There is no substitute for the unadulterated, analog muskiness of an über rare, private pressing 7" from a pioneering synthpunk band. These recordings were digitized from near mint copy of this seminal work. Each track is mind-blowing and considerably more raw than the versions found on the 1980 LP, Digital Stimulation. Make sure to check out iNight, too.

Units - Cowboy (7" Version)

Units - Cannibals (7" Version) (1979)

End of line...

Hot chicks singing over synth punk???! Sexually charged lyrics, punk angst and synthy goodness earn Malaria! (and others like Honey Bane, The Slits and Pylon) a cherished place in my cybernetic heart.  It all happened during a very brief period of time when hot, punk-rocking chicks teamed up with dub producers and took the disco by storm.

SCHEMATIC: A veritable cornucopia of punk disco...

Honey Bane - Guilty (Dub) (1980)

Honey Bane - Guilty (Vocal) (1980)

Pylon - Cool (1979)

The Slits - I Heard It Through The Grapevine/Bassline (1979)

Man, have I ever been there?! There is a ubiquitous sample in this track at 1:53 followed by a pretty sick instrumental jam. I can see why Johnny Jewel (Italians Do It Better) moved to Montreal: This is how chicks dress there. Thank you American Apparel.2

Shangaied (Music Video Version)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOJW_Z9gSIM

SCHEMATIC: LP and 12" extended versions...

Shangaied (LP Version)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQcsCyiBWWw

Shangaied (12" Extended Version)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxgWQCr8tFo&feature=fvsr

High Pressure Days and Cowboy are filthy, gnarly animals. Let Uncle Rico's time machine teleport you back to 1977 San Francisco. Eschewing guitars in favor of synths (good move, fellas), Units become one of the very first synthpunk bands. They then start tearing it up, self-releasing the original versions several LP tracks in 1979 on what is now an absurdly rare 7" record (sells for about £100). This video features the album versions, released in 1980 on the Digital Stimulation LP.

SCHEMATIC: The ENTIRE Digital Stimulation album, band portrait and flyer (via synthpunk)...

What follows is the entire Digital Stimulation LP with each track listed in its proper order. This album is an opus and deserves a concentrated listen. The last track, Cowboy, is a mind-warping experience. I just yoinked an original 7" copy of High Pressure Days from eBay and will make/post vinyl rips and videos as soon as it arrives. In related news, an anthology was released in 2009 called History of The Units - The Early Years: 1977 - 1983 and is available through discogs.

Digital Stimulation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0kesHOv5Ck

Warm Moving Bodies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQK96pszMUs

Go + Mission

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRvUBla-rAQ

Bugboy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaaTklS4P3A

Tight Fit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knn80HCccos

Passions or Patterns

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHkpE_Yssdw

Town by the River

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iu53BVg2Z4

Cowboy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teTHIM1cMvA

There is absolutely no fronting on this straight-up funky disco track from Canada (Ontario, I think)! The video, which features clips from the terrible 1979 flick Roller Boogie, is a stroke of genius. Now, the first three minutes of this song may not do much for you, but when the breakdown begins, the song deconstructs into some pretty trippy disco.