For some reason i am highly surprised that the band "Cake" is mentioned as infrequently as it is here on the boards. In my town of Auburn, Alabama "Cake" is all the rage and I figured that I'd hear some response, positive or negative, here on the boards.

I like "Cake".

There I said it. I enjoy the monotone singing of John McCrea. I crave their bubbly ADD induced lyrics. I dont mind that each album of theirs sounds like 12 tracks of the same song with different lyrics. I like the song. Its catchy and the creator of wonderfully eccentric visuals that dance in my head.

Their newest album "Pressure Chief" is totally imperfect and more of the same and sometimes the lyrics are simple rhymes, but its the quirkiness of it all. When the song topics range from Overweight Americans in Patriotic Jumpsuits, to inhaling too much carbon monoxide, to the egotistics of the lead guitar. It's eccentric stuff, man. I can just imagine the group sitting in front of a collection of random objects and creating songs about each.

Any "Cake" lovers/haters here on the boards???

I'm on the Cake bandwagon with you, E. I've been into them from the beginning, and one of the most fun shows I've ever been at was a free live acoustic show (at 10 AM) on the weekend that they played Music Midtown in Atlanta. It was recorded for radio broadcast, and they played almost 10 songs acoustically. Nothing more fun that drinking beer at 10 AM and enjoying a rock and roll show....

I'm not ready to make a rush judgment on the new album, but your take seems right: it sounds like Cake, which is what i expected. The cover of "Guitar Man" is pretty unexpected (it's a Bread song, if you didn't know it) and there was a bonus ep that came with my copy of the album which also has covers of "Strangers in the Night" and an old Mel Tillis song...

It's not anything really new or different...but its the same song that I've liked before, and I still like it now...

I like "Cake" too.

My favorite songs are "Frank Sinatra", "the Distance" and "Short skirt, Long Jacket." I havent heard Pressure Chief yet but it looks pretty good.

But the question that always has troubled me a bit is:

Exactly what kind of music is Cake?

Obviously its a sub-genre of rock, but how would you better define it. I always thought of it as sort of "Ska" because of the trumpets and stuff, but then again, it doesnt have the same rhythm and tempo that Ska usually does.

What do you think?

Come on? Does anyone know the answer??

I NEED TO KNOW!! I cant sleep at night because I dont know!! PLEASE TELL ME!!! WHAT GENRE OF MUSIC IS CAKE!! PLEASE!!

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Originally posted by kraftdeluxe:
Come on? Does anyone know the answer??

I NEED TO KNOW!! I cant sleep at night because I dont know!! PLEASE TELL ME!!! WHAT GENRE OF MUSIC IS CAKE!! PLEASE!!

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Alternative Rock? Power Pop? Pop-Rock?

yeah....but they dont really sound like anything else.

...whatever.

How's this

Quirk-rock genre

(??)

Since most of the novelty of Cake is it's deadpan irony and quirkiness I think that fits well.

Maybe "joke rock"? But that might include other bands NOT like Cake, including They Might Be Giants, the Barenaked Ladies, and Moxy Fruvous, who sound NOTHING like Cake.

Given their use of world music stylings (flamenco guitars, maricachi band trumpets), maybe "world-music influenced alternative rock"?

The closest antecedent to them, stylistically, is probably Camper Van Beethoven, another humor-driven and world-music influenced combo, although Camper certainly played in more styles (polka, ska, Russian folk music) than Cake. Camper is usually considered to be, broadly, "alternative rock."

By the way...if anyone is interested, there is a spinoff group from Cake, called Deathray, who do straight-up power pop (without monotone vocals). Greg Brown and Vincent Damiani, guitarist and bassist on the first two Cake records, formed Deathray in 2000 and released the self-titled record on Capricorn in 2000. It's a good slice of new-wave-y power pop (think skinny tie pop and The Cars). An ep, White Sleeves came out on Doppler in 2002 with more of the same.

They Might be Giants is actually a good band to compare to Cake. Both of their music sort of remind me of eachother.(is that correct grammar?)

S i guess I would call them like Ska/Alternative/Joke rock, or Skalterjorock.

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Originally posted by kraftdeluxe:
They Might be Giants is actually a good band to compare to Cake.

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Yeah, I considered that. The major difference that I notice is that, while TMBG write songs that seem to be intentionally funny, Cake seems to be using stream-of-consciousness kind of lyrics that are funny but might not be intended to be funny. But they do share a common weirdness and a sense of humor that many other bands don't let show through.

And, to reply to Eccentro's first comment, Cake's popularity in Auburn may have to do with the odd confluence of bands that have gotten popular with the frat-boy set, which I assume is a strong presence in a college town like Auburn. Strange bands are getting popular from the frat-boy scene, including Cake, Wilco (a little experimental for a beer bong party, dontcha think?), Bruce and Charlie Robison, and Ryan Adams all seem to have a big frat house following. I was shocked at how many Abercrombie and Fitch wearing, Bud-drinkin', greek-lettered dudes were at recent shows by Wilco and Bruce Robison, and expect the same at Ryan Adams.