Cake - Showroom Of Compassion

Round two of New Music Tuesday is a little Cake. Red velvet? Yellow? Chocolate? Carrot??? Nope - none of those. Just some silky smooth beats and lyrics from the band. I reviewed 'Fashion Nugget' months ago, and it got a positive review. Mainly because I like the fact Cake spans so many different genres. They've got a little bit of everything in terms of overall sound. They have been on a LONG hiatus, not dropping an album since 2004. This album was slated to be very different from past Cake records - for two reasons. 1) They've never used acoustic piano before. The band thought that sound was too "classy" for one of their records. 2) They've never used reverb in any tracks before (which is basically playing a note and then allowing that note to repeat to fill the space) because they thought too many bands used reverb to sound "grandiose". So in terms of just overall feel, I'm expecting something new and fresh. Although, the only Cake record I've ever listened to start to finish is the aforementioned Fashion Nugget. So maybe I won't be as blown away as others might be. One thing can be certain though, it's going to have a strange conglomerate of sounds and lyrics. That's something they never seem to disappoint on. Running through it now a couple times, it's got a cool feel to it. I'm not sure I'd rush out to the store to buy it, but I certainly want to listen to it again. Maybe a few more 'mood' tracks than I thought - but they're all pretty good. If you listen to this today, expect to be entertained. There are a couple almost electronic type tracks that are also fun. Check it out!

TRACK LISTING:
1. Federal Funding
2. Long Time
3. Got To Move
4. What's Now is Now
5. Mustache Man (Wasted)
6. Teenage Pregnancy
7. Sick of You
8. Easy To Crash
9. Bound Away
10. Winter, The
11. Italian Guy

Listen To Samples

Top 3 Tracks:
1. Sick Of You
2. Teenage Pregnancy
3. Federal Funding

FINAL RATING:
3.25 out of 5 stars