*** Atom and His Package

MAKING LOVE

(No Idea)

Whether it was wisdom or folly that inspired singer/guitarist Atom, a Pennsylvania-based geek punk whose package is actually a cheesy programmable Yamaha synth, to cover a tune by those almost forgotten kings of Pennsylvania geek-punk the Dead Milkmen is hard to say. But since anyone who does remember the Milkmen is more than likely going to hear a little "Bitchin' Camaro" in Atom's amusing oeuvre, the cover at least gives him an opportunity to put forth the radical notion that "the Dead Milkmen wrote some damn good songs," thereby hinting that he himself may indeed be the author of some damn good songs.

And indeed he is. Making Love -- a 17-track rarities collection of singles, EPs, and compilation tracks from an artist whose two proper albums are only marginally less difficult to find -- opens with a belligerent, thrashy, guitar-driven ode to the metric system/rant against the ESM ("The revolution's here/We must overcome at last/As we symbolically stick their fucking `foot' up their fucking ass"). It goes on to salute in song Judas Priest screamer Rob Halford for coming out of the closet, Mad Libs, and the Jewish Christmas Eve tradition of going out for Chinese food. And just when you sense that the rather limited sonic spectrum of the Package is beginning to hold Atom back, Making Love switches gears to a full-band format (Atom and his Rockage) for four tunes, including a lovely boy/girl duet -- "Head (She's Just a . . . )" -- that really brings to mind the Dead Milkmen.

-- Matt Ashare