[Photos courtesy of Patrick Proctor at Hippies Are Dead]
“We feel like we’re in the Deep South,” said The Sea and Cake‘s Sam Prekop somewhere mid-set at the Bowery Ballroom this Tuesday. “And that’s a compliment.” No doubt Sam was referring to the level of enthusiasm from this weeknight crowd, including at least one audience member who seemed to think it was a Motley Crue concert. To hear a girl screaming “Bring the fuckin’ heat!” in between songs at an almost professorially mild-mannered, jazz-influenced Chicago indie act was certainly a new one for me in NYC. But that – and similar raging from others – added to the sense that, yes, after more than 20 years of delivering great music, a Sea and Cake show is still very much something to celebrate. With several of the members busy with other projects – Prekop and co-frontman Archer Prewitt with their solo careers, drummer John McEntire with NYCTaper favorite Tortoise – Sea and Cake shows aren’t as common as they otherwise could be.
Despite the band’s low-key approach, these guys turned the volume up loud. In a nearly 90-minute set, they covered the gamut of their career, from early-90s tunes like “Parasol” to offerings from their recent EP on Thrill Jockey, The Moonlight Butterfly. This show found the band in almost-perfect synch, playing the older songs like the classic “Afternoon Speaker” with the same enthusiasm shown for new work like “Inn Keeping.” “Leeora” gave a chance for some extended guitar meditation by Prewitt and Prekop, and a bit of a drum solo for McEntire, echoing some of his work in his other project.
Given the overwhelming reception they had received, The Sea and Cake seemed more than happy to play two encores – the highlight for me being “Parasol,” an older number, that also brought a huge audience roar. Who says you have to play the Deep South to be cheered like a champion?
I recorded this set with the DPA 4021 microphones from the optimal spot on the balcony. The sound is excellent, and thankfully the audience shenanigans are almost completely confined to in between songs. Enjoy!
Stream “Parasol”
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/S0811SeaandCake0211/20 Parasol.mp3]
Stream “Up On the North Shore”
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/S0811SeaandCake0211/07 Up On the North Shore.mp3]
Direct download of MP3 files [HERE] | Direct download of the FLAC files [HERE]
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The Sea and Cake
2011-11-08
Bowery Ballroom
New York, NY USA
An acidjack master recording
Recorded and produced by acidjack for nyctaper.com
DPA 4021 (balcony, slightly LOC, POS)>Sound Devices USBpre2>Sony PCM-M10 (24/44.1)>24bit/44.1kHz WAV>Audition (light EQ, limit peaks)>Audacity (set fades, tracking, amplify and balance)>FLAC ( level 8 )
Tracks [Total Time 1:24:19]
01 Weekend
02 On A Letter
03 The Staircase
04 Window Sills
05 Middlenight
06 Afternoon Speaker
07 Up On the North Shore
08 Midtown
09 [banter/tuning]
10 Exact to Me
11 Crossing Line
12 [crowd/false start]
13 A Fuller Moon
14 Inn Keeping
15 The Argument
16 Leeora
17 [encore break 1]
18 An Echo In
19 Lyric
20 Parasol
21 [encore break 2]
22 Escort [short version]
If you enjoyed this recording, PLEASE SUPPORT The Sea and Cake, visit their website, and purchase The Moonlight Butterfly and their many other excellent releases from Thrill Jockey Records [HERE].
The very last track (22) is an abbreviated version of Escort, originally on “The Biz”.
I was at the show, thank you so much for releasing a copy of this.
awesome! thank you!
I was there (and was there in the post-rock heyday in Chicago too), but it’s just like being there with a 24 bit recording. thanks
Hey I saw you up there. Thanks for taping this show. Any chance you could do the same for Brokeback, because they were f*ing awesome that night.
I did record Brokeback – wish I’d gotten Adam’s Castle as well. Do you have a setlist for Brokeback? I’d post it, but I really don’t know their songs at all.
I was standing next to a guy I just met that night who came there specifically just to see them. I think he said that almost all of the material was actually new so I might not be able to help, but I’ll try to contact him and see if he can help. I’ll be back.
What a sweet find! Thankyou! Been a long time fan of them and got to see them for the first time last month here in Toronto. It was a cold and rainy night so not many people were out for the show. Disappointingly small crowd. Sam Prekop didn’t look up once during their set but John McEntire blew me away with his enthusiasm and skills. They are an amazing band and deserve a better welcome – glad to hear the audience so into them on this recording. Thanks so much for still having this up!!