Cake

Pressure Chief (Columbia)
by Sarah Katz

Ever since Fashion Nugget, every Cake album takes time to grow on me. When the single “No Phone” was blaring all over the radio, I became skeptical. It sounded like Cake, with some electronic thingymajigers thrown in there. Had Cake left their roots to go experimental?!

For those who’ve never heard anything from Motorcade of Generosity through Comfort Eagle, Pressure Chief sounds pretty good. But I’m still skeptical. On Fashion Nugget, every song kicks ass, “Frank Sinatra” through “Sad Songs and Waltzes.” I never skip a beat, never miss a lyric, and I love every minute of it. On Comfort Eagle and Prolonging the Magic, one or two songs rock, you skip around the whole album, and that’s no fun.

I really like “Carbon Monoxide” with its trippy ’70s interlude. “Waiting” is witty, “End of the Movie” is goofy and country, and I’m rocking out to “Tougher Than It Is.” The album is okay, in fact, it’s better than most of the shit that’s being produced. Pressure Chief is growing on me, and soon I’ll know all the lyrics. This might be the album we’ve been waiting for since Fashion Nugget.
(www.columbiarecords.com)