Pages tagged “the sea and cake”

Can’t hear the car alarm

The first rule of Chicago’s the Sea and Cake is do no harm. After 14 years (including a three-year hiatus), they’ve achieved a level of consistency only Calexico or Quaker Oats could rival. Like Car Alarm’s monochromatic cover, you have to work to see the variations. “Fuller Moon” uses steel drum to follow the guitar line, and the rolling arpeggiated squiggle of “Weekend” is one of few electronic touches. Each instrumental blends into the song, never drawing attention to its exotic presence. The band is always tasteful, but ultimately its gentility does The Sea and Cake no favors. Singer Sam Prekop’s whispered voice turns even conflicts (“Pages”) and complicated situations (“Down In The City”) into brunch soundtracks. Maybe all of Car Alarm is about conflict, but Prekop glides and sighs over every vowel, making it difficult to hear what he’s saying or to detect a hint of tension beneath the gloss.

Listen to "On a Letter" from The Sea and Cake's Car Alarm:

Chicago band pens top-notch songs to match its always-impressive sonics

Indie-rock supergroup The Sea and Cake is always easy on the ears. Their tasteful jazz-tinged rock—with its touches of samba and West African pop and Sam Prekop’s impossibly airy voice floating on top—always sounds nice at the very least. But with their previous records, Oui and One Bedroom, “nice” is pretty much as far as they got; both were rhythmically sharp and impeccably played, but the tunes seemed to hover squarely in the band’s comfort zone, making listeners wonder if Prekop might be saving his best stuff for his more impressive solo records. The pleasant-but-dull trend is happily reversed on Everybody, which deviates little in style but finds the songwriting drastically improved. Slick neo-disco vocal hooks (“Crossing Line”), bubbly progressions inspired by the golden age of singer/songwriters (“Coconut” isn’t a Harry Nilsson cover, but he would’ve dug it) and typically nimble instrumental interplay (“Exact to Me”) add up to the band’s best collection in a decade.

As previously reported, The Sea and Cake will drop its first album in four years next month.

Less than a week after Chicago's Thrill Jockey Records releases Everybody on May 8, the band will hit the road for a string of 15 dates with recent Band of the Week, The Zincs, in tow.

Tour dates include:

May
14 - Vancouver, B.C. @ Richard's on Richards
15 - Seattle, Wash. @ Neumo's
16 - Portland, Ore. @ Crystal Ballroom
18 - San Francisco, Calif. @ Bimbo's
19 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ Troubadour
20 - Los Angeles, Calif. @ Troubadour
21 - Solana Beach, Calif. @ Belly Up
31 - Chicago, Ill. @ Empty Bottle (2 shows)

June
2 - Toronto, Ontario @ Mod Club
3 - Montreal, Quebec @ La Sala Rossa
5 - Boston, Mass. @ Paradise
7 - New York, N.Y. @ Webster Hall
8 - Philadelphia, Pa. @ Theatre of Living Arts
9 - Washington, D.C. @ Black Cat

Related links:
Band of the Week: The Zincs
Everybody tracklist
The Sea and Cake’s homepage
The Sea and Cake on MySpace
Thrill Jockey’s homepage

After more than four years of silence, indie rock staple The Sea and Cake is back with its seventh full-length to date.

Produced by Brian Paulson (Slint, Wilco), Everybody will drop May 8 courtesy of Thrill Jockey.

Stay tuned for potential tour dates.

Everybody tracklist:

1. Up on Crutches
2. Too Strong
3. Crossing Line
4. Middlenight
5. Coconut
6. Exact to Me
7. Lightning
8. Introducing
9. Left On
10. Transparent

Related links:
The Sea and Cake’s homepage
The Sea and Cake on MySpace