Way before the deal with Grand Royal, the Iggy Pop guest spot, the split singles with Murder City Devils and Burning Airlines, and even before Omar's bouffant coiffure, the skinny west Texas punk kids in At the Drive-In were bouncing around their basements, making some seriously fun music. This EP is the second record ever released by the band, and while it's dispensable to the casual listener, ATDI fans will want to seek out this release (or the CD/EP reissue on guitarist Jim Ward's Headquarter records), if only for the nostalgia trip. The EP was recorded live to two-track, and it shows, but the rush these boys were experiencing is palpable. In fact, the exuberance with which they pound and scream their way through the four tracks actually benefits from the lackluster production; some music just sounds better through the crackles and pops of vinyl. As such, the single is a remarkable document, a preservation of a halcyon punk rock past that'll set any fan to ruminating on their own idealistic salad days. If one needs further proof of ATDI's sincerity, dig the jumbled liner note underneath the copyright, "but we encourage the copying of this 7" onto cassette and played for others." Now that's the enthusiasm of the D.I.Y. spirit. ~ Jim St. James, All Music Guide
Alfaro Vive, Carajo! is the second EP by At the Drive-In, released in 1995.
"Plastic Memories" is omitted from the vinyl release of the EP, and was later re-recorded and released on the El Gran Orgo EP as "Picket Fence Cartel". The back-up vocals on "Ludvico Drive-In" were done by Laura Beard and Sarah Reiser, who were friends with Bixler-Zavala and were also fellow band members in the short lived group The Fall on Deaf Ears. The two girls died in a car wreck two years later.
