Dangerous Dreams
In New York, it's been convenient and popular to tap into the recycled angst fueling the early '80s revival that's on every iPod and every dance floor.  Moving Units' Blake Miller, Johan Boegli (bass) and Chris Hathwell (drums) make music that is solely about the here and now.Ask Blake Miller, Moving Units' singer/guitarist, which records were in rotation during the making of "Dangerous Dreams", the L.A. trio's roiling debut album, and he won't mention the usual post punk suspects.  "Dangerous  Dreams has little to do with the latest dance-punk phenomenon and more to do with the restless inner workings of three clumsy musicians who have no choice but to throw their heart and soul into these songs. "The truth of the matter is, what we did at the time was a really honest emotional expression," Miller says of the band's beginnings, "but it just happened to coincide with a sort of musical zeitgeist."Nearly two tumultuous years in the making at various L.A. studios, the album boasts a tightrope sound whose volatility is both musical and emotional -- a result of either the band's perfectionism or it's unique chemistry. There seems to be no escape, for example, from the drum attack by Hathwell. He hits the kit like his pants are on fire, slicing off shards of spastic dancefloor grooves at will and stopping and starting on a dime with impetuous urgency.A raggedy crew who car-crashed in L.A.'s indie music scene three years ago, the only thing the trio's backgrounds had in common then was a pent-up fury waiting to be unleashed.  Miller grew up lost in Detroit's down-and-dirty suburban wasteland and suddenly found himself in Los Angeles out of step with the city's industry-driven music scene. Mild-mannered and sophisticated, Boegli emigrated to L.A. from D.C. but strangely absent were the typical hardcore  roots often associated with the seminal D.C. music scene.  Hathwell ventured from band to band in Southern California, eventually bumping into Miller amidst the underemployed underground.The members finally crossed paths and melded their diverse backgrounds and styles to synthesize the early Moving Units style.  Quickly going into the studio, the band recorded their first songs with a raw organic feel that instantly translated to tape.The alchemy of those sessions was proven when four new tracks became an EP released in early 2003.  A steady flow of L.A. gigs established the band as a fan favorite in the All-Ages crowd. They selected the name Moving Units to mock the sales-obsessed record industry they were united in despising, but it is open to a variety of interpretations.By 2003, America and the rest of the world had taken notice.  The band was hand-picked by Damon Albarn to open Blur's North American Tour. Contemporaries Hot Hot Heat invited the band to tour across the US and throughout the UK.  Recently, a secret show on the eve of the Coachella festival found Moving Units opening for none other than the Pixies.In addition to the dreams that haunt Miller, Boegli and Hathwell on their debut album, their waking life seems to point toward a future that will find some of their more idyllic dreams - like musical innovation and success - being realized as well. For now, they're less focused on "moving units", and more devoted to perfecting the sound of their group. "We have a clear idea about the musical territory we want to explore. It has to be raw, and it has to sound like us," Miller says of the band's top priority. "Who knows what that means? But in our heads we hope we know what that seems to mean."