Can One Song Change the World?

Ska pop sinners Atlas & Oracle are back to further shake up the genre in ways that people are calling “absolutely unnecessary” – but they’ve never been a band to let misunderstandings and criticisms stand in their way. Instead, they have been known to dazzle critics with their unique take on a familiar instrumentation that somehow surprises the listener with each new song. If ska is for people who really like the sound of ska, this music is for people who hold ska close as one part of a rich tapestry of diverse musical tastes.
Read more about the music

Atlas & Oracle Discography [Embedded YouTube Playlist]

/| Stream A&O’s Music |

|/ Watch Our Live Clips |

/| Listen to Atlas’ Curated Playlists |

| Follow & Connect |/ 

About the Band

As the only fully anonymous ska band, Atlas & Oracle gets a lot of questions about why they don’t show their faces. The fact of the matter is, the group are made up of primarily interplanetary fugitives, and one from a different dimension. The laid-bare resonance of their lyrics is meant to jog humanity’s memory of their greater place in the cosmos, which has been systemically extinguished by Ztampidian infiltrations at crucial moments across many millennia of galactic history. Pushing negativity under the rug instead of addressing it head-on destroyed most of the band’s home planets, and one of their home dimensions, and they seek to save humanity from this fate.
Read more about the band

More About the Song

What starts as an easy river quickly turns into a waterslide as the listener is swept away by the expansive sound of Atlas & Oracle’s cutting-edge ska-punk. The lyrics, which start like a punch to the gut, show no fear in addressing the roadblocks and burdens that barricade so many people from their own sense of right and wrong. No musical turn can be predicted before the song is complete, yet in retrospect it all fits into place perfectly, as if the song were simply meant to exist.
 
Each verse shares a reflection on the way that national discourse has been gradually confined over the course of decades to such narrow boxes that those in charge are incapable of doing what’s right, just in case others might think it wrong. It walks this tightrope by contrasting things said by politicians with things said in real life, and then juxtaposing that contrast with a bright and heartwarming chorus that reflects on the importance of keeping a light on in dark times. In the view of Atlas & Oracle, such rumination should naturally give way to a fiery determination to right the world’s wrongs. 
The path isn’t for everyone– many choose to avert their attention elsewhere, either erroneously assuming that they won’t be affected, or giving up their own chance of making a difference. Or worse, they judge those who speak up, for daring to make their opinion known. “Don’t you know it’ll never make a difference?” The EP that Right & Wrong is drawn from is the equivalent of two middle fingers towards anyone who stand on the sidelines while questioning those who try to change the world.
 
Atlas & Oracle confidently calls negativity and hopelessness what it is: an act of giving up on the chance of a better future. But they also recognize that it’s not one that we inhabit by choice– it’s a limitation that we’ve inherited as a society, and one that we must learn to release ourselves from as individuals. This nuanced view emerges slowly, gradually, then all at once…. just like the song.

More About the Band

Iconoclasts by nature, rebels by choice. Thoroughly sick of the third dimension, Atlas & Oracle seek to change it by any means necessary. Since 2021 they have been in constant resistance against every tradition they’ve come up against, opting time and time again to do it themselves, and do it their way. The concern of whether or not there’s an audience for their style of music has never come up– they know that every great band built their own.
 
This has led to an explosion of microgenres within their work. Their catalogue proves that when you write from the message up, or from the collaborator up, every song naturally calls for its own sound. A new band could latch onto any one of the individual songs Atlas & Oracle has put out and create an entire album out of the particular blend of genres. It hasn’t happened yet, but give it some time.
To list out a few bands they love and say “For Fans Of….” wouldn’t paint an accurate picture. You could imagine Flying Raccoon Suit’s musical experimentation, through the lens of The Pomps’ Boston sensibilities, mixed with the energy of Big D & the Kids’ Table and using unique song structures like Streetlight Manifesto, but that’s only half the story. Another part comes from a deep appreciation of Snarky Puppy’s jazz-inspired fusion, Rubblebucket’s grooves, and Tune-Yards’ proclivity for new and unexpected sounds; and yet another from lifelong study of Bloc Party’s rhythms, Rage Against the Machine’s politics, and Talking Heads’ courage to be different.
 
“Atlas & Oracle’s strength lies in their unique approach to music, which can only be described as gene-splicing. They play God by taking the building blocks of music they like and assembling them into horrible amalgamations of harmony and rhythm that overwhelm some and entrance others. They plan to utilize this potent strategy along with their dangerous levels of charisma to start the first ska-based cult. Be sure to catch them live while they’re still able to be perceived!” -Anonymous Concertgoer
 

Press for Atlas & Oracle

07/02/25: The Alphabet of Ska [Off the Shelf]

05/30/25: Album: Lonely Ghost Records – 16 songs of revolution: A Streetlight Manifesto Cover Compilation [Glowing review of Atlas & Oracle’s cover of Somewhere in the Between, among others, within a Lonely Ghost covers compilation]

12/14/23: Dane Jackson’s Top 23 Albums of 2023 | Ska, Punk, and None of It’s Junk [Honorable Mention for 777 EP Trilogy]

12/6/23: Gimpleg’s Top 25 Albums Albums of 2023: Part 1 [Greed & the American Dream at #13]

11/19/23: Album: Atlas & Oracle – Greed and the American Dream [Glowing review of Pt. 3 of 777 Trilogy]

8/18/23: Atlas & Oracle – Sad Songs With Happy Endings + Time Machine [Left of the Dial review]

7/14/23: Album Review: “Sad Songs with Happy Endings” by Atlas & Oracle

5/16/23: Ska-Pop Collective Atlas & Oracle Release “Violins for Violence” and The Cure Cover As Charity Singles in Support of The Trevor Project

4/27/23: Video Premiere: Atlas & Oracle “Fade Away”

12/16/22: The Music Shelf Top 10 Albums Of The Year

11/8/22: Atlas & Oracle Debut Music Video For “Walls Come Crashing”

More From Atlas & Oracle

| Stream A&O’s Music /| Listen to Atlas’ Curated Playlists | Follow & Connect  /| Watch Our Live Clips |

Please also enjoy this rousing rendition of ‘I’m Alive!!’ – the first single from the same EP.