Upbeat

The seven years between Cake’s previous release, Pressure Chief, and the new Showroom of Compassion haven’t significantly altered the band’s approach in any discernible way. Frontman John McCrea’s mastery of the quirky lyric remains intact, as evidenced by the first lines of the opening track, “Federal Funding.” “You’ll receive the federal funding/You can add another wing,” he repeats twice over a fuzzy guitar, slithery keyboard and insistent rhythm line. You wait for the clever ironic twist but there isn’t one – the song’s essence never wavers, even as the jam crests in a near-chaotic squall. The first single, “Sick of You,” meanwhile, could pass for a lost ‘60s garage-rock gem – until the oddball, quasi-dense spoken-word interlude, anyway. As ever, Cake provides an album’s worth of keeper grooves, welcomed surprises and brain-teasing tunes.