Roll with the punches

>> Moving Units live up to their
name, one way or another

NOT VEXED OVER HEXES: Moving Units

by JACK OATMON

What do you do when people love you enough to steal a piece of you? The new album from Los Angeles’s Moving Units might provide the perfect litmus test for that paradox, from a couple of perspectives. The eerily melodramatic vocals of Hexes for Exes combine with wailing, delicate guitar riffs and growling synths to emulate a familiar musical melancholy. Informed by bands like the Cure, New Order and more recently Fischerspooner, the mood of the album comes off resigned rather than disillusioned. Resigned, of course, to the usual gamut of heartaches, loneliness and postmodern ambiguity. Perhaps the attitude of stiff-lipped acceptance that permeates the band’s work springs from the same resolve that gives singer and guitarist Blake Miller his even-handed demeanour towards online file-sharing.

“I’ve always felt that giving music to your fans is the most important thing,” says Miller. “If some people get it for free, or some people trade it or share it with their friends, the people who are discovering it might connect with the music. They might connect with your band, and then they’re gonna come see you play, they’re gonna buy your merch and they’re gonna go to your MySpace and tell other people about it. I have an open mind about those ideas. I’m not sitting at home counting record sales all night long.”

The issue arises alongside the common conundrum of albums leaked before their release dates, as was Hexes for Exes. While some artists and recording cartels cut their noses off to spite their faces over the arguably free promotion they’re getting, Miller lets a few hot albums slip, but keeps his cool.

“I’m not really that uptight about that stuff. Obviously, if I can get paid, I want to get paid, but I’m not going to get mad at some kid who gets the tracks for free and he’s rocking out to it with his friends. We’ve given tracks to skate videos and projects like that too. It’s all a give-and-take, so you can’t get too precious about it.”

With VHS or Beta and Nu Ravers on the Block at
Club Lambi on Tuesday, Nov. 20, 9 p.m., $15