Sometimes the people best qualified to re-create the past are those who never actually experienced it the first time around. This is true of the young synthesizer-wielding upstarts who make up Late of the Pier. Springing seemingly out of nowhere (a.k.a. Nottingham, England), the fearsome foursome-Samuel Dust (vocals, guitar), Rouge Dog Consuela (drums, percussion), Francis Dudley Dance (bass), Jack Paradise (synths, sampler)-have quickly blazed a trail across London, garnering the “greatest new band in the history of humankind” accolades that the British music press dishes out practically on a weekly basis. “They often get things so totally wrong,” says 22-year-old front man Dust, who claims the early attention has had an almost adverse effect. “We just want to be worthy of the praise. Our only goal is to be original and play shows with bands we like.” The release of Late of the Pier’s debut EP, Echoclistel Lambietroy (Astralwerks), this past July, proved that the kids were adept at taking the best of early-’80s New Wave and post-punk (cheapo synth sounds, canned beats, squirrelly guitar riffs) and beaming it headlong into the future. The group’s new full-length, Fantasy Black Channel (Astralwerks), is a wild pastiche of pogo-friendly pop music crammed full of old synths, angular guitar sounds, and the occasional preening falsetto. “None of us were born before 1986, so we have a very different view of what the ’80s were all about,” says Dust. “But there were so many great ideas from that period that were never fully realized. If the music of that era had managed to actually spark a revolution, the end result might have sounded a lot like us.” Maybe Late of the Pier isn’t so much late as right on time.