CAKE will perform Sunday, July 27.

Reveling in idiosyncrasy and defying musical trends, CAKE broke through in 1996 as a somewhat antagonistic answer to grunge. Their defiant self-reliance and lucid yet inventive music sets them apart from peers in sound and perspective.

Their sophomore LP, Fashion Nugget, positioned the band as an unlikely standard-bearer for what might be affectionately dubbed “geek rock.” CAKE followed up with the cheekily-titled Prolonging the Magic replete with many signature elements: the pumping bass and funky drum groove, surfy, staccato guitar riffs, and John McCrea’s deadpan vocal that, while nonchalant, nonetheless feels earnest and connected. They continued to produce new records into the early 2000s, hitting a peak with 2001’s Comfort Eagle. CAKE recently performed a live video cut for Texas Public Radio of “Billionaire In Space” from their forthcoming ninth album. It’s full of classic biting wit and sarcasm as it’s about being left behind and an observation about the economic imbalance that we have been lulled into accepting as the norm. They also contributed a new song — “Hold You (Responsible)” — to the compilation album SONGS FOR SEX, an artistic response to Project 2025 that stands up for bodily autonomy, reproductive freedoms and personal privacy.

While other bands of the time may have succumbed to external or internal forces or devolved into self-parody, CAKE has avoided self-indulgence, maintaining the humorous irony integral to their sound.

- Mike Dunn