Pitchfork

The Sea and Cake's Sam Prekop had high praise for Califone's "Spider's House" when he spoke to Pitchfork earlier this year. "I think it's completely awesome," Prekop said, complimenting the way the Tim Rutili-led band translated "Beach Boys chords and progressions" through their own post-rock Americana. The Sea and Cake have now covered "Spider's House"-- originally from our #27 album of 2006, Roots & Crowns-- for Thrill Jockey's upcoming vinyl-only 15th anniversary box set.

This spartan rendition filters the original through the tone- and timbre-focused mindset of Prekop's solo work, perhaps even more than the electronics-enhanced jazz pop of the Sea and Cake's recent albums. An acoustic guitar handles the "God Only Knows"-esque rhythm, and an electric guitar lead glistens overhead, while a lone trumpet pierces the calm like a moonbeam through treetops. Light touches of percussion twitch in the background, as Prekop's breathily familiar voice gives Rutili's impressionistic lyrics a reverent, multi-tracked hush: "The icicles chime," he sings. Every sonic detail comes through just that clearly, to be savored each in its own right-- again, not so different from in Califone's version, really, except rendered here through the Sea and Cake's skilled hands. Yo La Tengo have also praised "Spider's House" in a Pitchfork "Guest List". Maybe they'll cover it next?

[from the Thrill Jockey 7" box set; available first at the label's ATP-sponsored anniversary shows 11/11/07 and 11/12/07, then due in the UK 12/03/07 and in the U.S. 12/04/07 on Thrill Jockey]