Nervous Breakdown, A Music Blog
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Fin de Siècle - “Angular Velocity” EP
From the prolific and still-running Boston-area label Stanton Park comes this 1982
neo-psychedelic oddity, featuring label owner Aram Heller, later of more well-known
80’s psych outfits World of Distortion and Plan 9, on vocals and guitar. Most
of the 3 tracks on the EP are in an almost Zappa range of non-rock silliness, but
patient listeners are rewarded with the closing track heard here. Things get off
to an exciting start as a slowly building drone of overdriven guitar explodes into
a heavy acid riff and go-for-broke drumming, while an acoustic rhythm guitar adds
texture beneath the storming battery. The inspiration is clearly Pink Floyd of
the Syd Barrett era, in fact the other EP tracks with their playful lyrics and
fey accompaniment could be said to cop the sound of Syd even more - but while the
band is able to re-create the sounds of London 1968, the vocal and lyrics are
undeniably teenage prep-school punk. This is hardly a bad thing, however, as
the contrast creates a distinct sound that sets it apart from some of the more
straight-forward copycat bands working this genre in that era on Voxx and the like.
More Fin de Siècle material has since been made available to the public, but
I’m pretty sure this was their only original release.
