{"title":"Sam Prekop","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"old-punch-card","title":"Old Punch Card","description":"\u003cp\u003eSam Prekop is known to most as the singer and songwriter of the Sea and Cake. He is a painter of some renown, a photographer and in addition he has released two solo albums of pop songs infused with his own blend of African and Brazilian guitar rhythms. \u003ci\u003eOld Punch Card\u003c\/i\u003e, his first solo effort since 2005, takes a dramatically unexpected turn away from either of these paths. It features songs made on modular synthesizer.no vocals, no guitars, no beats. Taking inspiration from early music concrete and electronic music, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Nuno Canavarro, Raymond Scott, David Behrman, and free improvisation, \u003ci\u003eOld Punch Card\u003c\/i\u003e is a beautifully noisy, jagged yet stately album of synthesizer music.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCD - Packaged in a four panel mini-lp style gatefold package. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLP - Back in Stock on Vinyl. First Time Since 2012. Pressed on Virgin Clear Vinyl with Download.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Thrill Jockey","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":50409858367819,"sku":"330807","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/e5c41c6a-5a9a-49d7-a8b8-7ce425a77378_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726630390"},{"product_id":"the-sparrow-3","title":"The Sparrow","description":"\u003cp\u003eIs it too Sam Prekop?, Sam Prekop asked me in an email conversation in which he delivered his wonderful illustrations which would become the front cover artwork. No, it is not too Sam Prekop at all. His drawings as well as the freeform music on this album are subtly different from anything else he has produced in his solo career. Regardless of the style he is working in, Sam Prekop's music is always imbued with a sense of wide-eyed discovery and unpredictable exploration. On The Sparrow Sam Prekop expands his electronic cosmos with a remarkable expression of timeless simplicity and coherent execution. It's deceptively simple music that feels accessible without abandoning the experimental legacy of the Modular hardware system which serves, besides a polyphonic Prophet 5 synthesizer, as the centre piece of this production. The side long title track The Sparrow opens this album with unpredictable synth dissonances and broken step sequenced patterns. Palm brings the set to a close with its irregular fragility while Fall is Farewell is build around a yearning brassy fanfare which resembles the noir romance theme of Michael Smalls soundtrack for the 1971 film Klute. The sparkling essence of Step and Stair seems a suitable space for unforgotten summer holidays of our childhood. On his first solo release for Dusseldorfs label TAL, electronic experimentalist Sam Prekop offers his most captivating yet stripped down modular music. All compositions on The Sparrow were gradually developed piece by piece. Best known for his jazz-leaning tropicalismo with The Sea And Cake, a key part of the Chicago scene with the likes of Tortoise or Chicago Underground Duo, he has in recent years established himself as a modular synthesist, building his instrument meticulously to create a unique system that allows him to create highly individual music through mechanical patterns, repetitions and chance. In this context his widely acclaimed community forming public tutorials on fb should be noted as well. The Sparrow is an exciting new chapter in his development as a constant creative influence. Stefan Schneider, Dusseldorf\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tal","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":50483044483403,"sku":"2029964","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP","offer_id":50483044974923,"sku":"2029970","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/test_c3686de1_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727560338"},{"product_id":"comma","title":"Comma","description":"\u003cp\u003eSam Prekop’s boundless imagination is guided by his strong sense of melody. For more than 25 years, as a solo artist or as part of The Sea and Cake, Prekop creates a singular sound inventive and warm. His distinctive vocals, guitar playing and work on modular analog synthesizers are inventive, delicate, and always bear his signature sense of melody. \u003ci\u003eComma\u003c\/i\u003e finds Sam Prekop for the first time working extensively with beat programming, focusing his enveloping synthesizer pieces around a newfound rhythmic pulse.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrekop’s wide-eyed sense of discovery guides his exploration of beat-driven music, pushing him to use rhythm as a narrative tool and to embrace electronic music’s romantic and emotional qualities.\u003ci\u003e Park Line\u003c\/i\u003e and\u003ci\u003e Circle Line \u003c\/i\u003eevoke the relentless forward motion of public transit and commuter routine, one propelled by juddering machine-drums, the other illuminated in glistening neon. \u003ci\u003eSummer Places \u003c\/i\u003eand title track\u003ci\u003e Comma\u003c\/i\u003e are utterly transportive in their intoxicating tropical futurism, aqueous electronic loops cascading over melodic percussion. \u003ci\u003eSeptember Remember \u003c\/i\u003eis notable precisely for its lack of drum track, opening up the field of sound and obliterating all but the faintest after-echoes of skittering percussion in its astral melancholy. \u003ci\u003eApproaching\u003c\/i\u003e achieves an incredible depth of sound and feeling using minimal constituent parts, interlocking synth-lines revealing surprising new sonorities with every repetition. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith \u003ci\u003eComma,\u003c\/i\u003e Prekop compiles an incredible breadth of ideas into a surprisingly coherent sound-world. \u003ci\u003eComma\u003c\/i\u003e is Prekop’s modern minimal pop album that taps into the experimental heritage of the synthesizer. The album places Sam Prekop’s work squarely in the tradition of electronic music pioneers like Brian Eno and Yellow Magic Orchestra who brought together the unrestrained ambition of the avant-garde with the immediacy and accessibility of pop music.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Thrill Jockey","offers":[{"title":"White | LP","offer_id":50498772828491,"sku":"1093903","price":35.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":50498772795723,"sku":"1093901","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/babfd071-2ee4-4e6e-b039-f5ce804654c3_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727757011"},{"product_id":"open-close","title":"Open Close","description":"\u003cp\u003eSam Prekop’s work over the last 30 years, whether created primarily on his guitar or on his modular synth, is consistent in its powerful melodicism, delicate arrangements and subtle evolution. Prekop’s singular blend of melody, impressionistic lyricism and quietly intricate rhythms are the core of the singular sound of The Sea and Cake. Since 2010’s \u003cem\u003eOld Punch Card\u003c\/em\u003e, Prekop’s exploration of modular synthesis and electronic atmospheres, has come into its own. Highly skilled at manipulating the sonic interplay, Prekop has established a sytle all his own, his pieces are complex expressing real movement. Harmonies bloom with granular detail and contrary to their machine sources are able to convey emotion.\u003cem\u003e Open Close \u003c\/em\u003eis an album that captures the flow and energy of a live performance through the lens of a deft craftsman, an equilibrium of intuitive composition and the excitement of possibility. The music of Sam Prekop is defined by his signature curiosity and his ability to mold and refine that curiosity into a wholly unique sound. His process in naming album \u003cem\u003eOpen Close\u003c\/em\u003e mirrors his creative practice and the worlds he builds across the album: “I like simple words that become complicated if you think of them more than a second or two, beyond face value. And \u003cem\u003eOpen Close \u003c\/em\u003ecould be: close as in ‘close to you’ or close as in ‘close the door.’ If it gives everything away too quickly, then I’m not interested.” Each movement across Open Close is replete with simple gestures that suggest new complexities with Prekop’s careful arrangements. \u003cem\u003eOpen Close\u003c\/em\u003e unearths new, soulfully human sounds from synthetic textures precisely juxtaposed, its subtle contrasts in texture and rhythm are a free-flowing celebration of sonics as stunning as they are ephemeral.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Thrill Jockey","offers":[{"title":"LP - Coke Bottle Clear","offer_id":52971056496971,"sku":"R3431-0049","price":37.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":52971056529739,"sku":"R3431-0688","price":35.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":52971056562507,"sku":"R3431-1074","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/201375060534.jpg?v=1753104274"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/fr\/collections\/sam-prekop.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}