Atom and His Package is a one man band from the suburbs of Philadelphia who has created quite a buzz around here and in surrounding areas as well. Many people are mystified by this lone Jewish man, his guitar, and his synthesizer playing alongside punk and hardcore bands at a variety of seedy venues. In fact, you might call Atom a legend. Atom's "Package" is a QY 700 synthesizer, which he uses to create all the music on his album, save for the electric guitar he plays himself.

"Making Love" is a collection of Atom's material from 7-inches and compilations, and not only is it essential for the vinyl impaired Atom and His Package fans, but a good starting point for anyone who wants to get into the madness of the Package. It contains seventeen tracks of fun, and although Atom and His Package isn't for everyone, I think most fans of creative music will at least derive some pleasure from listening to this album. I know I did.

MUSIC: 3/5 Stars
One thing you can certainly say about Atom and His Package's music, it's original. I would compare it to a punk rock Weird Al Yankovich. Atom's whiny vocals are excellent, and the synthesized background music is very fun and dancy. Atom is also a very good guitar player. The problem is that once in awhile you realize you're just listening to one man, a guitar, and a sequencer and you kind of yearn for a real band or perhaps something more serious. This is the problem most people have with Atom and His Package, but personally I see nothing wrong with the music. I think it's a good break from the normal punk/hardcore routine. In fact, I say Atom and His Package rocks, but a lot of people tend to disagree. Oh well.

LYRICS: 4/5 Stars
Atom's lyrics are hilarious. Some people might describe him as the Weird Al Yankovich of the punk and hardcore scene, and I would say this is a fairly apt description. Lyric wise, Atom manages to be both personal and political, describing such topics in his songs as the importance of the metric system, how glad he is Rob Halford (of Judas Priest) came out of the closet, and his plans to build a giant crane to throw "jerks" into the ocean. On the personal front, he sings about his love for new age singer Enya, the time his male friend kissed him on New Year's Eve, and his battle with SEPTA (that's the Philadelphia Transit Authority) after a pull down gate at a subway station came down on his head. It's all very touching, as well as laugh out loud hilarious. Listening to Atom and His Package's music, you begin to feel like you know Atom, or at least you would want to know this quirky and extremely funny Jewish boy.

AESTHETICS: 5/5 Stars
The liner notes are nicely laid out with lyrics and background information on each song as well as what EP/Compilation it appeared on and how to buy that record. Atom's explanations of each song are almost as funny as the songs themselves. The best part of the liner notes as far as I'm concerned is the center piece done by the strange Philadelphia art group "The Manipulators", who take catalog pages and advertisements and manipulate them to make them crudely hilarious. In my opinion, the liner notes are one of the strongest parts of this release, and you can read them once in awhile just for fun without even listening to the album. Now that's what I call quality liner notes!

ORIGINALITY: 5/5 Stars
Now come on. How many one man + a sequencer bands can you name off the top of your head? Go ahead, try it. Are you finished yet? How many did you come up with? Oh yes, that's right, NONE. Atom and His Package is one of the most original bands ever, but then again, Philadelphia has a tendency to breed strange and original groups (FOD, the Dead Milkmen) so I guess that should be expected. Even if you absolutely detest and despise Atom and His Package you must admit that theya re extremely original. So admit it!

STAND OUT TRACKS:
1. Using the Metric System: Atom's Bad Religion-esque rant agains the English system of measurement is an anthem for anyone smart enough to realize that the USA needs to get with the program and adopt metrics today. Probably the most hardest rocking song on the album.

3. Hats off the Halford: Atom's pat on the back to Rob Halford for coming out of the closet, and his hope that this will start a trend amongst metal heads to stop being homophobic. Atom also mentions that since the chances of being gay are one in ten there's a fourty percent chance one of the guys in Panterra bats for the other team. Very funny.

4. Pumping Iron for Enya: Atom loves Enya, and this is the tale of his attempts to get tough at a gym so that she'll notice him. Features the great line "We can sing it Enya, your synthesizer or mine!"

15. Getaway Car: A rant against the current psuedo-hippies, with their lousy music, dancing bear stickers, continous marijuana usage, and flawed plans for world peace. Man, I hate these guys. And their hacky sacks too! Get off my lawn!

16. What WE do on Christmas: Atom confronts the Neo-Nazi's claims of a "Jewish Conspiracy" by admitting that while the rest of the world is out of the way on Christmas, Jews secretly meet together to make their plans on how to control the world. Hilarious.

I would say that this is a near perfect album, but there are a few flawed parts. A couple of the songs are just too strange to enjoy. They simply make no sense and are just kind of annoying. I'm thinking of "Karpathia", "P.P (doo doo)" and "Son of Poop and George" with it's chorus of "Poop and George, in a hot butt f*cking session!" The rest of the album is great, however. I would say this is essential for Atom fans and any fan of punk and hardcore with a taste for originality and a strong sense of humor.

Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Hanging With Friends