The Ataris – October In This Railroad Earth

The Ataris have now been with us for two decades, and to celebrate this landmark they have released the oddly titled October In This Railroad Earth EP as a pay what you want download from their bandcamp. The EP was recorded and mixed at Flying Blanket Studios in Mesa, Arizona in the space of four days, it is a collection of songs that for one reason or another never got recorded and The Ataris have decided that this needed to be rectified.

The frantic approach and urgency in the studio has really come across on this EP and this a return to the former glories of The Ataris early recordings, this is not surprising as most the tracks on October In This Railroad Earth were written in the early 90s and pre date their first album, a few songs are even from before they actually existed, I guess you could call these tracks the glint in the eye that eventually became The Ataris. If I had to pick a favourite from this impressive collection of relics from the dawn of The Ataris I would say They Live, We Sleep is the highlight, it has a brutal bass line and and demonstrates a bit more fury than you’d normally associate with this band.

This is trip back in time for The Ataris without going down the route of re-recording well known songs, which only usually produces pale imitations of the original versions, and they have recorded six songs which provides an insight into the their origins. This is very strong EP, and when you consider it’s available for pay what you want I wouldn’t hesitate to call it an essential release that everyone who likes a a bit of melodic punk rock should own. Happy Birthday to The Ataris and thanks for the present.

The Ataris are on tour throughout August and September, the tour dates and the October In This Railroad Earth download can be found here