Editing Acrobatic Tenement (section)

==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 (fanzine)|Flipside]]'', after some of its editors saw the band perform in Los Angeles.<ref name="AMG">{{cite web|last1=DaRonco|first1=Mike|title=All Music Guide Biography|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/at-the-drive-in-mn0000932154/biography|website=allmusic.com|publisher=All Music Guide|accessdate=2015-10-07}}</ref> The record was recorded at Commercial Soundworks in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]] for only $600 ({{Inflation|index=US|value=600|start_year=1996|fmt=eq|cursign=$}}) after the band concluded a tour of the United States.<ref name="Drowned In Sound"/> The album has been noted for its lack of guitar [[Distortion (music)|distortion]], due to guitarist [[Jim Ward (musician)|Jim Ward]] believing that his distortion-free recorded parts would not be used for the final master.<ref name="vice">{{cite web|last1=Cepeda|first1=Eddie (2017-06-14)|title=At the Drive-In's 'El Gran Orgo' EP Captured a Band Struggling to Survive|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/at-the-drive-in-el-gran-orgo-1997-the-year-emo-broke/|website=noisey.vice.com|date=14 June 2017|publisher=Vice|access-date=2017-10-09}}</ref>

Reflecting upon the aftermath of recording ''Acrobatic Tenement'', frontman [[Cedric Bixler-Zavala|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-López|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|Tony [Hajjar]]] and [[Paul Hinojos|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."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.spin.com/2013/04/cedric-bixler-zavala-at-the-drive-in-reissue-reunion-mars-volta-interview/|title=Cedric Bixler-Zavala Talks At the Drive-In Reissues, His Real Mars Volta Role|date=April 24, 2013|accessdate=November 15, 2019}}</ref>

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]].<ref name="LA Weekly">{{cite web |last1=Diaconescu |first1=Sorina |date=26 June 2003 |title=Secrets Of The Sun |url=http://www.laweekly.com/music/secrets-of-the-sun-2136602 |accessdate=2003-07-26 |website=laweekly.com |publisher=LA Weekly}}</ref>