Cake - Showroom of Compassion

Well, after nearly seven years, the boys of Cake have done it again. Their sixth studio album, Showroom of Compassion hit stores last week and man, I'm diggin' it. I didn't realize that it had been so long since Pressure Chief! Crazy!

This album is awesome. It's Cake, so I find it hard to believe that it could have been anything else. It's nice to see that they haven't lost their affinity for unconventional percussion, horns, esoteric lyrics, and funky ass guitar. In additional to all those Cake classics, you also have the introduction of piano on "The Winter" and "Teenage Pregnancy", which sounds incredibly like a funeral march. Appropriate. It's also the sole instrumental out of the 11 tracks a la "Arco Arena". 

While Cake has always been a little spacey, this album is by far the most psychedelic. There's also a drastic lack of "oh no"s and "all right"s, in favor of extended notes, which is pretty rare from singer John McCrea. While I enjoy his typical half sung/half spoken vocals, this is a nice departure from the norm. It something different, yet refreshingly familiar. It's also delightfully lo-fi without being pretentious. Recorded in their own, solar-powered studio, it appears this album was nurtured to it's full potential. This album could have come out in between any of their other albums and fit right it.

While Cake usually employs the same methods of making music, it never becomes boring. It's not six albums of the same song, just songs with a distant cousin. Songs that see each other once a year at the family reunion, but still get along. Hence that familiarity.

Yes, I'm a general Cake fan all around, but I always appreciate a good, upbeat track and there's plenty to go around on this album including the devastatingly catchy "Sick of You" and the incredibly funky "Mustache Man".

Long story short: I love Cake. I love this album. You should, too. They even get an A. Check it out, streaming for free on their Myspace now. You can also find the over on Facebook or over at their site. Also, happy Tuesday...have some videos.

"Sick of You"


"Mustache Man"


"Federal Funding"