The Verge's music writer discovered The Units, a lesser-known San Francisco punk band, after stumbling upon a reference to the "synthpunk" genre while researching another act, The Screamers. Their 1980 album Digital Stimulation is presented as a landmark of the style, blending punk's DIY aggression with synthesizers in a way that sounds strikingly modern, decades ahead of many contemporaries who kept guitars front and centre.

The album is credited to husband-and-wife songwriters Scott Ryser and Rachel Webber, who were embedded in the same West Coast punk scene as the Dead Kennedys, The Mutants and The Avengers, giving the record a sharper, leaner edge than art-rock peers like Talking Heads or Devo. Tracks such as "High Pressure", "Cannibals" and "Warm Moving Bodies" are singled out for their melodicism and efficiency, while a follow-up album recorded in 1981, Animals They Dream About, went unreleased until 2016. Digital Stimulation is now available on Bandcamp and streaming services including Apple Music, YouTube Music and Deezer.