Atomic City is a record label, the vehicle for the Internet's first supergroup (or, preferably, "hypergroup," in the same way that these words you're reading are "hypertext"), Team Metlay. It also handles the pressing, release, and distribution of solo and group efforts by Team members, gaining them media exposure and making their music available to the public.
Atomic City is a presence on the Internet; its members are visible on many bulletin boards, mailing lists, and newsgroups relating to emusic, and are frequently referred to as resources on many technical, musical, and historical questions in the emusic realm. It is not affiliated with any particular Internet node or Web site, nor does it have a commercial interest in any particular place on the Net. The Net is its vehicle.
Atomic City (or, to be more precise, Team Metlay) is a group of good friends, who met over the Net and get together and visit whenever they can. Critics and music reviewers on and off the Net have called them a clique, a new religion, a street gang, a family, a commune, or even a secret society. While openly critical of one another at times, they display a strong solidarity and mutual support in times of trouble, especially when dealing with difficulties from outside their circle.
Atomic City is a great place to find out about that artist, album, synthesizer, music lab, or other emusic resource you thought you heard of once but couldn't find details on. There are things about the industry we don't know, but if we can't answer your questions, we can find someone who can, and will be glad to.
Atomic City, as seen in our logo, is a place: the skyline shown is that of the 25-megavolt tandem nuclear accelerator tower of the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF), codenamed "Building 6000," nestled in the hills just outside Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It's where Atomic City's founder, Mike Metlay, earned his Ph.D. in nuclear physics, and formulated many of the ideas that became his own Atomic City, launched some five years ago with the recording of the first Team Metlay CD.
Atomic City is a place where people aren't afraid of the future.
Science, art, and music are all beyond the abilities of any one person, or group of people, to judge and approve or condemn. We have our own prejudices and perversions that we place in what we see, hear, and study...or in what we create. Atomic City releases music written and played by scientists and students, military men, ex-military men, artists, playwrights, hackers, devout Christians and Jews, students of the occult, atheists, and dreamers. We have only one criterion: professionalism. Is the music well-made, well-presented, effective at reaching its audience or at encouraging its audience to reach for it?
If it's on Atomic City, the answer is "yes." We are not a New Age, Teutonic-Electronic, Progressive Rock, Ambient/Techno, Cyberpunk, Jazz, or Classical label, although all of those influences can be heard in our music and listeners to all of those genres enjoy our music. We produce what's in our members' heads, and we place no limits on it other than it be well-done. Atomic City is for listeners who don't believe in limiting themselves. We hope you'll gamble a few dollars and give some of our titles a try, and that you'll connect with what we're trying to communicate. There aren't enough of us in this world, and we have to stick together.
Now go on...get out there and start surfin' our site!