On August 14th, Cake will release B-Sides and Rarities, which is the band's first release since 2004's Pressure Chief. I've been listening to an advance copy of the CD, which includes unreleased tracks and a bunch of great covers. The remakes include artists like Black Sabbath, Barry White, Frank Sinatra, Buck Owens, George Jones, and Kenny Rogers.
Like every previous Cake album to date, B-Sides does not take itself too seriously, and is simply loads of fun.
Anyway, the new record inspired me to browse back through my Cake collection. As I did, something struck me.
Cake is the most vibraslap-happy band on the planet.
Mixed in with the trumpets, ever-so-slightly offtime vocal delivery and in-unison "HEY!"s you'll hear the rattling sound of an instrument called the vibraslap (as shown in the included photo).
From Wikipedia, "A vibraslap (also known as a Mandible) is a percussion instrument consisting of a piece of stiff wire (bent in a handle-like shape) connecting a wood ball to a block of wood with metal "teeth" inside. When the percussionist holds the handle in one hand and strikes the ball (usually against the palm of their other hand), the metal teeth vibrate against the wood block, causing a distinctive rattling sound."
This playlist pulls the best virbraslap tracks ever recorded by Cake into a single EP-sized collection. To listen to the playlist in full via Rhapsody, click here.
Playlist Tracklisting:
1. Never There
2. Comfort Eagle
3. Love You Madly
4. No Phone
5. Short Skirt/Long Jacket
6. Nugget
7. Arco Arena
CAKE “B-sides and Rarities" tracklisting:
1. War Pigs
2. Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town
3. Mahna Mahna
4. Excuse Me, I Think I've Got A Heartache
5. Conroy
6. Strangers in the Night
7. Subtract One Love (Multiply the Heartaches)
8. Never, Never Gonna Give You Up
9. Thrills
10. Short Skirt, Long Jacket
11. It's Coming Down
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