Cake Like

  • Cake Like
  • Delicious (Japan. Avant) 1994 
  • Mr. Fireman EP7 (Genius) 1995 

This New York trio of singer/bassist Kerri Kenney (an actress on MTV’s The State), guitarist/singer Nina Hellman and drummer Jody Seifert revels in the sort of indie-rock simplicity that made the Breeders’ Pod such a shocking debut. Between Eli Janney’s sparkling, vocals-up-front production and the driving, fractured, short-song structures and lyrical absurdities (“your dad works for my dad/my dad”) of the music, Delicious is immediately accessible to those ready for aggressive, independent-minded pop by women who know how to write a song without painting anything on their bellies. Cake Like’s pared-down intellectualism makes it clear that when you hear something like the “la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la” on “Fruitcake” break down into the percussive loose-hewn squall of “Suck,” there’s something far greater going on than simple cutesy chick-rock. Mr. Fireman (“Bring your goddamned truck and some water!”) is a three-song single produced by Ric Ocasek.

[Jason Ferguson]