Pressure Chief CAKE

• 1 Wheels 03:20
• 2 No Phone 03:52
• 3 Take It All Away 03:57
• 4 Dime 03:37
• 5 Carbon Monoxide 03:09
• 6 The Guitar Man 03:53
• 7 Waiting 03:55
• 8 She'll Hang the Baskets 02:42
• 9 End of the Movie 01:49
• 10 Palm of Your Hand 02:57
• 11 Tougher Than It Is 03:00
• Total Runtime 36:11

Info for Pressure Chief

At no point is there any sign of a dip in Cake's music. With 'Pressure Chief', again provided with the artwork of their front-man John McCrea, Cake proves to be slightly departing from the slowly evolving sound that they had developed over the past decade. Most notably are the significantly increased amount of synthesizer and keyboard invading their melodies and along with McCrea's unique vocal timbre it had become the foundations of the bands 'sound'. There is not a single song on this album that isn't entertaining and moving. There's additional electric guitar playing by Green On Red desert rocker Chuck Prophet on 'She'll Hang The Baskets'.

"Released in 2004, Pressure Chief marks Cake's tenth year with a set of sardonic, engaging alternative pop that shows the Sacramento band's economical sound unwilted after all these years. Chief features artwork and typography typical to the group, as well the familiar three-color print scheme and stiff cardstock paper. John McCrea's wit is as dry as ever, and his tongue has grown sharper with the addition of a social comment streak that occasionally goes quite cynical. Single "No Phone" decries the encroachment of technology, while "Carbon Monoxide" is an upbeat, Beatlesque number that nevertheless wonders cynically, "Where's the air?" Later, the wispily funky "Tougher Than It Is" encourages listeners to take it easy, because life's going to keep throwing curve balls anyway. Cake have always positioned themselves as cultural observers, but McCrea's opinions on Chief rely more on clarity than wryness. This doesn't make the album a downer. It opens with "Wheels," a song built from the best parts of Cake's thrifty yet effective arsenal. McCrea's narrative mostly concerns a breakup, and life moving on ("Wheels keep on spinning 'round..."). But his imagery is on overdrive once he hits the singles bar, where the "Muscular cyborg German dudes dance with sexy French Canadians." The song's punctuated by a classic Vince Di Fiore descending trumpet line and some fan-favorite "HEY!"s from McCrea. In the tradition of "I Will Survive," the band tackles another cover song, this time reinterpreting Bread's "Guitar Man." With its vintage synthesizers squiggling off the cues of an acoustic guitar, their version meanders at a comforting pace akin to Flaming Lips' "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, Pt. 1," and even gives McCrea a chance to sing a little. Other highlights include "She'll Hang the Baskets," where guest Chuck Prophet fills out the mournful melody with some fuzzily toned electric guitar, and "Dime," where the charmingly home-recorded quality of Pressure Chief really stands out. Smart, subtly subversive, and always catchy -- if it ain't broke, don't fix it." (Johnny Loftus, AMG)

CAKE

Please Note: We offer this album in its native sampling rate of 44.1 kHz, 24-bit. The provided 192 kHz version was up-sampled and offers no audible value!

CAKE
is an alternative rock band which formed in 1991 in Sacramento, California, United States. The band consists of John McCrea (vocals, guitar), Xan McCurdy (guitar), Gabe Nelson (bass), Vincent DiFiore (trumpet, keyboards, vocals) and Paulo Baldi (drums). The band has released six albums: Motorcade of Generosity (1994), Fashion Nugget (1996), Prolonging the Magic (1998), Comfort Eagle (2001), Pressure Chief (2004) and Showroom of Compassion (2011). The band has been very successful on American alternative radio, with nine of their singles appearing on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart between 1993 and 2011.

B-Sides and Rarities was released October 2, 2007. It features a live cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” and their cover “Mahna Mahna”, which also appears on the charity CD “For the Kids” whose proceeds benefit the “VH1 SAVE THE MUSIC” organization.

CAKE’s latest album, Showroom of Compassion, was released January 11, 2011. It was recorded at the Upbeat Studio in Sacramento, California with the help of recording engineer Pat Olguin.

Although CAKE’s music is often classified as alternative or indie rock, it combines multiple musical genres, such as funk, pop, jazz, rap, and country. CAKE’s music features droll lyrics rife with word play and syncopation (laconically voiced in a rap-like style by lead vocalist/guitarist John McCrea), catchy distorted guitar riffs (courtesy of guitarist Greg Brown until 1998, and bass player to Victor Damiani until 1997), and a solo trumpet (played by Vince DiFiore). CAKE’s musical style has been compared to They Might Be Giants, Talking Heads, The Cars, and Camper Van Beethoven.

Damiani left the band in 1997, replaced by Gabe Nelson. Greg Brown left in 1998, replaced by Xan McCurdy. Brown and Damiani continued to work together when they formed the band Deathray. Todd Roper left the band to focus on parenthood after recording Comfort Eagle.

CAKE’s biggest hits have included “The Distance”, “Never There”, “Sheep Go to Heaven” “Rock ‘n’ Roll Lifestyle”, “No Phone”, “Short Skirt/Long Jacket”, and an alternative remake of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive”. An instrumental version of CAKE’s “Italian Leather Sofa” is featured as the theme song to the cartoon Mission Hill. The song “Shadow Stabbing” from Comfort Eagle appears in the opening credits of the movies Orange County and Wordplay. The songs “Daria”, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Lifestyle”, and “Friend Is a Four-Letter Word” are featured as closing credit themes for episodes of Daria. The song “Frank Sinatra” was also featured at the close of The Sopranos episode “The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti”. The movie, “Me, Myself, and Irene” also featured CAKE’s “Hem of Your Garment”. In the Tv-Series “Chuck”, “Short Skirt/Long Jacket” is used in the intro of each episode.

Additionally, CAKE headlined the Unlimited Sunshine Tour festival in the summer of 2002 among an eclectic ensemble of bands including Modest Mouse, The Flaming Lips, De La Soul, Latin techno fusion band Kinky and bluegrass group The Hackensaw Boys.

This album contains no booklet.