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Brainwashed review says nice stuff.
“Every city has one, a band that for some strange reason never really made it beyond its borders yet deserves to take over the world. Instead of being known for U2 or Westlife, Dublin should be known for The Jimmy Cake. Since I first heard them they have been in my top five artists of all time, fighting off much impressive competition to retain their place. Their previous albums and live shows have blended krautrock with blistering jazz, rock with contemporary composition and sprinklings of inspired improvisation. Unfortunately, for the last five years they have only surfaced occasionally in local venues, aside from the odd compilation release, there has been no recorded output at all since 2003’s Superlady EP. Thankfully, despite many line up changes over the last few years, they are back with Spectre & Crown which has very much been worth the wait.
The most obvious change to my ears with this album is that the group have mellowed a bit. The fiery, jazzy explosions of their older releases has been dampened down, instead Morricone-esque motifs take to the fore. The whole thing sounds more measured and calculated. However, there is still a strong motorik rhythm going through the album, it is not like they have all of a sudden stopped rocking out. Pieces like “Jetta’s Place” manage to combine this energy without spilling out of control. “The Day the Arms That Came Out of the Wall” is a more laid back affair; a languid and fluid bass line allows the brass section and piano to build up before reaching a joyous climax.
And joy is an emotion that The Jimmy Cake generally have in bucket loads. I cannot help but smile when listening to them but there are a couple of more solemn moments on Spectre & Crown. “Red Tony” is an elegiac piece; a downhill piano line starts the music rolling, each member of the band adding a small piece of melancholy. Elsewhere, the strings and recordings of rain on “The Art of Wrecking” evoke the same feelings as listening to Gavin Bryars’ The Sinking of the Titanic. The combination of the mournful strings and water is crushing in its beauty.
Towards the end of Spectre & Crown is the monumental “Hugs for Buddy.” Here is a melting pot of everything that makes The Jimmy Cake special. The powerful rhythms (centred around the most solid drumming this side of John Bonham’s ghost) and layers and layers of instrumentation bring to mind the poppier side of Sterolab being channelled through whatever dimension that Can plucked Tago Mago from. In a word, it is cosmic. Doctors should use it as a clinical test for paralysis because it is impossible not to get completely lost in it and shake your money-maker for its duration.
I cannot convey how enjoyable Spectre & Crown is. After a painfully drawn out recording process, this could have very easily ended up overworked, overproduced and ultimately flat. Thankfully there has been no over- egging of The Jimmy Cake, they have risen to the occasion and now is the time for them to get their just desserts.”
Album release night. Black ties, bubbly sipped from flutes, elegant ladies and drug dealers.
Last time i was in here, it was an entirely different place. nice job, they have done. It’s plush and clean and apparently no longer sounds like Jonah listening to Merzbox in the belly of an aluminum whale.
Have you ever seen these two men in the same room?
We have six extra musicians, who haven’t practiced with us, as per usual. it wouldn’t be fun were it not precipiced nicely on the cusp of disaster. But they’re pros, they can read dots, thank god. Mick can talk dots now that he’s a qualified “conductor”. (“25pee” i said to him, “as i am going to the Malahide road to school.” I did not of course. Mick is not to be trifled with, haven’t you seen dead mans shoes?) How it all sounded, i couldn’t tell you, cos i couldn’t hear them from where i was. Where was i? Planet fucking funk, la.
Marvelous time had by us, fraught by worry before hand, so many doubts creeping in. Does anyone care? does anyone like us? Is there any point going on? Apparently there is.
Last night Parx and Paul did the radio with Aoife. I didn’t listen cos it can’t be any use if i’m not actually there, right. I’m sure it’s all lies.
in the charts. take that, Buble.
The redoubtable national broadcaster and it’s website has this to say,
“Give up your job, lose your friends and spend all day with the headphones on as you scour the earth on your quest – you will not find a better track this year than ‘Red Tony’, the opener on ‘Spectre and Crown’. In the instrumentals genre, here is a piece so epic and emotive that it ranks with anything the legends have come up with. Keep in with the boss, stick with the pals and give your ears a break: it’s just not going to happen.
After a long time away, The Jimmy Cake have made an album which is worth every cent for that moment alone – but there are other reasons too for shelling out for this record today.
‘Red Tony’s successor, ‘Jetta’s Palace’, is so urgent and infectious that the clock radio should crank it out first thing every morning, followed by ‘Hugs for Buddy’. And at the other end of the day ‘Collapsing Cloud Night at the Starry Sky’ would soothe anything which has gone on before you hit the pillow.
The musicianship is superb, their potential colossal and you’ll even put up with ‘Nuberu’ and ‘The Art of Wrecking’ – two of those sound collage things that frustrate more than they fascinate – because what’s before and after them is such a joy. If you weren’t a fan of The Jimmy Cake or post-rock and all its offshoots before, then this is a record to hear. If you are, it’s not too early to start buying the Christmas presents.
Harry Guerin”
See that, that’s your tax euros put to good use.
Spectre and Crown.
Blurb:
Dublin 9-piece instrumental leviathan The Jimmy Cake return after a five year absence & four personnel changes to release their colossal third album Spectre & Crown. With a stunning support cast consisting of a string quartet & brass ensemble Spectre & Crown is a winding, ecstatic, genre-defying statement from a band in love with music & all of its possibilities. Entirely self-financed & released on their own Pilatus Records label Spectre & Crown is a true declaration of independence & the freedom that can bring, including freedom from all of their money & sanity.
Spectre & Crown also features iconic artwork from renowned Dublin based Japanese artist Atsushi Kaga, to help create one of the most striking CD packages you are likely to see this year or any other.
In the meanwhile, bask in some reflected praise:
“…at the vanguard of Irish instrumental rock. As the man said, you’d need at least five years to produce something as accomplished and inventive as this!” HotPress 4 and 1/2 out of 5
“The production is immaculately precise yet organic, the music epic yet controlled, brimming with piano, accordion, clarinet, trumpet, bass and saxophone…..a single and necessary vision.” State Magazine 4 out of 5
“Throughout the album, the listener is treated to an exceptional level of accomplished musicianship, with equal participation and proficiency from all nine members….Welcome back The Jimmy Cake, you’ve been sorely missed.” Totally Dublin
“Few bands have mastered how to melt the orchestral sweep of classical music with something that nearly resembles rock music, but The Jimmy Cake has, and with “Spectre and Crown” they have set a stunning template for other collectives, quartets and bands to follow.” Westmeath Examiner 10 out of 10
check out more
Do it.
Parx, a colossus, stands next to window to give sense of awe-inspiring scale.
Five years, six months or so, the wait is over. The album finally came out. I went down to Tower Records to check out the window display, which was pretty la-di-da, taking over the entire window, as it did. Myself, Paul and Parx stood there, slightly dazed. It’s hard to know what to think at this moment, like watching a baby turtle make for the surf on a beach in Galapagos. off you go, buddy, nothing more we can do for you.
Previous to this the three of us had been down to Phantom fm, to plug our release. What took so long, asked Edel. It’s a common question. There’s a manifesto in the answer. some day i’ll write it all down, and it’ll be my lifes work. There’s a doctorate in the answer, in mental health or something.
Any way, as we turned to walk away, back up to Grafton street, this man, about 50, maybe younger, turned away from the atm machine, and walked toward us. Holy shit, he was the spitting image of Paul, except older, gaunter (!) greyer. And what’s more when he saw Paul he did a double take, the colour left his face and he paused a nano-second. (it’s not, to be fair, an unusual reaction). The pair of us walked on, in conversation, and once past Paul just uttered – “wow”.
“that was you” i said.
“i know,”
“that poor fuckers going home now, and calling every girlfriend he had in the 1970’s…’is there something i should know’?”
“i know”
what portent is this, a doppelganger, on today, of all days?
Musos often look beyond this country to find music to obsess about, ignoring some fine work on their own doorstep. Dublin instrumental collective The Jimmy Cake have not encountered this problem — they have received fawning praise for a pair of albums in the early part of this decade, even if such gushing reviews never turned into sales.
In truth, though, the band named after a venerable Dublin dessert, promised more than they delivered.
Now, six years after their last offering, the nine-strong outfit (with a few replacements for departing members in tow) are back with a nine-track collection that finally justifies the sort of excitement the Dermody brothers et al attracted in the first place.
By turns minimalistic and multi-layered, Spectre & Crown has moments of astonishing beauty. There are plenty of captivating tracks too — soaring and emotive.
Opener Red Tony starts off as a sparse piano number before dissolving into the sort of sonic bombast that Sigur Ros do best. Jetta’s Palace is similarly vast — an otherworldly, widescreen post-rock epic. And Hugs For Buddy sustains its power and grandeur over nine minutes.
There are some self-indulgent moments — not least two minutes of sampled rainfall and what sounds like a distant lawn-mower — but, ultimately, the album succeeds
It’s just a shame that a planned collaboration with Tindersticks‘ Stuart Staples never came to fruition. It would have been the first time that a vocal was added to an impressive array of instruments.
Burn it: Hugs For Buddy; Jetta’s Palace
Hot Lunch does a review, that turns me on, frankly. Thanks for that, pal. Although exercising the right to retort, as is the want of any man with a blog, “The day the arms that came out of the wall” is a mere one bass. I’m just that good, i sound like two people. Indeed, i take up two seats at the cinema too.
