Sam Prekop: Who's Your New Professor?

I think I wrote some bullshit about it being the flip-side of Steely Dan, i.e. jazz-pop in a "written like pop but feels like jazz" sense instead of "written like jazz but feels like pop".

New album on Thrill Jockey in september. Modular synthesizers, no vocals.

Interesting...

sea and cake is referred to in the past tense in that link. are they officially done?

"no vocals."

booooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

"no beats"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Hey Sammy, gimme a record wit nuttin!"
"NUTTIN?!"

I'm actually curious to hear this. Though I like a lot of his stuff I feel like Prekop (and Sea & Cake) has been in a rut for many years now. Anything that's different is welcome.

I'm with you thinking that The Sea and Cake are in a bit of a rut. However, I don't think it became prominent until Everybody. I never really got into the Prekop albums because they seemed softer than The Sea and Cake and there wasn't any stronger emotion in the music or singing to equal out the softness. The prekop albums felt like some of the boringer Sea and Cake songs (imo).

However, if you or anybody hasn't heard the whole Archer Prewitt discography there is lots of gems in the rough. 'Three' is a solid pop album (with its quirks). His singing is downright glam and maybe it is something you either like or don't.

All that being said I'll be happy to hear any new music by any act related to The Sea and Cake.

I have Prewitt's In the Sun and I used to have whatever the one was that came after that, which I liked a lot. Haven't kept up with him since then, however. Maybe I oughta rectify that.

Speaking of getting the Sea and Cake out of a rut, I'm always a little flummoxed as to why they don't let Prewitt sing a little, as a counterpoint to Prekop.

New solo album has no vocals on it? At least not 3 tracks in...

Pretty sure it's 100% instrumental.

The new record is awesome. It's like a combination of Old Punch Card and the moodier stuff from the self-titled and Professor albums.

A more "song-oriented" ambient album, if you will. About a third of it has vocals.

Oh cool, didn't know he had a new one coming. I liked the idea of Old Punch Card but ultimately did not really enjoy it. But I like your description.

Well, it's a limited thing for now: http://www.thrilljockey.com/thrill/Sam-Prekop/Pavilion-Soundtrack-with-film-by-Tim-Sutton#.UiEFpn_zOSo

Which is a shame, because after sitting with it for just a day, I already like it better than Old Punch Card. It's a film score, so the themes are short, but great.

Not sure if there's any plans to release it as a standalone thing later on — I still regret not getting that Photographs thing from a few years ago because it's never been reissued (that's why I jumped on this on).

oof $33. only 3 left in stock too.

Well, I have to say, as far as the coolness factor, Thrill Jockey basically gave away the best versions of Old Punch Card for regular price. I got a hand painted and signed one (only 25, ever!) for the price of the normal edition.

So, granted, Pavilion is not being sold as a new Sam Prekop album — it's being sold as the film and score in one package (the score just happens to be new Sam Prekop music) — it's price tag makes up for the steal I got on my super cool version of Old Punch Card.

And hey, the music's pretty good, too!

(haven't watched the film yet)

Also, for some reason, Thrill Jockey sent me a Trans Am poster in my package. Anyone want it? Or someone that might? I feel bad just throwing it away. (is Trans Am any good?)

i love trans am! think i'm too old to put up band posters though

Kind of the way I feel. Could always donate it to my local used shop. They just put music posters up to cover the walls and ceiling.

Who has heard The Republic? nice record.

http://open.spotify.com/album/0FQ03G4IfEBFaQIrRCxFif

Far better than Old Punch Card. He's finding his voice as an electronic artist.

Really love the Republic on repeated listens. I'm not sure I'd say it's better or worse than Old Punch Card. It's a lot more accessible though.

gave it only a couple listens, really cursory, it barely registered. it seems monotonous, in a very consonant, tonally-sweet area, mostly arpeggiated 'zones' ?? i like how old punch card frequently jumps around, perhaps a bit too much.

New album is giving me early 00s Morr Music vibes

That's not a comparison that we're familiar with — is that a good thing?

Yeah, I mean I like that stuff too. Isan, Manual, Herman & Kleine. I'm not sure how exactly to describe what it is that evokes that sound, sort of a blissful synth, balancing between beats and beatless, still tethered to short-ish tracks and some semblance of structure. Not too dark or gritty, no walls of abstraction, never fully devolving into "atmosphere".

https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2021/03/04/sam-prekop-spelling/

Well that's kinda cool:

Somebody tell Sam Prekop hello for me. He got me through this week, bless him 💜

— Barry Jenkins (@BarryJenkins) March 20, 2021

Both. I started with THE FAWN and then OUI, that Chad Taylor connect on the solo SP and round to Nassau. Gonna give the electronic stuff a shot this weekend, maybe it’s finally time....

— Barry Jenkins (@BarryJenkins) March 20, 2021

(And then Elijah Wood responds to encourage him on the last point.)

hey friends,

upping some rare prekop stuff. here's a sparse radio session by sam+archer for kuom in the twin cities. they did this around when wynp? was newly released and it was a free download on the thrill jockey website:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXtno625SDI

pretty cool version of "dot eye" imo.

Prekop makes a mix for Herb Sundays (weekly mix newsletter).