When crafting our Top 10 Chicago Bands To Watch In 2010 list, I made sure The Streets On Fire were included solely because I thoroughly enjoyed their debut EP Hot Weekend. Honestly, I had no idea what the band’s plan was for 2010, but luckily they’ve lived up to our hype with the release of their first full-length record This Is Fancy. Fancy finds the band expanding on the danceable, gritty post-punk of Hot Weekend, but they’ve definitely stepped up their game and sound much more focused on this record. But they also let their new material open up and breathe, giving Fancy much more atmosphere, mood and feeling than their previous effort, and that’s why This Is Fancy is one fun record.

While most of the time, it’s best for a band to try something different with a new album, the same can be said for bands trying to refine their sound from one album to the next. The Strokes did this with Room On Fire, while not drastically different from their debut, it was a very solid album and pushed them into super stardom in the early 2000’s. To a similar degree Pearl Jam has been doing this for most of their career – although some efforts more successful than others. That’s just two out of thousands of example and I’m definitely not comparing The Streets On Fire to those two bands. But the point I’m trying to make is that it’s okay for a band to sit and flesh out their sound than risk it all with a huge gamble (See MGMT).

Chicago’s The Streets On Fire indeed sit on their sound, and the result is the fiery, danceable and snarling This Is Fancy. No major leaps forward, no dips into the digital world, just passionate and frenzied post-punk. But this time we get 11 tracks rather than six, which was the max for Hot Weekend. And while Hot Weekend definitely did not sound rushed or unfocused, you can still hear some nerves of the band through your speakers or headphones. The EP was good, but it was obvious Hot Weekend was a first effort. Now with a full-length, The Streets On Fire have delved into more psychedelic leanings and open up the songs to more complex instrumentation.

“Hello, from Eastern Europe” is one track the encompasses everything right with This Is Fancy. It opens with a drowning bass line and ’60s psych-guitar swirls under what sounds like a man speaking in Russian. Then the song completely heads toward stoner-rock droning territory. It’s a different move for The Streets On Fire, but one that makes complete sense. Sure, it lacks the dance-y cymbal play they excel at, but it’s a hell of a lot more head-bobbing and devil-horns-to-the-sky than anything they’ve done before.

If “Hello, from Eastern Europe” had a foil on the record, it would be opener “No One’s Fucking To The Radio”, which features Warbling phased-out guitar and urgent drumming via Gabriel Palomo that hurdles the track through space as frontman Chadwick dementedly snarls, “No one’s fucking to the radio!” While not completely new, it’s a refinement of The Streets On Fire’s approach on Hot Weekend. The refinements might be subtle, but as the quote goes, and I’m certain the band would agree, “the devil is in the details.”

“Chadwick Shut Up!” offers a echo-y car chase riff over a energetic hi-hat tailspin. Bassist Sebastian Brzek shakes the walls in the dark new-wave number “Astronaut Love Triangle” that sometimes even encroaches on Bowie glam rock territory. “Fancy” is a slow-lurching waltz that really comes into it’s own as Chadwick rambles his way through until a massive classic rock howl bring things to a new level. It’s quite a heavy song more in attitude than in sound, but that’s why it works.

And if I could pull a comparison from current sports culture: If The Streets On Fire were a basketball team and guitarist Yuri Alexander was a free agent, they should offer him a multi-million dollar immediately. Seriously, the man is on fire on Fancy. His guitar lines really make the songs come alive because of his awareness. He seems to know when to pull back, when to add more, when to make the guitar sound more like a noise machine and when to make the guitar sounds like an angular jackhammer. Don’t believe me? Just check out the second half “Color Stereo” in which Alexander does some awesome theremin-esque noodling.

On This Is Fancy, The Streets On Fire come along way in that they’ve seemed to really find their sound. Plus, the record is also quite an achievement as it actually sounds like a complete album, which is something most up-and-coming local bands tend to shy away from in order to release singles or brief EPs instead of a seemingly intimidating full-length. While Hot Weekend was the crazed drunk Saturday night party album, This Is Fancy just might be the week-long bender with a side of hallucinogens thrown in for good measure.
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Catch The Streets On Fire on Friday, July 2 at the Double Door for their record release party! Tickets are available right now on Ticketfly.com for $10!

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