History

Rhythm guitarist Eric Berg formed the band with the idea of putting ten musicians in a band without any rehearsal, and performing a D chord for 45 minutes (similar to Terry Riley

Terry Riley

Terrence Mitchell Riley, is an American composer intrinsically associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music and was a pioneer of the movement...

's In C

In C

In C is a semi-aleatoric musical piece composed by Terry Riley in 1964 for any number of people, although he suggests "a group of about 35 is desired if possible but smaller or larger groups will work"...

). He continued performances with numerous instrumentalists before releasing their first recording If I Could See Dallas on Kindercore Records in 1999. The band settled into a consistent lineup on The Sleepy Strange, released in 2001, also on Kindercore. That lineup, which included pedal steel instrumentalist John Neff, drummer Brant Rackley, keyboardist Todd Kelly, bassist Nick Bielli, and cellist/keyboardist Heather MacIntosh (along with Eric Berg on guitar) also recorded 2002's Belmondo for California's Darla Records imprint. 2003 saw the departure of Todd Kelly, and 2004 saw the release of Waking Hours on the Athens label WARM Recordings.

Japancakes released two albums in fall 2007, Giving Machines and a cover of My Bloody Valentine's Loveless

Loveless (album)

Loveless is the second studio album by alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine. Released on 4 November 1991, Loveless was recorded over a two-year period between 1989 and 1991 in nineteen recording studios...

, both on Darla Records.

Their first three albums, "If I Could See Dallas," "Down the Elements," and "The Sleepy Strange" were re-released on Darla Records in February 2008.

Discography

• If I Could See Dallas
  If I Could See Dallas
  -Track listing:# "Now Wait for Last Year"# "Elevator Headphone"# "Vocode-Inn"# "Toomsuba"# "A Short Mile"# "Pole Tricks"# "Elephants"# "Westworld"# "Baker Beats"# "Dallas"# "Allah Rahka"...
  
  (Kindercore, 1999)
• Down the Elements (Kindercore, 2000)
• The Sleepy Strange (Kindercore, 2001)
• Belmondo (Darla
  Darla Records
  Darla Records is an independent record label founded by James Agren while he was in New York. Darla Record's first release was a 7-inch by Grifters, an indie rock/lo-fi band from Memphis.- Background :...
  
  , 2002)
• Waking Hours (WARM
  Warm Records
  Warm Electronic Recordings is an independent record label based in Athens, Georgia. Azure Ray, Japancakes, and Crooked Fingers are some of the artists on their roster.-Artists:*Azure Ray*Crooked Fingers*Elk City*Empire State*Japancakes*Liz Durrett...
  
  , 2004)
• Giving Machines (Darla, 2007)
• Loveless (Darla, 2007)