[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:https://www.nyctaper.com/S0811SeaandCake0211/20 Parasol.mp3]

Stream “Up On the North Shore”
[audio:https://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].