Category Archives: cake

It’s been a long time since we drove your Pontiac

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Cake’s new album

I waited so patiently for 4 years for a new Cake album. I’ve really loved their whole discography from 1994’s Motorcade of Generosity to the B-Sides & Rarities compilation album that came out in 2007. I love the dry, almost spoken, delivery of frontman John McCrea’s singing. I love Vince DiForce’s addition of trumpet and keyboards to the music. I love that the music is witty and fun.

In 2008 the band decided to remove Cake’s studio from the dependence of California’s electricity grid and go 100% solar. This must make recording only possible in for a few hours during the day, since it took another 3 years for them to release their next album titled Showroom of Compassion. Released it is though, on January 11, 2011 to a NUMBER 1 spot on the Billboard charts! Wow! That must feel great to have your “comeback” record receive such praise. Except that it will own this distinction with an asterisk. You see, it broke a record for being a number 1 album with the lowest sales in history. 44,000 albums was all it took to secure a number one spot that week. That’s 2,000,000 less than the biggest opening week an album has had according to Billboard. (N-Sync March 2000).

Showroom of Compassion, even after all the hype, ends up being somewhat uninspired. I’ll showcase this by sharing a great song and a song that I call the Taco Bell of the record. More filler than beef.

Let’s start with the waste so we can end on a good note.

The opening track on SOC almost made me turn the CD player off. What garbage is this? The song is called “Federal Funding” and the lyrics, the music… all just amazingly boring. The big instrumental finish of the track saves it a bit, but it’s my opinion it could have been left off the album altogether.

Click to play Cake – Federal Funding

John McCrea Noel Vasquez,Getty Images

The best track on the album, ends up being what should have been the opener. Track 2 is called “Long Time” and that’s the opening track title for a “comeback” album. Maybe Cake, like LL Cool J, doesn’t want us to “call it a comeback”. I call it like I see it, and this is the perfect opener. “Long Time” is the track that will crystallize the experience of the rest of the album. It has all the Cake-like elements of greatness. The distinctive talky-singing, the bass slap, the jittery guitar riffs, the trumpet, the synth keyboards, ticking clock sounds, a glockenspiel. It’s all here.

Click to play Cake – Long Time

It’s been a long time
Since we tripped into this ditch
It’s been a long time
Since we drank the a-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-arsenic

Isn’t that a great Cake song? Makes me want to see them live again. It’s been a long time since I have seen the band Cake on tour. I’m hoping for a tour stop near enough for me to see them again. One thing I am sure hasn’t changed is the great live show Cake is known for.

Amazon has the album on sale right now…only $7.99! If you are a Cake fan, you need this one for your collection, and at that price I don’t think you should pass it up!

Need more of a push to buy the album? Check out the new video for the official first single from the album.

Still not sold on it? Go ahead and steal it, but I think you have to like them on facebook and listen to them pontificate about politics and the environment. That’s a fair deal…

not guilty (ok…I am)

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Ke$ha

“po po shut us down…“

This a part two to sunday’s post. Go read it here. Kilter really wanted to write about guilty musical pleasures. I knew instantly what I would write about. I was worried though. I have street cred after all. I had to write a fucking music blog for over three years to get it…and now just to keep with a “theme” I’m going to throw it all away. Kilter is trying to unseat me from my throne with this thematic gauntlet. Well fuck him. I can be honest and still keep my cred. Right? Right!?!

I mean…no one likes to admit their guilty pleasures. I mean, if you have an unhealthy fetish for cake, you tend to keep that shit to yourself. Cake for breakfast for example? You might tell your lover. He could think it’s cute? Maybe you might let it slip while drinking with friends at the bar. Maybe you do it to see how unhealthy this guilty pleasure of yours is. Normally you eat your cake in the privacy of your own kitchen. In front of the open ‘frigerator. Just in case you need to hide the evidence.

This guilty pleasure applies to all of you too. Kilter loves himself some George Michael, for example. I’m about to outdo him though. I love myself some Ke$ha. The fact I just typed her name with a dollar sign makes me blush with shame.

Cannibal

I have a friend who used to bust a gut laughing when he saw a man singing in his car. He would always imagine them singing Whitney Houston or whatever girly pop song was popular at the time. I would say, maybe he’s singing along to Metallica. He didn’t care. He would always just imagine him singing some girly and poppy, and it would crack him up!

I agreed with him and we made fun of all those dudes in their cars. Little did he know that I was one of these guys. I sing in the car. Sometimes it can be some punk or “indie” rock. A lot of the time though, it’s the sugary pop on the radio.

Imagine me singing this song: Click to play Boots & Boys

I’m not interested in boots, or boys for that matter… but the song is so damn catchy…I sing along. It’s embarrassing. I still am not sure why I am sharing this.

Ke$ha has a new EP out recently titled Cannibal. It has song titled “C U Next Tuesday”. You gotta love that! I’ve already rocked the new album a few times on my commute to work. I’d have to tell you to pick it up. Just be careful to not leave the CD case out in your car. You don’t wanna get caught.

Click to play C U Next Tuesday

  

You can’t afford what you take

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I loved Blitzen Trapper. If you’re in Seattle, you are in for a treat tonight as local radio station KEXP puts on a free show at the Mural Amphitheater with today’s INALLCAPS discovery: Throw Me The Statue.

After that, my peeps in Minneapolis will be able to catch them at 7th Street Entry on August 26 as they kick off a fall tour with The Brunettes. That’s right, summer just began but it’s already time to think about fall tours. Time to check out opening bands and discover new music all over again. If you’ve caught Cake in Seattle, you may have seen Throw Me The Statue open for them. If you caught The Shins way back in ’05, you may have seen The Brunettes open.

And if you haven’t caught anyone in awhile, then no time like the present to consult the schedule of your nearest straws-on-the-floor music venue and get on it! You’ll be glad you did. I know you have read our posts about discovering great music in opening bands. Try Pollstar.com to figure out who you are seeing tonight, next week, or next month.

And right now, preview some Throw Me The Statue:

[Download Throw Me The Statue – Noises]

You get lost when you find hope in a feeling

Blah blah blah they use drum machines and a glockenspiel. I have to mention that because everyone else and their wiki points it out and far be it from me to act like I don’t notice. I think the most notable thing about this band is the laid-back but earnest way the music and sincere lyrics are delivered. There is something very respectable about that. In this way, and only in this way, I can compare them to Death Cab for Cutie without worrying that you will think they are another sound-alike band.

Creaturesque is to be released this coming Tuesday, and it’s the second full-length album for the band. Just last year, the album Moonbeams received praise and media attention. Check out the video for “Yucatan Gold” from 2008.

And now you know what to do…