Sam Prekop

Who's Your New Professor
Thrill Jockey (2005)

Reviewed by Kate Guillemette

I keep trying to read some implication of "who's your daddy" into the title and I'm failing. Ah well. Sam Prekop is the dreamsicle-voiced segment of The Sea and Cake. While his more straightforwardly, acoustic guitar, Sea and Cake cohort Archer Prewitt has released several solo albums, this is only Prekop's second recording under his own direction (Prewitt does play on it, though). Prekop clearly works to make his lyrics more easily decipherable than they have been on some of his previous work, but that gentle, leisurely voice is so much an integral part of the sound of the music that you (well, I, at least) really don't care what it's saying. While this is definitely a "rock" record, Prekop's song structures take just as much from jazz; he's an accomplished guitarist and composer, and these are not pop songs. The bass and "wah" on "Density" (10) are, I hesitate say, "groovy." For more jazz, hit "Magic Step" (2). This is the perfect sort of record for people who need to dial things down a notch, yet keep thinking: quiet guitar wizardry, understated elements of electronica, and that unmatchable odd combination of friendly and melancholy that is Sam Prekop's gift.

On TGB rating scale, this one shoots to Mercury.