'Up End Atom: A Tribute To Atom and His Package'

If you were familiar with Atom and His Package in the late ‘90s, odds are you were a fan. His quirky music and humble charisma made listeners immediately amicable toward his catchy, albeit goofy, songs performed as a one-man band armed with a synthesizer who was well-known for putting on a great show.

In 2003, Atom called it quits, in part due to a diagnosis of type one diabetes. Geeky punk rockers all over mourned the loss of a figurehead, but aside from the occasional random appearance, the Package is no more.

Now, years later, here’s Up End Atom, a tribute album compiling some seriously geeky bands who obviously cite him as an influence, and also unlikely fans who wouldn’t immediately seem to be influenced by the Package, but serve to show how far his reach into the punk scene was and is.

The album has a ton of separately distinctive tunes. These include hip hop versions of his songs from nerdcore rapper MC Lars, who along with Worm Quartet, lays down a version of “(Lord It's Hard To Be Happy, When You Aren't Using) The Metric System,” and mcchris (better known as MC Pee Pants for you ATHF fans out there), who makes a rap version of “Punk Rock Academy” not seem out of place at all.

And while hip hop (especially nerdy hip hop) may not be a surprising form for an Atom cover, lo-fi punk rock is a bit more so. But it still shows up when Steinbeck does “Possessions (Not The One By Danzig)” and Yidcore, in what was the most unlikely yet perfect cover, cranks out a buzzsaw version “Avenger,” with some incredibly gratuitous overblown guitar riffage.

In a faux pas for the world of tribute albums, Atom even makes an appearance, supplying vocals on the Zambonis cover of “Goalie,” although to be fair, he intros the song by saying “ OK, so I’m on a tribute record for myself, it’s not that I think I’m a big deal, I’m just friends with the Zambonis and I like them. I don’t think I’m the bee’s knees or anything.” Even without that disclaimer, I’d have forgiven it – it’s the sort of goofy move Atom would make, and he was a welcome appearance anyway.

But this album proves that covers of Atom’s tunes work best when they are perfomed with maximum cuteness. There are a pair of perfectly cute, poppy contributions to the mix, in the form of the German group Locas in Love’s take on “I Am Downright Amazed At What I Can Destroy With Just A Hammer” and Zolof The Rock & Roll Destroyer doing “Happy Birthday Ralph.” Both are shining moments for the record, with Zolof edging out the other due to the fact that it also rocks its cuteness. It’s not even a musical move that works just for the girls either, as Golden Bloom’s sweetly crafted alternapop version of “Lying To You” works as well.

As a complete “Package,” not every cover works. The Emotron’s version of “Me And My Black Metal Friends,” despite (or perhaps because of) having a drum machine attempting to death metal beats and keyboards that could have been the soundtrack to an Intellivision game, comes across as merely stupid, especially when the vocals kick in with their odd attempt at either being dark, funny or both. And when Math The Band performs “Upside Down From Here,” one of my favorite Atom songs, the result is a song that sounds too much like the original, except the vocals have been substituted by a tone-deaf miniature donkey. A really geeky tone-deaf miniature donkey.

A portion of the proceeds from Up End Atom will go to the American Diabetes Association, to fight the disease that prompted Atom’s retirement, and while that’s a pretty good reason to pick up a record, you probably won’t really get into this one unless you’re already a pretty big fan of Atom and his Package. Hearing this album without first having a solid familiarity with him would be like hearing an inside joke. You should probably seek out and know Atom’s music before you start getting into a tribute to him.

July 14, 2009