PRESS
for microdose 1:
“Another fine lathe by this Minneapolis duo, presenting three tracks that will not be on their forthcoming album, but presumably augur its sonic profile. As usual, it’s not easy to exactly codify Atomic Energy Commission’s sound. There are evident tendrils of space prog, post-punk and even a dunty sort of psych pop, but these are smooshed together in a way that makes them difficult to tease apart in such a way for you to easily divine their actual intent. And while I’m sure they’d be more than happy to explain their goals, I find it a lot more pleasant to not know, because it allows me to be surprised by the way they pitch their sounds. There’s so little mystery still alive in the world these days, when I stumble across some my impulse is to just give it room to live and breathe as it will.”
—Byron Coley, The Wire
for Radiation 1, 2:
“First single (following a 12” and a tape) by this Minneapolis [trio]. These two tracks show they have a firm handle on an instrumental dynamic ranging from hardcore to prog in an aggressive and noisy way. There’s something extremely primitive and garage-old about the music’s central pulse, but the surface offers much more sophisto splotching. Nice hand-wrought cover on this lathe, as wll. Win/Win.”
—Byron Coley, The Wire
for AECPWMCTEP:
“A mixture of drone-y soundscapes with minimal lyrcis/samples/field recordings, harsh noise freak-out stuff, and electronically-driven dark post-punk/goth songs. Very artsy and atmospheric.”
—Biff Bifaro, Maximum Rocknroll
“The pieces are short and to the point, around a two-and-half minute with one a bit longer. As much as I have no idea what to write about this because much of this is outside my musical fame of reference, I must admit I enjoyed most of the music all the same…. The A.E.C. are at their best when they are short and to the point, and this is what they are most of the time. With the massive amount of variety in these songs, one could easily think this is a compilation.”
—Frans de Waard, Vital Weekly
for post fax nation:
“With clever word play and more abstract song structures, this record has the tongue-in-cheek quality that the title would suggest. Angular, distorted, and fast, this record will appeal to fans of Ex-Cult, Goggs, and Castleface releases.”
—Emily T., Razorcake
“What am I listening to? FLIPPER reincarnated the right way? My War through a Midwestern art/punk filter? I seriously don’t know, but the caterwaul of ‘Waldorf Hysteria’ and the erratic madness of ‘Garbage, Garbage USA’ keep me asking why? Asking what? What if 1983 MDC tried to do a Confusion Is Sex act for a Halloween gig? Seriously punks, ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION is creating a sound for whatever this reality is. Maybe not the sound…but definitely a sound. Because this reality is definitely not right in the head.”
—Robert Collins, Maximum Rocknroll
“40 years after Pere Ubu, Pop Group, Rema-Rema, Mekons, Scars, and Gang of Four’s ‘Anthrax,’ disjointed, mind-f-ing, time-breaking, semi-dada post-punk is still anti-pop cleanser. This debuting Minneapolis trio—David Foley of Things That Fall Down, Tom Parsons of Clusterflock, and Matthew Amundsen of Devouring Youth and Surface Hoar—are a noisy posse, tighter than Mekons’ ‘Where Were You’ and looser than Mission of Burma’s ‘Max Ernst,’ with hypnotism-based bass like Jah Wobble and time-breaking guitar like Andy Gill got wasted. ‘Empathy’ could be The Urinals or People played by the ‘Security’ Effigies, and ‘Garbage, Garbage USA’ is free jazz guitar perversion, as if Sun Ra and Albert Ayler hit Iggy Stooge and Ron Asheton over the head on ‘Fun House.’ They’re conceptually smart, too, preordained by supercilious titles such as ‘Frank Lloyd Wrong’ and ‘Waldorf Hysteria.’ Warning: atomic fallout-laden pyrocumulus dust clouds ahead.”
—Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover