Up and At Them

atomHey, for once a decent press release found its way into my inbox! Usually, I look at the subject line, and most stuff ends up in the trash. But when the subject read “Submission: Atom and His Package tribute album,” I am down like a sonofabitch.

Atom & His Package were one of those artists that popped up on a bunch of comps (when comps were still worth a damn), and I went absolutely batshit for him. Crazy Jewish dude with a synthesizer playing songs about the metric system? Helllllllllll, yes. Then I bought a bunch of his stuff, and wondered why one-man synth covers of Fugazi and Geto Boys songs didn’t make other people flip out. Maybe it was songs about Enya? Maybe the voice? Who knows? All I know is that Atom & His Package is one of those artists that I loved and never got to see play live.

Anyhow, Atom & His Package ended, he did Armalite, and I haven’t really heard anything about him since. I guess he had to retire because of Type 1 diabetes. Hartless Hind Records has put together a tribute record called Up End Atom (nice Simpsons reference), and four bucks from each disc goes to the American Diabetes Association.

The tribute features acts like Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer, MC Lars, hockey-core outfit the Zambonis, and – in what has to be the most perfect cover song / artist pairing ever, mcchris doing “Punk Rock Academy.”

I’m going to be watching the mail until this sucker shows. Seriously, that song alone is worth the purchase.

Steinbeck “Possessions (Not the One By Danzig)
the Emotron – “Me and My Black Metal Friends