissey and Marr formed the band's songwrit ...
' "This Night Has Opened My Eyes". The album also includes a
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
with the
music video
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...
s for "Metronome Arthritis", "
One Armed Scissor
"One Armed Scissor" is the debut single by American post-hardcore band At the Drive-In, released in 2000 from their album ''Relationship of Command''. It was the first At the Drive-In song to be played regularly on a number of radio stations, and ...
", and "
Invalid Litter Dept.
"Invalid Litter Dept." is a song by American rock band At the Drive-In, released in 2001 as the third single from the album ''Relationship of Command''. The CD release in March 2001 came in a variety of international formats, including the standar ...
", an
electronic press kit
A press kit, often referred to as a media kit in business environments, is a pre-packaged set of promotional materials that provide information about a person, company, organization or cause and which is distributed to members of the media for p ...
, a
discography
Discography is the study and cataloging of published sound recordings, often by specified artists or within identified music genres. The exact information included varies depending on the type and scope of the discography, but a discography entry ...
, and
multimedia
Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms, such as Text (literary theory), writing, Sound, audio, images, animations, or video, into a single presentation. T ...
content. It became the band's highest-charting release in the United States. Its title comes from a lyric in the song "One Armed Scissor".
Background
The compilation does not contain any material from the band's releases prior to 1997, omitting the
EPs ''
Hell Paso
In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and Isl ...
'' (1994) and ''
¡Alfaro Vive, Carajo!
¡Alfaro Vive, Carajo! (AVC) (''Alfaro Lives, Dammit!''), another name for the Fuerzas Armadas Populares Eloy Alfaro (''Eloy Alfaro Popular Armed Forces''), was a clandestine left-wing group in Ecuador, founded in 1982 and named after popular ...
'' (1995) as well as their 1996 debut album ''
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. The album was reissued by Fearless Records in 2004, along with the band's subsequent albums '' In/Casino/ ...
''. Guitarist
Jim Ward addressed these omissions in a 2006 interview:
I was just adamant about certain things staying off it. There was just some stuff I wanted to stay special, like those early seven-inches. If you have them, then you have them because you were in a certain place at a certain time. I wanted to keep it special for those people if it makes sense. It's not that they’re embarrassing to me, it's because I wanted them to remain intimate with those people who were there when we slept on their floors. We were putting out 500 seven-inches even though people sell them on eBay
eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...
for more than I had to put them out with. I still prefer it that way. I like that culture; I’m part of that culture. I didn’t want everything homogenized into one album. I'm not a big anof "greatest hits" or whatever, but I understand that's part of what labels do. I wasn't really a big part of it to be honest with you.
Reception
''This Station Is Non-Operational'' became At the Drive-In's highest-charting release in the United States, reaching #95 on the
''Billboard'' 200 and #3 on the Top Independent Albums chart.
Critical reaction to the compilation was very positive. Johnny Loftus of
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
stated that it "really makes you miss the focused intensity of the band's salad days", and that because of the stylistic improvisations of the band members' post-At the Drive-In projects
The Mars Volta
The Mars Volta is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 2001. The band's only constant members are Omar RodrÃguez-López (guitar, producer, direction) and Cedric Bixler-Zavala (vocals, lyrics), whose partnership forms the core of the ban ...
and
Sparta
Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...
"it's easy to forget about At the Drive-In's capacity for convention. Their spectacular live show was a big part of their success. But as ''This Station Is Non-Operational'' continually points out, At the Drive-In wrote incredible songs, too."
Mike Diver of
Drowned in Sound gave the album a perfect score of 10 out of 10, remarking that it "must be listened to with an absolutely open mind. Yes, those earliest efforts from ''El Gran Orgo'' are scratchy, gutterside punk at best and, well, utterly underwhelming in absolute fairness. But that's not what ATD-I will be remembered for - it's the tracks from ''In/Casino/Out'' and the straw that ultimately broke their collective back, ''Relationship of Command'', that today's fashioncore 'punks' have plumbed almost endlessly for inspiration. And you know what? They still sound amazingly fresh and vital."
He noted that the rare tracks make the release attractive to existing fans, but "To the newcomer, though, this record just about transcends essential; really, if you like contemporary
punk rock
Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
, even the
MTV
MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
-sanitised version, then you've no excuse whatsoever for not owning this."
Jason Crock of
Pitchfork Media
''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music magazine founded in 1996 by Ryan Schreiber in Minneapolis. It originally covered Alternative rock, alternative and independent music, and expanded to cover genres includin ...
noted that the release "aims to be a retrospective in the true sense of the word", ignoring some of the band's strongest songs and singles such as "Invalid Litter Dept." in favor of offering "a snapshot of the band's artistic growth, from class-act
emo
Emo () is a genre of rock music characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and from the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands ...
to muscular modern rock."
He criticized the
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...
tracks as "unrewarding" and "mildly compelling curios", but accepted them as "simply footnotes to the story told by the first 11 tracks"
Remarking on the press' interpretation of the band members' post-At the Drive-In projects Sparta as "accessible" and The Mars Volta as "difficult", he noted that "the push/pull between the two extremes within the songs on ''This Station Is Non-Operational'' is seamless."
Christian Hoard of ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' was more critical of the compilation, stating that "Where ATDI's later albums were art-punk cherry bombs packed with cascading shouts and tricky rhythms, most of these singles, rarities, B sides and live cuts sound unfocused -- long on arty twists and youthful bloodletting but short on explosiveness."
Track listing
Personnel
Band
*
Cedric Bixler – lead
vocals
Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...
*
Jim Ward –
guitar
The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
,
keyboard
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Mus ...
s, backing vocals
*
Omar RodrÃguez – guitar, backing vocals
*
Paul Hinojos
Pablo J. Hinojos-Gonzalez (born July 17, 1975), also known as Paul Hinojos, is an American musician best known as the bass guitarist for At the Drive-In, and former touring member of The Mars Volta. He is also a former guitarist of Sparta.
Biogr ...
–
bass guitar
The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...
*
Tony Hajjar
Tony Hajjar (born August 17, 1974) is a Lebanese-born American drummer, best known for playing in At the Drive-In and Sparta. As of 2016, he is playing in the reformed At The Drive-In, as well as the new group, Gone Is Gone. Tony also produced ...
–
drums
The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...
,
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...
Additional musicians
* Ben Rodriguez – guitar on "Fahrenheit" and "Picket Fence Cartel"
* Marcelo Rodche – percussion on "Chanbara"
*
Iggy Pop
James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter, actor and radio broadcaster. He was the vocalist and lyricist of proto-punk band the Stooges, who were formed in 1 ...
– intro vocals on "Enfilade"
Production
* Mike Major –
recording
A record, recording or records may refer to:
An item or collection of data Computing
* Record (computer science), a data structure
** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity
** Boot sector or boot record, re ...
and
mixing engineer
A mixing engineer (or simply mix engineer) is responsible for combining ("mixing") different sonic elements of an auditory piece into a complete rendition (also known as "final mix" or "mixdown"), whether in music, film, or any other content of a ...
of tracks 1, 2, 7, 8, and 15,
producer and engineer of track 14, mixing engineer of track 16
* Alex Newport – recording and mixing engineer of tracks 3–6 and 13
*
Ross Robinson
Ross Robinson (born February 13, 1967) is an American record producer who discovered acts such as Korn, Glassjaw, The Blood Brothers, Slipknot, and Limp Bizkit. Robinson has also worked with Tech N9ne, The Cure, Sepultura, and many others.
...
– producer of tracks 9–12
* Andy Wallace – mixing engineer of tracks 9–12
* Chuck Johnson – engineer of tracks 9–12
* Kevin Bosley and Zak Girdis – assistant engineers of tracks 9–12
* Justin Leah and Bobby Torres – engineers of track 16
*
Steve Lamacq
Stephen Paul Lamacq (born 16 October 1964), sometimes known by his nickname Lammo (given to him by John Peel), is an English disc jockey, currently working with BBC Radio 6 Music.
Lamacq was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire ( ...
– recording engineer of tracks 17 and 18
* Simon Askew – producer of tracks 17 and 18
* Paul Noble – assistant producer of tracks 17 and 18
* Brad Vance –
mastering
Artwork
* Jason Farrell – design
* Paul Drake, Daniëlle van Ark, Pat Graham, Alberto Polo, Jeff Gros, Justin Borucki, and Paul Delia – photography
Charts
References
{{Authority control
At the Drive-In albums
2005 compilation albums
Fearless Records compilation albums
Post-hardcore compilation albums
Albums produced by Ross Robinson