Customer Reviews

One Bedroom

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

If you're a long time fan who prefers the sound of earlier Sea & Cake albums to more recent works such as The Fawn or Oui you will likely be disappointed with One Bedroom, as the trend towards a more polished, less guitar driven sound continues. If, however, you've enjoyed each new release regardless (and I would fall into this category), then by all means pick this one up. This is a subtle record, and as with other Sea & Cake releases I have found that it requires a few spins before it begins to reveal its riches, but it's worth the effort. If you'd still prefer the sound of those earlier records and haven't yet heard Shrimp Boat (Sam Prekop's band before Sea & Cake)you might want to check them out.

The only TSAC album I had before this was "The Biz", but I generally like to get the artists most recent albums before I get the older ones.

Don't believe the 3.5 star average (at least before this)...this album is great. It's hard to say much that hasn't been said, but I will say this..."Le Baron" is an amazing song. "Interiors" really strikes some personal chords as well.

Each song on the album is quite unique. The drumming, as these guys are known for, is excellent. I would recommend listening to these guys with a bass system...most groups that aren't rap or techno generally don't exploit bass too much, and as a result, those two genres sound awesome with a subwoofer, while other music doesn't benefit as much. Let me say this; with a sub, One Bedroom (and The Biz) is absolutely amazing. Listen to "Hotel Tell" with a good system if you don't believe me.

Anyways, as the title of this review suggests, first time or two you listen to it, it's not gonna be as good. There are times when you can really get into it - coming from someone who loves a lot of music and tries to listen to it as much as possible, if any album is so enticing that I'll listen to it three times in one day, there's gonna be something special there. One Bedroom is one of those albums.

With One Bedroom, TSAC have once again delivered the goods. Though clocking in at around 40 minutes, and offering the curious listener minimal cover art without any lyric sheet whatsoever (both trademarks of previous TSAC releases), One Bedroom offers the listener a panorama of beautiful sounds & plays on words that only TSAC's singer & sole lyricist Sammy Prekop could pull off so well.

If there were highlights I could write down, here they are: "Four Corners", "Hotel Tell," "One Bedroom," & "Shoulder Length," one particular track which is a lot more than just head-nodding music. This is also hip-grinding music as well, & could serve as TSAC's answer to the motto "Shake what your mama gave ya!" with its dub-meets-Krautrock-meets-techno beats propelling Sam's voice forward (& often).

If there was an alternative to O.A.R., DMB, or Phish, TSAC is the answer to each of these groups & then some. With One Bedroom, they've proven just that.

If in doubt, also pick up The Fawn & Oui, TSAC's last 2 releases to see how much they've grown over the past 6 years not only inside Soma E.M.S. but also oustide of it as well.

TSAC rule!!

With One Bedroom, TSAC have proven their knack for writing quirky pop songs that still endure long after its 40 minutes have ended. At the same time, TSAC lives up the motto of "Sound and Vision": giving the listener a view of the world, as seen through them - a hypnotic panorama of sound that doesn't disappoint, and sure enough, is only getting better over time.

The first track, "Four Corners," immediately sets the tone for the entire album, and TSAC is at the top of their creative game here. A hypnotic (as well as memorable) riff from Archer Prewitt and John McEntire's 4-to-the-floor drumming sets things off, but not before the electronics help intensify the proceedings (along with Eric Claridge's always melodic bass playing). Not until the 3-minute mark do we hear Sammy Prekop chiming in with his first words of the whole album, and he delivers the goods. Like an indie rock answer to Dave Matthews, Prekop may be hard to figure out in terms of what he's singing about, but this is the TSAC I've always loved & known, & this track really stands up for repeated listening.

"Hotel Tell," the title track, "Mr. F," "Interiors," and a cover of Bowie's "Sound & Vision" are no doubt highlights on an already awesome album, done up in typical TSAC fashion, but the indisputable highlight that deserves some mentioning is "Shoulder Length." Again, McEntire's fetish for analog synths and old-school rhythm machines really work together brilliantly, but on this track, even more so. However, they don't distract from the center of attention - you guessed it, Sam Prekop right up front in the mix. With its dub/reggae/Can/Neu!/techno vibe all over the place, "Shoulder Length", even if it clocks in at just over 3 minutes, is worth every second of its playing time. It's also lyrically accessible, even if it takes a few listens to figure out what Prekop's singing about - scoring & getting some: "Summertime/don't give it all away" and making moves without missing opportunities that are meant to be: "Specialize/begin/a look in your eye/well you're gonna miss it/don't tell/I'm believing this is true"

In short, One Bedroom is the best TSAC album to date, and for those who want to give their DMB or John Mayer CDs a break for a moment, this is the album to pick up (no pressure, of course).
Just prepare to listen to this album with open ears and an open mind to get at why TSAC is an awesome group that defies categorization and trends and still continues to do so after 10 years.

One Bedroom isn't the Sea and Cake's best record. This goes doubly for those of you who lament the slow waning of the Sea and Cake's brand of pop-rock, the angular guitars and sharp drums that epitomized early releases. Sam Prekop's buttery vocals used to stand in counterpoint to the crisp, dry production, but over time the band has smoothed out every edge. In fact, there are no edges on One Bedroom. It's almost round.

But that doesn't mean that One Bedroom isn't a good record. The Sea and Cake have been around long enough to prove they're not going away any time soon. Instead of latching onto the fickle scenes that have come and gone over the years, the Sea and Cake have worked against the grain of musical trends with great success. Ignoring the electronic zeal that began to mushroom in the mid-'90s, the Sea and Cake made rock music with two guitars, a bass and drums. Since their debut in 1994, they've managed to slowly and cautiously integrate tasteful and subtle electronic undercurrents into their sound. These are not four college sophomores with hopes of changing the face of music as we know it.

One Bedroom, their sixth album, floats by in a haze. Each song sounds as if it was recorded live, with guitar, bass and drums, and then glazed over with an electronic veneer. With little variance in tempo, it's easy to forget the record is playing. Great effort was obviously expended in post-production, and the result is stunning: Sam Prekop's voice often-and sometimes mid-phrase-becomes just another synthetic layer, the vocals become secondary to the overall sound. The drums sound like they've been compressed into intricate reflections of beats once played. Guitars are present, but they seem like an afterthought, while the bass anchors the album and gives the melodies something to work against.

Three minutes into the opener, "Four Corners," Sam Prekop chimes in climactically with the album's first lyrics. Everything is in its right place. It's the Sea and Cake we've always known. Angular melodies still drive the songs, the edges have just been dulled down. The vocals are delivered in a breathy almost-whisper over the dreamy synthesizers that pan back and forth dramatically. The Sea and Cake have chosen the tried and true process of evolution over revolution.

In a time when consistency is rare, and integrity even rarer (exhibit A: Christina Aguilera in chaps and [revealing] pants), the Sea and Cake have made an album that highlights where they've been. One Bedroom unfolds in such a pleasant way, toward its surprising final song: a stunning cover of David Bowie's "Sound and Vision." Remaining faithful to the song's original structure, the group manages to spin it just slightly, just enough to put their stamp on it. It's a fitting way to close the album. It's also evidence they're not out of ideas yet.

Robert Young
Junkmedia.org Review

(4.5 stars, but not a strong enough 4.5 to give it a five on this scale... if that makes sense - so a 4.4?)
This is a very good album, very clean, certainly bordering at times... I'll say near, not 'on', easy listening (though not nearly as much as Oui), but really it sounds great - and it's far too subtle, well done, tightly executed, sonorously pleasing, etc., to be "easy listening" - such a label insults this album. But I had to review it when I saw that it was only averaging 3.5 stars. Okay, yeah, 4 isn't a huge difference, but this album deserves (IMO, of course) to be in the 4 star range.

The Sea and Cake's latest is very much in keeping with the moody pop soundscapes that filled much of 'Oui.' It's definitely a more electronically-oriented sound, and although it isn't quite as melancholy as Oui, it does have the same quiet intensity of that album. This group has never really been about the lyrics, thanks to Prekop's stream-of-consciousness writing, and here they do more to compliment the sound and heighten the mood than ever before. I also thought this album was more solid throughout than any of their previous releases. Highly recommended.

If you are used to TSAC's first few albums, their last few seem like a big departure. I feel One Bedroom represents the best of TSAC's later music.

The songs here feel more well defined than their last two efforts. The melodies stick in my mind, the beats are inventive and the synth and bass play perfectly in between. Prekop's vocals seem to get dreamier and more breathy on each album, but here it works beautifully. And like the rest of the band, his guitar work just fits.

It seems to me that each instrument shines on this album--but its not over the top. Instead, they have an understated brilliance.

This is good music to chill to. It has a shapeless quality that works just as well under an intense listening as it does lingering in the background.

Highly recommended. 4.5/5 stars.

More jazzy indie mellowness from the Sea and Cake thats perfect for chilling out to. This album is decidedly dreamier than the last and utilizes reverb (and other electronic stuff) to great effect (esp. on trk 1) to create a nice spacious kind of sound. Once again the packaging is handsome and minimal. Albums like this prove why Chicago is cool. If you want to chill, forget Thievery Corp. this album is it. Favorite Tracks: four corners, left side clouded, Le Baron, and One Bedroom.

I've been out of the loop and off the scene with new music for about two years now. I became a new father and picked up a new job, went through some personal turmoil and forgot why I loved music for more than background or ambiance at parties. When I first started listening to Pandora after three years of friends recommending it to me at a good way to find new music I made a station called Sufjan Stevens which led me to Jose Gonzales. I seeded my Jose Gonzales station with Modest Mouse and The Shins and specifically taylored my favorites until the station only produced the kind of music that could make the work day less excruciatingly dull, but would still get me tapping my feet. When I could actually devote enough time to lyrics I would never be disappointed by the poetry I heard.

The music itself was almost always a secondary consideration for me. In bands I wrote lyrics and so words held a kind of sway over me that most guitar driven music could not conjure. Then one day, while writing the equivalent of TPS reports, I heard something coming out of the speakers of my office computer. My fingers stalled on the keyboard and my brain wired itself into the music. It was a hokey sounding electric guitar with some sort of 70's phazer oozing up and out from behind. It was the kind of bipolar, haunting bliss I always wanted to write with a band. When the song was done I saw it was The Sea and Cake's "Four Corners" from their album One Bedroom. I instantly went to [...] and listened to the song again, found the name of the album and ordered it on Amazon.com.

One Bedroom is one of those albums I can no longer spoil with my work day. The album is not "new" (having come out in 2002), but even after finding "new" music that isn't daft radio pop, I listen to it because it still sounds fresh. I come home and put it on the stereo or put on my headphones and listen through it while doing creative writing or drawing.

Here are my track-by-track generalities:

Inevitably I am still obsessed with "Four Corners" and usually listen to it twice before continuing on with the rest of the album.

Moving through the fun, upbeat "Left Side Clouded" I realize that Prekop's sometimes atonal voice and half-spoken singing style is what sets this band apart from other indie acts like Broken Social Scene and consequently makes them better and more accessible.

"Hotel Tell" is the kind of funky song that needs to be played and mixed at a club.

For me, "Le Baron" is a weaker track, but the last two minutes holds me still.

"Shoulder Length" initially sounds like the band is doing a musical homage to Broken Social Scene (minus the sass of Feist), but once again Prekop's voice comes in and imbues the retro 80's sound with a humanity no one with more melody could pull off. The solo at the end of the song makes me laugh with its silly beauty.

The title track "One Bedroom" is a chill groove for weekend drive. It makes me feel like I am driving down a wooded lane at that point in the evening when everything is gold and I am watching the shadows pass over the windshield in rhythm. The sound of the ringing phone at the end of the song is like snapping out of a daydream to pick it up and drop it back on the cradle.

"Interiors" is another cool song with a faux Simon and Garfunkel "ooh" and "ah" thrown in for good measure. I tend to listen to the lyrics to this song more than the others, though most of the lyrics sound like the band was automatic writing or hooked up to a machine that allowed them to translate dream language into lyrics. The change at the three minute mark of this song to the end is the part that sticks in my head and while I can't understand exactly what Prekop and (presumably) Prewitt are singing (making it all the more haunting for me) I would rather have this playing again and again in my mind than any annoying radio jingle.

The musical transition from "Interiors" into "Mr. F" is nothing short of brilliant. And when Prekop starts in singing I want to do a ridiculous dance of joy. The echoed melody at the end of the song is gorgeous and fun and perfect.

"Try Nothing" is another song that makes me laugh with it's late 80's "Kokomo"-style. The lyrics and tone of Prekops singing are nothing short of post modern genius. "Why don't I remember it's a joke/And I'm sending, withholding even more," he sings and that sums up the whole album.

Admittedly, I wish the album ended this way, with the last echo of the electric guitar strum of "Try Nothing" fading into soundlessness and appreciative silence. But, I gave the album 4 stars instead of five for the tenth and final track "Sound & Vision" which is perhaps the albums weakest track. David Bowie wrote this one and indeed it sounds like a cover of an early 80's Bowie song better off left to the doldrums made up of Bowie's abandoned spikey hair styles and sparkly glam make-up. Not even Prekop can save this one. I've listened to it again and again trying to figure out what my problem is and why I can't swallow it, but it's the gross smelling burp that comes out at the end of an otherwise perfectly delicious dessert. Brief, but ruinous like drinking a shot of sea after eating cake.