History of the Units - The Early Years: 1977-1983 | Units

History of the Units - The Early Years: 1977-1983

by Units

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White Vinyl LP in full color jacket with punk style insert.
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Remaining copies of this on white vinyl. Why the F pay an inflated price on Discogs when your favorite record label Community Library just keeps this in print forever at a punk rock price? The inserts in this set don't include the Dropcard, because we ran out of them but also, you are getting a Bandcamp download with this purchase, so it doesn't matter.

Includes unlimited streaming of History of the Units - The Early Years: 1977-1983 via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.	Dirk Dirksen 00:58	buy track
2.	Cannibals 02:51	buy track
3.	Bug Boy 02:13	buy track
4.	Bird River 01:15	buy track
5.	High Pressure Days 03:40	buy track
6.	iNight 04:16	buy track
7.	Contemporary Emotions 06:16	buy track
8.	Cowboy 04:19	buy track
9.	Town by the River 01:54	buy track
10.	Tight Fit 04:01	buy track
11.	East West 04:14	buy track
12.	Warm Moving Bodies 03:01	buy track
13.	Go 02:11	buy track
14.	Red 04:54	buy track
15.	Run 03:43	buy track
16.	The Mission is Bitchin 01:45	buy track
17.	Straight Lines 04:33	buy track
18.	Zombo 06:43	buy track
19.	Digital Stimulation 03:10	buy track
20.	I-5 04:14	buy track
21.	Work 02:23	buy track

about

From our 2009 press sheet:
Community Library is proud to bring you the first ever legitimate reissue of San Francisco’s synth-punk legends, UNITS! You can finally get rid of the crappy bootlegs: this is the definitive remastered collection of the band’s most sought-after early singles and selections from their first LP, Digital Stimulation. It also includes unreleased material culled from early demos, recordings made for art happenings and film, and more. This anthology is a view not only into the Units’ seminal years, but is also a step into the rich and under-reissued history of San Francisco’s punk, new wave and post punk years. The end of the 1970’s saw Units and their compatriots (Pink Section, Voice Farm, Tuxedomoon, and Screamers) storming punk clubs like the Mabuhay with a new electronic punk sound. The co-opted, predictable guitar rock of the era had given way to aggressive synthesizers, fi lm collage, and punk DIY ingenuity. Units were a cornerstone of this unoffi cial movement, later called “synth punk” and which would come to defi ne a greater west coast DIY culture combining new synthetic sounds, ranging from Nervous Gender, Screamers and Monitor, to The Blackouts. Units’ tight keyboard riffing, raw electronic texture, monotone delivery, raging synth arpeggios and growling Moog basslines practically define synthpunk’s futuristic, alienated disposition. Thematically, Units’ music explored and exploded the very nature of “unit-like” conformity- perhaps using their synth blasts to tear away the very fabric of it.
This compilation includes “High Pressure Days,” a testament to the lonelinessand urgency of the times, and one of synthpunk’s greatest anthems.

Like other bands of their era, Units’ musical language did not end with the three chords of punk or the drama of new wave. Many of the songs here clairvoyantly anticipate the rise of underground pulse driven electronic dance music (“Cannibals,” “Warm Moving Bodies”). Others feature complex arrangements, almost embodying an epic prog-rock ethic (“I-5,” “Tight Fit.”) Unlike Suicide and DEVO--their contemporaries from the east coast--San Francisco’s Units are overwhelmingly
Californian in their sound and ideas - whether it’s a satire of drag-racing car culture (“Go”) or a celebration of SF’s Mission district (“The Mission is Bitchin”). The demos and fi lm soundtracks included here further highlight the band’s significant influence from experimental synthesizer music from a community that bore Buchla synths and Chris Burden’s performance art at the height of the 60’s, ten years earlier. Even Californian heavy guitar/hair rockers Trakstod Station get an ironic nod in the rare Units cover of “Contemporary Emotions.”

credits

released June 15, 2009

Too many to mention! See liner notes for details. Units primary members were Scott Ryser and Rachel Webber, with lineups that included Bill Nelson, Brad Saunders, Tim Ennis, Ron Lantz, Richard Driskell, Lx Rudis, Seth Miller, Jon Parker, David Allen Jr., Jabari Allen, Marc Henry, James Reynolds, Raymond Froehlich and D.C. Carter.
Artwork + writing by Scott Ryser.
Design + Layout by John Phemister.

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about

Community Library Portland, Oregon

Uncompromisingly eclectic since 2005. Operated in Portland, Oregon, Cascadia by founders Paul Dickow and David Chandler. Check out our sister label Common Language as well: commonlanguage.bandcamp.com

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