Sam Prekop

What's up, dudes (are there are any women on this blog?). I've been checking out some albums by Sam Prekop that I didn't have and going through his work with the Sea & Cake. Such good stuff, and it can kind of slide by under the radar because it's mellow and slightly elusive, not super-hook laden, though an easy listen. I like the way the reviewer at Pitchfork put it about how his solo album, which came out just in time for summer in 2005, "there's no better use for this music than getting massively chilled out in your suddenly sunny apartment". That pretty much sums up the vibe in my apartment lately as I listen to his stuff. I also didn't know about his latest solo album, Old Punch Card, which came out in 2010. This is a total wild card if you're into his stuff. It is way closer to Aphex Twin than the Sea & Cake. Really surprising and cool if you're into that kind of electronic/ambient stuff, though his tendancy to bleed cacophanous sounds into more melodic soundscapes is I think a bit overdone and takes away from the overall listening experience.

Oh, and I paid to see the Sea & Cake in Prague in, like, 2000, so I'm cool with downloading all his music (easy score, no lurking websherrif) for the rest of my life, I'll pay to see him when he hits Brooklyn. But my latest idea is I'm going to try to actually purchase music by new bands, in particular ones based in Brooklyn, that I like and have the album priced right. Headless Horseman is my first one, local, cool sound, $5 for the album, done.

Not to be all on the Pitchfork or Bon Iver (my last post) tip, but they have a cool interview up with him. From everything I've ready about him he sounds like a really likeable, down-to-earth dude who is really searching and growing as an artist, it's fascinating to read about his approach to his new album, which continues to impress me in terms of the songs and his evolution as a song-writer. I hesitate to call this out but his defense of that awful last track "bath/rest" included "I cried while working on that song". Hahaha, TMI, dude. Here's a link to the lyrics from his new album that I got from the interview, which I was keen to check out because it's hard to understand what he's saying, reading it is interesting, he's making up words and conjuring images, writing in a really non-linear way but nonetheless telling a story or creating visual landscapes when combined with the music.