Hexes for Exes is the newest release from Moving Units, a Los Angeles-based group that would be an appropriate opening band for acts such as !!!, The Rapture or Daft Punk.
As I was listening to Hexes, it struck me that dance punk is a lot like an infomercial -- both can either be background noise in a living room at, say, 4 a.m., or become something infectious. Subtle at first, but somewhat enticing, until prompting a kind of visceral reaction -- something along the lines of "oh my God, I really need that $500 set of knives." Or, in the musical case, the urge to hit repeat and relive the climactic moments until your roommates want to pad your walls with mattresses.
Moving Units seem to have the potential to create a nicely addictive, danceable 11-track offering. But vocalist Blake Miller doesn't quite deliver. Some of the lyrics are a bit awkward -- in the opening track, "Pink Thoughts," Miller laments, "Now it's winter / love's a splinter." He follows up this lyrical gem with a reference to times that are both "bad" and "sad." Often, the easy rhyme wins out over the profound lyrical statement. The final track, "Blood Beats," has got "
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