Stream: Moving Units, ‘Attack Everything’

Kevin Bronson on September 9th, 2013

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When Moving Units materialized in the dark days of 2002, the L.A. trio was on the vanguard of the dance-punk renaissance – in some ways, ahead of their time. They had some lousy label luck, but that first EP and the 2004 full-length “Dangerous Dreams” sound darned-near like classics these days. In the ensuing years, frontman Blake Miller rose to DJ prominence and matriculated toward dance-music trends, and 2007’s “Hexes for Exes” and the 2011 EP “Tension War” were glossier electro affairs, absent the wiry swagger and dangerous dreams of early M>U. Miller and original members Chris Hathwell and Johan Boegli split, but after some legal wrangling Miller is back doing business under the Moving Units name – and the new album “Neurotic Exotic” (out this week via Metropolis) is the first full-length in almost six years. Working with producer Cliff Magreta, Miller has forged a dance-floor-friendly collection that boasts playful synth textures in typically edgy songs. Dangerous disco? Not without the furious rhythms of bassist Boegli and drummer Hathwell, but as “Attack Everything” and “Kate Moss in ’97” attest, feeling young and sexy is its own intoxicant. Welcome back.

||| Stream: “Attack Everything” and “Kate Moss in ’97”