For a couple of years now, I've been eagerly awaiting a full-length album from Chicago's Plastics Hi-Fi. Just when I was starting to think that I might have to put the damn thing out for them myself, a compromise has been reached. This is it.

Before you ask, yes. Home Brewed is a CD-R. Does the title make sense now? It's a very nicely-presented CD-R, attractively and inventively packaged (the disc itself is also labeled with a piece of masking tape, which somehow seems cool), but a CD-R nonetheless. However, unless you attach your favorite CDs to the fridge with magnets, this is unlikely to present a significant problem.

Home Brewed shows Plastics Hi-Fi at their most varied. On one hand, the band dishes up trademarked psychedelic-cum-shoegazing epics like "Mascara" and "Honey all the Time" -- all of them prime soundtracks to mind-expansion, dished out with radio-friendly economy and a minimum of wankiness. Then there are the sing-along pop tunes -- "Cleared for Takeoff" and "Midnight" prove that PHF can hold their own against the Elephant 6 crowd when it comes to Brian Wilson/Van Dyke Parks comparisons. "People Get Up" plays Radiohead games, blending damaged pop with vaguely Queenish histrionics. "Walk the Walk" is a modernized fifties anthem in which vocalist Matthew Linderman walks the middle ground between Lou Reed, Buddy Holly and Howard Devoto. And for those who want to invoke Syd Barrett and the miracle that was Early Pink Floyd, I recommend checking out "Cellular Heroes" and the languorous "Neighbor Song".

You might not find anything on Home Brewed that makes you run naked down the street while screaming the band's praises, but it's clear that they're almost to that point. As hummable tunes like "Walk the Walk" prove, PHF are certainly far enough along to justify the time and effort needed to really flesh out their sound. Given the time and equipment to do so -- and perhaps the presence of a high profile producer (Robert Schneider, perhaps?) -- Plastics Hi-Fi will have critics and audiences eating out of their hands.

It all comes down to who's going to make the first move. So come on, label people. What are you waiting for?