Review: Moving Units - Dangerous Dreams

Quality-wise, Los Angeles' Moving Units dwell somewhere in the upper middle in the ongoing super-post Gang Of Four era. They started around the same time as The Strokes and they share a similar aesthetic of treated vocals and driving percussion. They differ in their leanings toward asexual dance funk, traced back to The Talking Heads, Gang Of Four, Pigbag and others. My Washington DC local favorite of the genre was Egoslavia. I fell for The Plastics for a time but they haven't aged well. I'm not a fan of funk in general so when I like something it's because there's a lot more going on in a song besides booty shaking. I like Moving Units well enough.

Allmusic claims "Between Us & Them" as the best song on Dangerous Dreams, and if you like Franz Ferdinand I think you'll agree. "Going For Adds" is my pick, A Franz Ferdinand sounding tune without the disco glam. Dangerous Dreams is interesting in that they reference different bands and sometimes mix them. "Emancipation" and "Birds Of Prey" sound like both Gang Of Four and The Strokes. "Scars" is 30% Joy Division and "Anyone" manages to evoke Ultravox.

There's a bunch of good tunes here but, not sadly, I was born without the funk gene. I'll listen to this again but it's not like Interpol and The Futureheads, influenced by Joy Division and XTC respectively.