This Station Is Non-Operational is something of a greatest hits collection comprised of material culled from ATDI's El Gran Orgo, In/Casino/Out, Vaya, and Relationship Of Command releases, plus various splits, singles and random articles that fell out of Cedric's afro while doing microphone tossing gainers onstage. It's even on Fearless Records, ATDI's o.g. label from way back when. I'm glad they decided to leave out the nine year old album, Acrobat Tenement (besides a cleaned up version of "Initiation"), that album is quite raw dog and sloppy. This Station flows in chronological order, beginning with a few from El Gran Orgo ascending into more modern Relationship Of Command songs, some of which are included on the "nifty" DVD that accompanies the CD.

I'm going to purposely sidestep any mention of the bands (The Mars Volta and Sparta) that formed in the wake of the ATDI's dissolution, because they really have nothing to do with one of the greatest underground bands of the last twenty years. Sure, at times ATDI may seem uneven, hectic and confrontational, but that is what scares all the pussies away. This band was phenomenally different, intelligent and a thousand miles away from "the box."

I first heard of ATDI back in 1999 when Vaya first came out. Those were the good ole days. Most people I hung around hated on ATDI because they couldn't understand the lyrics.A few friends and myself, however, fully understood, over-analyzed, and worshiped everything about them. As obsessed as I was with the band I tried and failed to see ATDI live - once was the result of a Warped Tour cancellation in Vegas and the other a blizzard in Salt Lake. For the longest time I thought that "Adhesive she said . . . don't stick to me" would be the best tattoo ever. I still want to get the satellites from the In/Casino/Out cover, but keep putting it off. I also had the creepy intro to "Enfilade" as my voicemail greeting for about a year.

Let's talk about energy for a second. I would have sworn that in the hay-day of the band, that the boys had extension chords plugged directly into their asses from the closest available power lines. Honestly bro, these crazy El Pasonians could've driven the Delorean back from the future without the 1.21 Gigi bullshit. To be honest I consider myself a hardcore fan of ATDI, but I've never heard the songs from the Sunshine, Aasee Lake, and Murder City Devils splits (this song is a wacky ass Latch Brothers remix of Vaya's "Rascuache" and is super trippy bro) which are about as hard to find as the cure for AIDS. Happily they're here in this collection for us to rock ass to.

Holy cow bro, this fucking thing includes a seven year old unreleased cover of The Smiths' "This Night Has Opened My Eyes," wow(!), and a cover of "Take Up Thy Stethoscope and Walk" from those one guys called Pink Floyd. FUCK-ME-RUNNING, I'm packing a fat bowl after this and am going to trip the fuck out on this album - DAMN!

I was so stoked that they put "Metronome Arthritis" from Vaya (their best album in my opinion) on there. The song about a arsonist on the run was one of my first memories of ATDI. My friend Dan and I would sit and listen to the song over and over for hours, deciphering every clandestine and ambiguous meaning of the song.

ATDI was one of those pivotal bands in my life. Along with The Smiths, Van Halen, and Fugazi, they changed how I perceive music and most other shit. As much as all this sentimental horseshit makes you want to shed a tear, I need to shut the fuck up. I could yammer on all day about At The Drive-In, but if you're reading this and have yet to bask in the genius of this most badass of all indie bands, you need to go purchase this album right now. It's pure creativity, energy, and timeless brilliance all rolled into one, and damn son the music speaks for itself.