While Fred stayed home with his son Eli, we arrived at The High Noon together with a bunch of dear friends for the highly anticipated The Sea and Cake show. We had spent the past few hours listening to their latest record Everybody and a host of albums (Sea and Cake (1993), The Biz (1995), The Fawn (1997), Oui (2000), One Bedroom (2002)) on malliman's hi-fi (Rega P25-Marantz Njoe Tjoeb-Magus MFA-'Silk' Dynaco-Impulse Lali... a sweet sounding rig. More on the Rega later!) and were primed with the lush and intricately layered, sometimes sparse, at times rocking sounds. For the uninitiated, The Sea and Cake's music is highly atmospheric, extremely groovy (I am tapping/bopping/jiving to 'The Argument' and other songs from The Fawn as I write this article), and even trippy - all things we love in music, especially live.

The night started with a great, but too short set by The Zincs. Their half-hour set included a lot of material from their recently released album - Black Pompadour (see Mr. Bill's recent comments on this LP).

The Zincs on stage

All in our group, and judging by the packed floor, the 200+ people really enjoyed the set. We were particularly impressed by James Elkington's performance. He picked up lead guitar duties in the absence of Nathaniel Braddock. Turns out, Elkington is quite good on guitar too! We recommend seeing this band when you can. See more about The Zincs at this link to Thrill Jockey - a real cool Chicago record label.

The Sea and Cake went onstage at around 11pm. From the moment the band broke into 'Up On Crutches', the crowd got its groove going on. All members of the band are exceedingly talented, and the four person band play really tight. Sam Prekop's hushed, almost whispery voice was in fine form and John McEntire laid out strong, steady tattoo of beats on the drums. We were particularly drawn to the sonic color added by Archer Prewitt on guitar and pedal effects and the fabulous bass grooves laid down by Eric Claridge.

(L to R clockwise) Sam Prekop, John McEntire, Archer Prewitt, Eric Claridge. All photos by malliman

The Sea and Cake's trademark sound is carefully produced on their recordings - all albums are recorded and mixed by John at his Soma Electronic Music Studio in Chicago, the exception being Everybody which was recorded by Brian Paulson at Key Club in Benton Harbor, MI. We're happy to report that their live show is also well done. The sound was very nicely tuned at the High Noon this evening, and the audience was highly attentive which contributed to a great listening experience. The band sounded loud, not in an unpleasant way, and infused the crowd with energy playing old favorites such as 'Biz', 'Leenora', 'Mr. F', and 'Midtown'. There were plenty of songs from the new album as well, including the faster paced 'Too Strong' and B-side opening track 'Exact to Me' that have become personal favorites.

Set list; Archer Prewitt with his towering guitar sounds

We got a chance to catch up with the band backstage after the show where Sam, John and the sound man were gracious hosts (while Archer and Eric were busy packing up gear). We were glad to hear that the band will be headed back to the studio this October to begin work on their next album. Sam did mention they do not plan on making fans wait for as long as they did this time! Malliman was also pleasantly surprised to learn that Sam is a record buff as well and also owns a Rega P-25 turntable!