Cake Like
Bruiser Queen
Vapor, julie@nlmpr.com
Release Date: 1997
If Manhattan ever decides to hire a house band, it couldn't choose a much better act than Cake Like. Bruiser Queen is so New York you can almost feel the subway rumble under your feet. It exudes energy in all the right places -- from the bouncy hand claps and shout-outs in "Lorraine's Car" to the hilarious curse-out on "Mr. Fireman." But at the same time, singers Kerri Kenney and Nana Hellman manage a detached cool that allows them to croon an entire song in French ("The American Woman") without sounding pretentious or silly.
Keeping with the Manhattan theme, Cake Like is highly theatrical -- in a way, way off-Broadway kinda way. The band's call-and-response vocal style is everything we can only suppose those horrendous rock operas shoot for (and miss). And I swear that "Pretty New" sounds like a grimy, East-Village punk-rock version of Annie, if such a thing can be said in a complimentary tone of voice.
The ladies of Cake Like proudly recall forming their band before any of them knew how to play their instruments, and the media has bitten at the unique angle. But don't believe the hype -- it's lazy journalism that simply seeks to obscure the fact that this is one hard-to-pigeonhole trio. While there's no virtuoso wanking, Cake Like proves its musical merit by crafting tunes that don't so much cross genres as flat-out ignore them. Each song is highly distinct, but the album retains cohesion, thanks largely to the interplay of Kenney's powerhouse set o' pipes (think Kristen Hersh on a strict diet of Marlboro Reds and Kentucky bourbon) and Hellman's playfully oversexed vocals.
-- Jon Carson
carson@outersound.com
