Another uplifting pop album from Green Bay, Wisconsin's Fun With Atoms. We've always enjoyed what we've heard from this band in the past. Considering that they've been making music since the 1980s, it is indeed impressive how fresh and spontaneous Smart sounds. Instead of trying to complicate their songs with unnecessary overdubs and annoying technology, these guys pretty much play it straight. Their catchy guitar-driven pop tunes are instantly hummable and they have some of the best sounding fuzzy guitars on the planet. For this album, the guys returned to Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin where they did some of their early recordings (thus the name of the album). Sadly, the studio is closing so this may be the last release recorded there (bummer). Ten groovy feel good tracks. -babysue.com (October 2010)
The nucleus of the power pop band Fun With Atoms
is comprised of three particles: Rick Smith (vocals, guitars, keys), Dan Collins
(vocals, bass, keys), and Curt Lefevre (drums, vocals). They are packed together
tight, emitting a steady stream of sound waves that will electrify listeners.
Fun With Atoms hails from Green Bay, Wisconsin and has released
two acclaimed records already – their indie debut “Main Street” was produced by
none other than Butch Vig (Nirvana, Garbage). Their sophomore
set, “Northern Distortion” saw power pop icon Jeff Murphy (Shoes,
Material Issue) at the helm. Infusing Beatles inspired
songwriting with multi-layered harmonies quickly garnered the band plenty of
college radio airplay. Now they are back with “Smart”, perhaps partly named
after being mixed and mastered by Mike Zirkel at the legendary
Smart Studios in Madison.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that “Smart” is a record that promises to
please the band’s fan base and expand it considerably. The band prides itself on
writing great song hooks, surrounding them with inventive guitar arrangements
and harmonies galore. According to Smith, “we wanted this record to capture the
energy of our live shows, without a lot of overdubs and additional
instrumentation”. If that was indeed the band’s goal, I say they have
accomplished it – “Smart” sounds more like raw, garage rock then your highly
polished, overly processed million-dollar sound. But they key thing is that the
boys have created a truly “fun” record in every sense of the word.
Opening track “Walking the Razor's Edge” is a perfect mid-tempo starter with
cool chord progressions and a satisfying hook in the chorus. Things really get
moving with “Really Happy”, a sunny song with a memorable wah-wah vocal that
you’ll fight singing aloud all day long. Additional highlights include the
Cars-sounding “Restless Kind”, the bluesy mid-tempo ballad,
“Feels Like Rain”, and the pop rock perfection of “Mystery”. The record closes
with “Jones”, a notable fable of a song about those striving for empty pleasures
by struggling to keep up with the you know whos.
If you like Gin Blossoms, Del Amitri, or Urge Overkill,
don’t miss Fun With Atoms.
The unpeggable Fun
With Atoms sound is presented effectively on the group’s debut album, “Main
Street”, a sometimes dark, sometimes punchy release on Madison’s Boat Records.
The strength of “Main Street” did not go unnoticed by England’s New Musical
Express, the world’s largest music tabloid. NME’s feature on the Green Bay group
spawned a demand for the Atom’s album in Europe, where it is now distributed.
-MILWAUKEE SENTINEL
Absolute Wisconsinners
Rob Tannenbaum goes for meltdown with Wisconsin’s hot
new breed of hits from Fun w/Atoms. Fun w/Atoms ‘Main Street’ features a crisp,
taut trio sound which complements guitarist/songwriter Rick Smith’s
claustrophobic twitch: ‘Alaska’ invents a genre hereafter known as tundra blues
(“Up here in Alaska, love is oh so cold/ Get this pipeline done before I’m
old”), while ‘National Geographic Girl’ finds him in love with an indigene who
may be on her way to a Siouxie concert (“She puts on her makeup/She puts a bone
in her hair/She carries water in a bowl upon her head”). This is not to dismiss
the Green Bay-based Fun w/Atoms as a novelty. Despite the harmonies, their
‘Summer’ is closer to Husker Du’s ‘Celebrated Summer’ than to anything in the
Beach Boys catalog.
- NEW MUSICAL EXPRESS (England), Rob Tannenbaum
Local bands come and go, but Fun w/Atoms just keeps on getting better. Curt
Lefevre, Dan Collins, and Rick Smith have been a trio for more than a decade,
making them one of the cornerstones on which the rest of the local music scene
rises and falls. Never ones to jump on the sound-of-the-month bandwagon, Fun
w/Atoms has bypassed post-punk, alternative and whatever they’re calling today’s
music, to stick with the mature, stripped-down, straight-to-the-point pop/rock
that’s been the band’s calling card from the start. The band has arguably never
sounded better, Exhibit A: Northern Distortion. The band’s second CD released
this spring on Black Vinyl Records.
-GREEN BAY PRESS GAZETTE, Kendra Meinert
The ‘BEST OF MAY LIST’ 1996 -SAINT PAUL PIONEER PRESS (Jim Walsh) (Northern Distortion album)
Fun w/Atoms
made Northern Distortion (Black Vinyl Records) on borrowed Shoes equipment, but
their Jeff Murphy-produced record occupies much harder ground than Zion’s
elders. Trip-wire guitars powered by Mssrs. Vox and HiWatt are the plat du jour.
Anybody with a Detroit fixation will willingly bounce off the walls with these
six-string scientists from Green Bay.
- MOJO (UK)
-RADIO FRANCE Top 10 Playlists (Main Street)
Le disque du siecle, ou: du Wisconsin faisons table rase, Superbe premiere album
d’un trio quis’ingeie a retrouver les traces des Plimsouls ou celles des Byrds.
Harmonies vocals classiquement enivrantes, guitars soyeuses et profondes,
melodies catchy, tout est cans Fun w/Atoms et reciproquement.
-NINETEEN (France) (Main Street album)
With their debut
album “Main Street” on Boat Records a popular selection for college radio
stations nationwide, Fun With Atoms is gaining acclaim. Their twangy guitar
lines and two-part harmonies promise a dance-filled event.
-MID-COAST ARTISTS INTERNATIONAL
Now the good news:
“Main Street” – especially its wonderful first side – deserves to be played at
parties from now until Labor Day and beyond.
Fun With Atoms recycles at least some of their influences on Side 1, and the
results are glorious. Examples: “Last Cigarette” is a Replacements-like raver
with rapidly strummed guitar riffs a la Dave Edmunds. “I’ll Be There” features
the missing bass line between “You Can’t Hurry Love” and “Touch Me”, while the
chorus is pure Buckinghams. Best of all is “Alaska”, a pipeline worker’s lament
that is a less-depressing relative of the Violent Femmes’ “Country Death Song”.
-MILWAUKEE SENTINEL
Mid 90’s power pop CD on Shoes’ Black Vinyl Records from 1996. The sounds of mid-western pop from the 90s are here, as is the stamp of quality in production and song-writing. -NOT LAME RECORDS (Northern Distortion album)
"There are definitely some major Beatles influences going on with the latest CD from Fun With Atoms. Produced by Shoes’ Jeff Murphy, this is a hot collection of pure pop tunes with enough harmony vocals to fill an ocean. These tunes are clean cut and well-written, with plenty of hooks scattered throughout. Sure, these tunes are very calculated, but the melodies are way above average and the vocals are excellent. In addition to the excellent harmonies, this group`s second greatest strength is their inventive guitar arrangements. Pop purists will certainly want to check this out! -BABYSUE.com (Northern Distortion album)
"Well, I’m in love. It’s still pretty early in the year, but it will take a batch of very substantial releases for this Green Bay, Wisconsin guitar pop trio not to make my Best of 1996 list. From beginning to end, this is an extremely strong album. There may be no anthems that jump out at you like "The One I Love" or "It’s the End of the World" did on REM’s Document, but there’s not a single filler cut among the 12 tracks either. This is a rock solid album that rocks from beginning to end. While never syrupy or sweet, in fact the overall feel is slightly on the dark side, it has enough hooks, earthy harmonies and tasty melodies to appeal to any pop or power-pop fan, while retaining the modern sheen required for college alternative radio without losing its classic rock and roll allure. You can imagine this pleasing fans of Wilco, 3AM, Sugar, GooGoo Dolls, Bush, just as easily as fans of Shoes, Raspberries, The Who, and Oasis. As Zappa once said, one size fits all. A smart major label would be ringing up Black Vinyl right about now." -AUDITIES (Northern Distortion album)
“Guitarist Rick Smith’s songs are uniformly catchy, and he has a particular knack for bridges that modulate, go into different time signatures, or otherwise vary the songs, a facility that frustratingly few power pop songwriters seem to manage, and his gruff vocals are a nice change from the usual Chris Bell-style tenors. The choruses and riffs are memorable, and Murphy and fellow Shoes singer-guitarist Gary Klebe add their trademark high harmonies to several songs. The soaring "Turn and Go" is the highlight, sounding like Husker Du re-recording a classic Big Star tune. Not everything is that immediately appealing, but Northern Distortion is one of those albums that puts the power back into power pop, always a good thing." AMG
Illinois Indie Black Vinyl Records recently released Northern Distortion, the latest release from Chicago indie rockers Fun w/Atoms. The band – vocalist/guitarist Rick Smith, bassist/vocalist Dan Collins, and drummer Curt Lefevre – recorded the new disc at Short Order Recorder along with the help of studio veteran Jeff Murphy.
The resulting 12-song long player is cframmed full of pop rock hooks and country-twanged sinkers that’ll have you shakin’ yopur moneymaker faster than a Tums will clean up your intestinal tract. Featured songs on Northern Distortion include “Chain Reaction”, “Indiana Line”, and “Star Love (Be On Line)”. Other standouts include the melodic “Changing History” and the guitar-driven title track “Northern Distortion”.
During the early years Fun w/Atoms hooked up with another local musician named Butch Vig, who recorded several of the trio’s demos before going on to work with national acts such as Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana.
These days the talented trio is happy to be on the road and plan to tour nationally in support of Northern Distortion later this year. –THE AQUARIAN WEEKLY
Here’s one disc I put on the shelf for a couple of weeks after receiving it, and what a mistake! This recording has caught my ears attention. Jeff Murphy, a member of Shoes, produced, engineered, and mixed this release. It’s easy to hear who influenced the FWA sound. Believe me, it’s no crime to be a Shoes fan. Northern Distortion has several potential radio greats. They include “Changing History”, “Indiana Line”, “Turn and Go”, and the title track. Any of these songs will make you reach for the volume knob. According to Black Vinyl Records, the song “Hand-Me-Down” may be on an upcoming soundtrack. If true, they should get the big time exposure they deserve. –Charlie Followell ROCK SHOP REVIEW
This acclaimed collection of well-crafted electric pop songs features inventive rocked-out guitar hooks, bridges, layered Beatlesque vocal harmonies, and unpredictably catchy arrangements produced by Jeff Murphy (Shoes). –CD BABY