I'm reviewing another offering from Trickhouse Recordings - this time it's the third release from Lancaster duo Cake & Menstruation.
"This is our dark release. If you can't handle it, you'll wanna go FUCKING OUTSIDE!" screams guitarist Alex George at the beginning of Public Egg-nemy Number 2 (2), thus cementing his bands reputation as confrontational iconoclasts. Over their past three releases, 2018s Public Egg-nemys number one and number two, and now this project, Cake and Menstruation have carved a niche out in the art-punk world. Their philippics contra eggs, the menstrual cycle, and anything else foolish enough to displease them, are impressively vitriolic, not to mention catchy. This album is (mostly) no exception.
Before we begin, a word on lore. The events of this album take place before the events of the first two Cake and Menstruation albums, making it a prequel. Singer Chloe Arbury is not yet alive, and as we all know, this means she is a spirit waiting for a body. An egg with a disturbing number of legs features prominently. Onwards.
The aforementioned warning comes a few moments into 'Crumbs (a tribute to Slint)', the first song. George plays a spindly, spidery guitar line that Walford, Pajo, et al would be proud of, before launching into the kind of riff - expertyly balancing Black Sabbath-esque bonheaded simplicity and prog/math-rock complexity - that a band like Chavez made their bread and butter twenty years ago. "I hate Nature Valley as much as I hate eggs," Arbury declares at the end of the first verse, and she does so with such force that I, someone who never had particularly strong opinions on Nature Valley before, found myself completely on board with the crusade, considering the best ways to destroy the entire operation.
'Prickly Cum Dancing' is the closest thing to a straightforward pop song on the album. Over bouncy guitar chords, Arbury and George detail their unbridled hatred for unwarranted Strictly Come Dancing finalist Joe Sugg. Just as easily the duo handled the abrasive opener, the major chords and sweet West Coast harmonies of this composition are dealt with incredibly adeptly. "He was the epitome of straight white mediocrity," George howls towards the end, in a line that feels particularly pertinent in the intersectionally frustrated world we seem to currently inhabit - when confronted with unreasonably powerful figures that exhibit this 'straight white mediocrity' throughout our daily lives, something like Joe Sugg's inexplicable progression through the dancing competition can sting all the more as a microcosm of the injustices we face each day.
The band go on to tell a sort of origin story for themselves on "Egg with Leg". Arbury tells the tale of the titular egg while George plays an unsettling guitar figure redolent of Polvo at their most minimal. "Why did it have legs?" they ask, pained. The fact that no one answers makes it all the more upsetting. At around the three minute mark, the tone shifts; after a Tolkein-referencing crescendo, George begins to repeat "kick 'em in the shin, kick 'em in the shin" and the song becomes the kind of nu-metal throwdown that once could imagine Fred Durst inciting violence to at Woodstock '99. It's fucking brutal.
Things take a turn on "End of Part 1." It has to be said that this album features the least amount of actual Cake and Menstruation music since their inception. The conversations between Arbury and George have always been an important part of the experience, but their decision to record the album drunk rather than hung-over changes the vibe slightly. Both "End of Part 1" and "Start of Part 2" feature little to no composition, and while improvisation is always a welcome experiment, not to mention a useful tool in confounding audiences, it falls slightly flat on record. One can very clearly tell that the group are at least having fun making the thing. They talk about the recording process itself, what it's like to be dead, and how Estonian people do shots of alcohol. The generic metal music played in the background of "Start of Part 2" injects drums and bass into the normal instrumentation of a Cake and Menstruation album.
"Take My Eyes" is a return to form. Arbury reprises her role as organ player from Public Eggnemy Number TWO as a noticeably inebriated George implores you to take his eyes to the tune of popular Take That song "Shine". The juxtaposition of Barlow's upbeat songwriting, the kind of thing we associate with Morrison's adverts and X Factor, and the visceral horror of George screaming that he no longer wants to see, is incredible. It is the kind of effective détournement that most anti-capitalists can only dream of.
"Round and Round" is yet another success. Rather than the calming repetition of the similarly-named Neil Young composition, this song quickly devolves into a screaming match between the two bandmembers and the supposed egg with legs (from the dialogue, we can perhaps infer that it is a cameo from labelmate, and all-round arse, Sweet Embrace). The band's facility with teetering on the edge of listenability, while never truly falling into the realms of harsh noise, is commendable.
All in all, Public Egg-nemy Number 2 (2) is a triumph, just as bracing, as entertaining, as thought-provoking, as their other releases, while adding new insight into the lore, and making sure the brand remains fresh in the minds of the public. If Trickhouse Recordings can scout out more acts like Cake and Menstruation, they'll be well on their way to becoming the Sub Pop or SST of the 2020s.
EDIT: I'm pleased to announce that Cake & Menstruation have just released their first music video. It's for the song 'When You Get Past a Certain Age' from their second release, and you can watch it here:
"This is our dark release. If you can't handle it, you'll wanna go FUCKING OUTSIDE!" screams guitarist Alex George at the beginning of Public Egg-nemy Number 2 (2), thus cementing his bands reputation as confrontational iconoclasts. Over their past three releases, 2018s Public Egg-nemys number one and number two, and now this project, Cake and Menstruation have carved a niche out in the art-punk world. Their philippics contra eggs, the menstrual cycle, and anything else foolish enough to displease them, are impressively vitriolic, not to mention catchy. This album is (mostly) no exception.
Before we begin, a word on lore. The events of this album take place before the events of the first two Cake and Menstruation albums, making it a prequel. Singer Chloe Arbury is not yet alive, and as we all know, this means she is a spirit waiting for a body. An egg with a disturbing number of legs features prominently. Onwards.
The aforementioned warning comes a few moments into 'Crumbs (a tribute to Slint)', the first song. George plays a spindly, spidery guitar line that Walford, Pajo, et al would be proud of, before launching into the kind of riff - expertyly balancing Black Sabbath-esque bonheaded simplicity and prog/math-rock complexity - that a band like Chavez made their bread and butter twenty years ago. "I hate Nature Valley as much as I hate eggs," Arbury declares at the end of the first verse, and she does so with such force that I, someone who never had particularly strong opinions on Nature Valley before, found myself completely on board with the crusade, considering the best ways to destroy the entire operation.
'Prickly Cum Dancing' is the closest thing to a straightforward pop song on the album. Over bouncy guitar chords, Arbury and George detail their unbridled hatred for unwarranted Strictly Come Dancing finalist Joe Sugg. Just as easily the duo handled the abrasive opener, the major chords and sweet West Coast harmonies of this composition are dealt with incredibly adeptly. "He was the epitome of straight white mediocrity," George howls towards the end, in a line that feels particularly pertinent in the intersectionally frustrated world we seem to currently inhabit - when confronted with unreasonably powerful figures that exhibit this 'straight white mediocrity' throughout our daily lives, something like Joe Sugg's inexplicable progression through the dancing competition can sting all the more as a microcosm of the injustices we face each day.
The band go on to tell a sort of origin story for themselves on "Egg with Leg". Arbury tells the tale of the titular egg while George plays an unsettling guitar figure redolent of Polvo at their most minimal. "Why did it have legs?" they ask, pained. The fact that no one answers makes it all the more upsetting. At around the three minute mark, the tone shifts; after a Tolkein-referencing crescendo, George begins to repeat "kick 'em in the shin, kick 'em in the shin" and the song becomes the kind of nu-metal throwdown that once could imagine Fred Durst inciting violence to at Woodstock '99. It's fucking brutal.
Things take a turn on "End of Part 1." It has to be said that this album features the least amount of actual Cake and Menstruation music since their inception. The conversations between Arbury and George have always been an important part of the experience, but their decision to record the album drunk rather than hung-over changes the vibe slightly. Both "End of Part 1" and "Start of Part 2" feature little to no composition, and while improvisation is always a welcome experiment, not to mention a useful tool in confounding audiences, it falls slightly flat on record. One can very clearly tell that the group are at least having fun making the thing. They talk about the recording process itself, what it's like to be dead, and how Estonian people do shots of alcohol. The generic metal music played in the background of "Start of Part 2" injects drums and bass into the normal instrumentation of a Cake and Menstruation album.
"Take My Eyes" is a return to form. Arbury reprises her role as organ player from Public Eggnemy Number TWO as a noticeably inebriated George implores you to take his eyes to the tune of popular Take That song "Shine". The juxtaposition of Barlow's upbeat songwriting, the kind of thing we associate with Morrison's adverts and X Factor, and the visceral horror of George screaming that he no longer wants to see, is incredible. It is the kind of effective détournement that most anti-capitalists can only dream of.
"Round and Round" is yet another success. Rather than the calming repetition of the similarly-named Neil Young composition, this song quickly devolves into a screaming match between the two bandmembers and the supposed egg with legs (from the dialogue, we can perhaps infer that it is a cameo from labelmate, and all-round arse, Sweet Embrace). The band's facility with teetering on the edge of listenability, while never truly falling into the realms of harsh noise, is commendable.
All in all, Public Egg-nemy Number 2 (2) is a triumph, just as bracing, as entertaining, as thought-provoking, as their other releases, while adding new insight into the lore, and making sure the brand remains fresh in the minds of the public. If Trickhouse Recordings can scout out more acts like Cake and Menstruation, they'll be well on their way to becoming the Sub Pop or SST of the 2020s.
EDIT: I'm pleased to announce that Cake & Menstruation have just released their first music video. It's for the song 'When You Get Past a Certain Age' from their second release, and you can watch it here:
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