Dave Chamberlain

Perhaps one of the most anticipated records this year, The Streets' (aka Mike Skinner's) "A Grand Don't Come for Free" doesn't disappoint. Picking up where "Pirate" left off, "A Grand" takes the life of a Midlands-area British slacker and runs--in fact, this record illustrates the inner workings of a slacker on both sides of the ocean. Keeping production values very much in the background behind his story-telling, Skinner spins yarns that make the humdrum sound positively scintillating; the opening track, "It Was Supposed to be So Easy," sounds like a funeral march until you realize his problem--returning a rented DVD. Throughout the record we learn more about Skinner's inadequacies (he's jealous of everything, doesn't know enough about football--soccer, to our people--and is hopelessly hooked on the idea of drugs) than his strengths, though by learning about this, we absorb his strength: storytelling. If you toss out the song getting hawked as a single ("Fit But You Know It"), the culmination of Skinner's ability comes on "Blinded by the Lights," on which he tells of getting drugs into a club, taking said drugs, looking for his friends in the previously mentioned crowded club, and text-messaging. Mundane stuff, but when set to the brilliant loop of a wheezy synthetic crank-up (ala hard-banging techno), which Skinner then slows down and draws out, it's positively heartbreaking.

The Streets play June 23 at the Metro, 3730 North Clark, (773)549-4140.

(2004-06-16)

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