Review: The Streets On Fire – This Is Fancy
Let me put it to you this way: if I were throwing a party in my grandmother’s basement, I’d play This Is Fancy at maximum volume for the entire duration, with the possible exception of a couple slow dances set to pre-Saturday Night Fever Bee Gees. But, yeah, this would be the main course, because Chicago’s the Streets On Fire are putting it to us in an old-fashioned way, making obnoxious, scuzzy dance rock that looks backward to analog recording equipment and real rock ‘n’ roll instruments without ever once apologizing for the racket. It’s hot shit, etc.
The press release tells me these guys are more “collective” than “band,” but they sound like a band – you can hear the sweaty chemistry in every note they squeeze out. If you want an approximation of their sound, think “The Bravery, if the Bravery were any good.” The general aesthetic can be summed up in one word: sleaze. Hell, the album starts with a song called “Nobody’s Fucking To The Radio” that will make you want to grab your significant other and drop trou on the spot. The sound is sexy because it’s muscley without getting dense – there’s plenty of air circulating, no matter how much distortion they slap on the guitar.
The lyrics approach perfection in their dumb simplicity: “Hey Lou, what you got in that bag?” goes one chorus, ad infinitum, until you’re doing Jersey Shore fist bumps in your office chair. “Fancy” is the record’s centerpiece, a stripped down nü-bluez stomper that recalls the White Stripes but beats them at their own game with ghostly background harmonies and positively thunderous handclaps – this is the kind of arrangement Jack White used to dream up, before he went soft from one (or two) too many side projects. It’s the kind of song that you drunkenly decide your neighbors really need to hear at 1am.
I’ll admit: I had reservations about the Streets On Fire. Could a record this janky, greasy, and outright fun be any good for me? Probably not. It’s an indulgence, like the deep dish pizza of the band’s hometown. If you don’t mind getting your hands dirty, This Is Fancy could become one of your go-to spins when the chips are down and it’s time to fuck shit up.
(The Streets On Fire are playing a record release show at Double Door this Friday (7/2). You can grab a copy of This Is Fancy there, a full eighteen days before its actual release. Do it, do it, do it. Also playing: Big Science, Blah Blah Blah, and America Owns The Moon John Rambo & the Vietnam Wars. Doors open at nine and, of course, it’s 21+ – get a babysitter for the kids and drink a bottle of whiskey. Guaranteed party.)
The Streets On Fire:
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America owns the moon has been replaced on the bill with John Rambo and the Vietnam Wars, who are also from Indianapolis and also quite good.
Thanks for the heads up! I got my info from MySpace, which is always a mistake.