With the recent release of *The Moonlight Butterfly* the Sea and Cake shows how to negotiate the fine line between consistency and boredom without ever falling on the wrong side. more ›

Chicago post-rock kings The Sea and Cake are a prolific bunch, having recorded and released nine albums over 17 years. And yet, some of those releases come in fits in starts: 2008's late-career peak Car Alarm followed the previous year's Everybody, which, at that point, was the band's first record in four years. With the announcement of The Moonlight Butterfly, the band's ninth record, due May 10th on Thrill Jockey, the longstanding quartet will once again head into the indie-rock spotlight. To celebrate the announcement of Butterfly, first single "Up on the North Shore," was released. more ›

Polite, unassuming fans of polite, unassuming and prodigiously talented indie-rock dudes, take note! Two offshoots of your favorite acts, Wilco and The Sea and Cake, are set to release new material this fall. more ›

The Dirty Projectors' new album Bitte Orca is already popping up on "album of the year" lists, and while we find such evaluation to be criminally premature, the disc is certainly one of the most arresting listens we've recently encountered. Usually when one bandies about the "difficult to categorize" terminology in music reviews it means the reviewer thinks the tunes are simply weird but is afraid to make a judgment based on that for fear of looking out of touch. In the case of The Dirty Projectors, it's an excellent description though if you pressed us we'd describe it as ethereal indie funk. more ›

Yesterday we clued you in to the Chicago Department Of Cultural Affairs' Edible Audible Picnic noontime summer music series. The fine folks at the Department of Cultural Affairs have pulled out all the stops to make this a musically memorable summer as they follow up the lunchtime tunes with Downtown Sound: New Music Mondays, an evening series featuring both local and international indie-rock and pop voices. more ›

The Sea and Cake are playing The Empty Bottle tomorrow night to celebrate the release of their latest album, Car Alarm. We're going to be honest with you and admit that the new disc breaks zero new ground, and the last few Sea and Cake albums are basically interchangeable.* They're pretty, accomplished, and well done; but they come across as hermetically sealed documents too aloof to really connect. The new one is another in that line of thinking, but we really don't care. They're a band really good at doing what they do, and that's enough for us. more ›