The Units’ Digital Stimulation is synthpunk perfection
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.
- Writer discovers overlooked 1980 synthpunk band The Units
- Album Digital Stimulation praised as ahead of its time
- Led by Scott Ryser and Rachel Webber, rooted in SF punk scene
New here? Start with this
The Units were a punk band from San Francisco who began experimenting with synthesizers in the late 1970s, at a time when most punk acts stuck to guitars, bass and drums. The band was driven by the husband-and-wife duo Scott Ryser and Rachel Webber, and they moved in the same circles as other West Coast punk groups such as the Dead Kennedys, The Mutants and The Avengers.
Their music is often described using the term "synthpunk", a style that fuses punk's raw, do-it-yourself energy with electronic instruments. This puts The Units in a similar space to better-known art-rock acts like Talking Heads and Devo, though their sound is generally considered more stripped-back and aggressive. Their 1980 album, Digital Stimulation, is the record most associated with this approach.
The band recorded a second album in 1981, but it was not released until 2016, decades after it was made. Digital Stimulation itself remained relatively obscure outside punk and electronic music circles for many years, but it has since become available on streaming platforms, allowing new listeners to discover it.