The Last Old Mod***MDP74 v. 3.0

Many years ago, Klobása, the bass player we played with in The Radios, discovered a strange nerd guy calling himself Atom, his band The Package and wearing Czech hockey player representation dress. A couple of months after that, when we already became fans of this Atom & His Package phenomena, he and his package (Line 6 POD, guitar and CD player) travelled Europe and came to 007 club in Prague. His DIY approach to pop-punk (?) was breathtaking and I remember all the people in the crowd changing their mood status from “confused” to “excited” during couple of first songs. These song are easier to reach at his myspace as his home page listed above is more than an paragon of DIY. We loved his sounds and lyrics. Then the years were running by and I forget about Atom. As a memorabilia there is a CD “Redefining Music” in my CD shelf, somewhere should be a signed poster and Luk Santiago still wears Atom’s T. I am writing all this because he came back to my mind today by thinking about Astronautalis and I believe Atom deserves a honorable mention, even their connection looses outside of my head and the walls of 007 club…

But today, in the same 007 club, Astronautalis is playing another CZ show in couple of months. And I don’t go. Because I’ve got another things to do and after last night DJing at Zero till 6AM I don’t have to do any excuses to anybody. But, to the point: I’ve been introduced to his music during one heavy night, couple of months ago, when I found a shelter in Mejla’s place. We played this “And do you know this?” game and one of the latest Mejla’s secret weapons was this video:

Wiki, probably edited by the artist, says it’s hip hop. I think, yes, if Beck is hip hop. Nothing against this broad style, but I believe it’s a part of a must-strategy how to get some press attention in U.S. Anyway, his music has something we don’t hear on a daily basis, drowning our ears in bellow-average 10th generation of indie-and-desperate bands around. Excellent songwriting, troublesome mix of blues, home-DAW electronic, piano and strings and great voice on the edge of caricature makes Astronautalis one of the rare discoveries of a year, at least for me. Not to mention, that Tegan & Sara took him for their European tour (stamp of the quality – buy now!).