The Sea and Cake, at the Bowery Ballroom, April 17th, 2003
Good Mood Music for People in Good Moods
Nothing is more relaxing than the airy jazzed-out indie-rock of The Sea
and
Cake - except for a blow-job with Altoids - but that's weird-good, and
another review altogether. I have yet to learn the names of any of
their
six albums worth of same-tempo pop tunes, but the Portland band has
never
released anything that can be considered disagreeable - a thinking man's
version of the Shins with enough guitar instrumentation to keep a
Steely
Dan fanatic more than interested.
All five of them look like somebody's uncle rather than rock musicians,
but
then again, the whole indie-rock scene cannot all dress like
Brooklyn-based, blacked-rimmed glassed Eurotrash. That would be plain
old
stupid. In fact, the keyboardist even looks like one-baller John Kruk.
Despite a few technical glitches (the first time I have ever heard a
soundboard err at Bowery), the show was solid - nothing to drool over,
but
if you are looking to chill out, drink some lagers and be happy, The
Sea
and Cake hit the mark. Performing much of the show from their latest -
and
most electronic - effort, One Bedroom, the highlights of 70-minute set
were
the extended loungy-jam sequences and the facial expressions from their
bassist that answer the age-old question: What do epileptics look like
when orgasming?
Not to mention a four song encore that totally rocked with a capital
roll.
Unfortunately for the band, this first show of a three night stint was
not
even close to being sold out. Maybe they'll have more of a draw on
Friday
night.
