While it may be confusing for many to see schedules for both CAKE and The Sea and Cake posted this month, distinguishing them as separate entities is really quite easy.
For instance, CAKE are an alt-rock band formed in 1991 in Sacramento, CA. They have six albums, the latest of which is B-Sides and Rarities released earlier this month and comes packaged in a variety of scratch-n-sniff covers correlating to color: red/fresh cut roses, yellow/banana, brown/leather, green/fresh cut grass, and purple/grape. While touring in support of their latest B-Sides release, CAKE is also working on a live album entitled Live at the Crystal Palace, to be released some time this autumn.
The Sea and Cake are not.
In contrast, The Sea and Cake were formed in 1993 in Chicago. Just yesterday, while riding the bus, I tried to put my finger on their influences, but all I could nail was The Kinks, which puts them squarely in the "pop-rock" category. Hm. Their first full-length release in four years, Everybody (TMT Review), was released back in May, with a full 16-page booklet of liner notes and a set of three photo card insets. Everybody is presented as the band's seventh release to date, yet the first produced by someone besides Sea and Cake drummer John McEntire. While they probably switched producers in hopes of creating an entirely new sound that would re-interest the public in their work and earn them renown as "dynamic and experimental leaders of American pop," they instead proved their consistency by creating a work that sounds exactly like every other album they've released.
As should be apparent at this point, the word 'cake' is really all the two groups have in common. But, since cake (the food) is so delightful, it tends to blot out any meaning from the words around it. Thus "cake" is all we see or care about in "The Sea and Cake," and when it appears in all capitals as "CAKE," an ineffable sensation wells up from our very being, manifesting itself as a glassy-eyed grin on our round, little faces.
May this clarification inspire you to attend one or more of the following tours:
The Sea and Cake- 2007 tourdates:
