Back when I used to DJ at Free Radio San Diego (FRSD, incidentally, is where solipsistic NATION was born) I was introduced to the music of Atom & His Package.
FRSD was staffed mostly by punks and there was some discussion as to whether Atom & His Package was punk rock or not. On the one hand, Atom’s music was mostly played on his sequencer (many will tell you that you don’t play punk rock on a sequencer), his lyrics were mostly pretty silly and sung in an almost cartoony voice. But on the other hand, the sequencer had a “cheap” sound and Atom waved his freak flag in his lyrics that were earnest and heartfelt with a fuck you attitude if you didn’t get it or didn’t like it.
I don’t think any of us took these discussion seriously but my own view was that Atom was most definitely punk. Not the conservative, thoughtless punk that dominates most of the genre and culture today. But the punk of yore, when there weren’t really any rules as to what punk was.
If Atom is punk then what is he doing on solipsistic NATION, an electronic music show?
If you’ve listened to solipsistic NATION in the past then you know I play fast and loose with what the definition of what electronic music is. Like punk, I think electronic music is pretty much open for definition. I guess the only requirement is that it should have some electronic instrumentation and so Atom’s package, his sequencer, fits the bill perfectly.
Atom & His Package is Adam Goren is our guest on today’s solipsistic NATION and his set was originally record live at the University of Maryland.
In 2003 Adam performed his last show as Atom and His Package due to impending fatherhood and being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Adam now teaches chemistry and physics at the Shipley School located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania and plays from time to time with Armalite.
Join us next week when our guest will be Marc Hollander, the co-founder of Crammed Discs!
Photo Credit: ©elawgrrl
- Interview with Adam Goren of Atom & His Package
- Atom & His Package “Intro”
- Atom & His Package “Pumping Iron for Enya”
- Atom & His Package “Hats Off to Halford”
- Atom & His Package “Mountan Goats Cover”
- Atom & His Package “Happy Birthday Ralph”
- Atom & His Package “Goalie”
- Atom & His Package “Undercover Funny”
- Atom & His Package “The Seed Song”
- Atom & His Package “Punk Rock Academy”
- Atom & His Package “Trump”
- Atom & His Package “Back”
- Atom & His Package “Shopping Spree”
- Atom & His Package “(Lord, It’s Hard To Be Happy When You’re Not) Using The Metric System”