Lazer Cake

Listening to Lazer Cake's debut EP is some of the most fun I’ve had experiencing new music over the past year. This is some seriously awesome tunage from Robby Sinclair, a guy who clearly knows not to take himself too seriously. I met Robby at CMJ 2009 when he was sub-drumming for Mon Khmer. Turns out he is the permanent drummer in a band now called Yost (formerly Pocketknife), which delights in a more layered, atmospheric, experimental sound. Lazer Cake is Robby’s own side project, and though the line-up is mostly a rearrangement of the Yost boys, few comparisons remain.

Robby’s vision is decidedly more playful than Yost. The opening track, “Get There (We’re Gonna)”, is easily digestible, despite its parenthetically over-complicated title. Listening to it, I’m reminded of Imperial Teen (anyone remember them? ). It’s a poppy little ditty with some porno-vampire perversion infusions:


"Don't be surprised cause I'm sure you've gone and shaved it
I've got no time, but I wanna see
You flash your fangs and I want to bleed
Once I'm bitten and the Makers starts to take
You tell your girlfriends that you're going home with me"


You’ll barely notice the naughtiness on early listens, but when you do, you’ll have the strange desire to play the song at a party, flaunting a shit-eating grin while your friends dance around without realizing the references to True Blood style luvin’.

The sentiment of “getting there” is echoed in the let’s-do-it-before-the-apocalypse “Love & Lay Down,” my favorite track on the EP. This track makes me want to get all frisky on the dance floor… with you… Know what I’m sayin’? The EP’s final track “Roq in My Pocket” is a little more alt-rock than the others with a dissonant guitar riff running throughout the song. It’s the track that every EP needs: one that is a little more edgy with lyrics that are more mysterious. On its own, I might wonder about the personality of Lazer Cake, but alongside the other two indie, cutesy, alt-dance pop tracks, I’m more than comfortable with it.

I went to Lazer Cake's EP release show in October at Cameo. Frankly, it was awesome and far too sparsely populated for the quality not only of the music, but of the performance as well. Robby’s drumming on its own is inspiring to watch. It’s so much fun to see percussion as the center of a song’s embellishments instead of guitar solos, especially when the drumming is so creative. Paired with his charismatic singing and songwriting (and my Wild Turkey bourbon), it was all-consuming.

http://www.thewildhoneypie.com/ - The Wild Honey Pie - Lauren McKinney

“Check out Brooklyn band Lazer Cake’s new single ‘Big City Lights.’ If I start my day with this little retro pop bullet it’ll be off to an excellent start.” - Hell In A Leather Jacket - Allison Zatarain,