One of the
first American synthesizer-based rock bands, San Francisco's Units started
out playing Cabaret Voltaire-style cacophony, but quickly developed
an educated electro-pop approach. Lyrically, Digital Stimulation is
rife with irony and black humor; the spontaneous, creative music complements
it well. The Units obviously prefer purer electronic sounds to the pseudo-pipe
organ noises employed by many other synth bands, but stop before succumbing
to the dreaded noodling disease. The upshot is a dozen sharp pop tunes
of estimable value.
Typical of the Units' hard-luck recording career, the band made a second album for 415, produced by Bill Nelson. Although it solidified the early test-run of Digital Stimulation into a unique and coherent style wrapped around brutal assaults on American thought, the record was never released, due to a falling out between the Units and their label. A loss. In 1983, following the success of an independently issued 12-inch dance-floor hit ("The Right Man," produced by Michael Cotten of the Tubes), the Units signed with Epic and went to Wales to record, again with Nelson. Incredibly, the resulting album also never saw the light of day, but an EP was released, combining "The Right Man" and "A Girl Like You" with three songs from those otherwise discarded sessions and a remix by Ivan Ivan. Solidly appealing and catchy dance-rock. (Steven Grant, Ira Robbins) |