Seconded, Zenith Angle was poor. (Compared to the rest of Sterling's work). Seemed like the need to get something "contemporary" out post 9/11 watered it down. What I have always loved is Sterling's positing the evolution of current underground/counter-cultural trends into the future, i.e. the bicameral mind thread running through "Distraction," I was reading Julian Jaynes "Conciousness and the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind" right around the time he was writing the novel, though I didn't read the novel till a few years later...what a pleasant surprise... I hope he returns to form for his next book

The Fall did it first (1988)and played live at the gig

"I am Kurious Oranj"

http://youtube.com/watch?v=4CWf1FwwePw