Atom and His Package

If there were a Grammy for best song title, Adam Goren would win every year. Goren, a one-man band who plays professionally as Atom and His Package, has already bestowed upon the world such classics as “If You Own the Washington Redskins, You’re a Cock” and “Sting Cannot Possibly Be the Same Guy Who Was in the Police.” His latest effort is no slouch in the nom de tune department, either: “Possession (Not the One By Danzig)” and “I Am Downright Amazed at What I Can Destroy With Just a Hammer” are merely the beginning of his thirteen-track dynamo. Using a couple of funky sequencers and one very loud guitar, Atom hyperventilates through genres like an ADD patient smoking crack after downing a triple espresso. It’s a winning lack of formula: By continually shifting gears from hop-along punk to sing-along geekpop to frantic hip-hop, Attention never gets stale for a second. Atom’s nasal-tone phrasing also sounds like part of the joke, but he’s clearly looking to provoke listeners as well, infusing his absurdist oddities with more points than a pin factory. “The Palestinians Are Not the Same Thing As the Rebel Alliance, Jackass” takes aim at political poseurs via biting tongue and full-blown punk backdrop, and “Friend, Please Stop Smoking” pokes fun at nicotine addicts over a drumbeat that’s applying for a license to ill. One of the few one-man bands that can claim any degree of success, the former neuroscience major from Philly still plays more than 200 plus shows per year to pay the bills. Attention might just earn him a vacation.