Atari Teenage Riot: 60 Second Wipe Out : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

On their second U.S. album, 60 Second Wipeout, Atari Teenage Riot trot out more of the crude sloganeering and cruder electronica that inspired 100,000 of us to buy their '97 stateside debut, Burn, Berlin, Burn! ATR were lucky enough to stumble onto one great idea -- making punk rock out of computers -- and they're smart enough not to peer too deep into the resulting mess. Listeners would do well to follow their example. Everything you need to know about their intentions you know the moment they scream the song titles; tracks like "Revolution Action" and "Death of a President D.I.Y.!" brook no interpretation or dissent. Frontman Alec Empire has made a career out of denouncing the vapidity of dance-floor culture, but his music is so emotionally inert that all he's left with are the same surface effects of titillation he despises in others. Whether you appreciate the final irony - that he's awfully good at such titillation -- is, as far as he's concerned, beside the point. Atari Teenage Riot take themselves dead seriously - so you don't have to. (RS 813)

JEFF SALAMON