video: High Places "Various Songs"

"This Is Where We Sing The Chorus"

When Ray Concepcion posted footage from The Walkmen's performance at the Guggenheim the other night, my first reaction was "Damn, I really want to see some High Places footage from that night." And so, this morning Ray graced us with another phenomenal capture. This up close and personal view of the band concocting synthetic lullabys swings from "Universe" to "Head Spins" to "The Tree With Lights In It," giving the performance a sort of "History of High Places" feel. If "Late Bloomer" were tacked on, viewers would see a clear progression; a taste of the past and a glimpse of the future.

bobkast #27: Polaroids at the Beach

"Leave The City Behind"
(photo by margaret zyro)
Ok, here's the plan: We're all going to quit our day jobs and shack up at my grandparent's beach house for the summer. (They're old and forgot they have a beach house.) Then we'll get sweet jobs like, Ice Cream Man, Italian Ice Guy, Fish Delivery Dude and Badge Checker Chick. We'll live off grilled cheese sandwiches and milkshakes. And margaritas. We'll have unlimited ice cream, and freeze pops. You can buy like 500 freezepops at the gas station for like $5. It's sick. We'll just wear Umbro's every day. No shoes. And it won't even matter when you jump into the ocean with your clothes on at 4 in the morning and your cell phone dies, cause, well, it just won't matter. And well ride bikes. It's gonna be so rad.

Boobkast #27: Polaroid's at the Beach


Quiet Village- Victoria's Secret
Real Estate- Beach Comber
Beach Fossils- Vacation
Holiday Shores- Phones Don't Feud
Ganglians- Lost Word
Strawberry Fair- Give Up
Ducktails- Let's Rock The Beach
Juana Molina- No Llama
The Tough Alliance- Hung Up On A Dream (Zombies cover)
The Ruby Suns- Ole Rinka
High Places- From Stardust to Sentence
The Mayfair Set- Desert Fun
Jacuzzi Boys- Island Ave
The Meanest Boys- I Don't
Ms. Tyree "Sugar" Jones- If You Feel It
Rodriquez- Sugar Man
Reefer- Blue Moon
Sore Eros- Whisper Me
tUne-YaRdS- FIYA
Wilson Simonal- Escola em Luto
Sandbar- Fresh Life
Stag Hare- Allah

Download Bobkast #27: Polaroids at the Beach (PC: Right Click + Save As; Mac; option + click)

bobkast #26: Another Day in the Park

"Dreaming, Dreaming"
With the thermometer hitting upwards of 85 in Greenpoint the past two weekends, it's safe to say that Summer is almost here. It's also safe to say that you can find me in the park, chilling with friends, soaking up sun and drinking Margarita's in styrofoam cups from the Turkey's Nest. My advice with this mix; burn a copy to CD, then transfer that CD to Maxell XL-II, pop it into your Radio Raheem-esque boom box, pick up a blanket and go lay out in your neighborhood park. Bring booze. Smokes. Buy an ice cream. (or Italian ice.) Stop being so pale.

Bobkast #26: Another Day in the Park
Julie Doiron- The Life of Dreams
Atlas Sound- Springtime Instrumental
Suda Chuenbarn- Jong Wai Korn
Lola Arias & Ulises Conti - Te Voy A Vencer Por Knock-Out
High Places- The Tree With Lights In It
Savath et Savalas- La Llama
Amadou et Mariam - Je Te Kiffe
One Blood- Be Thankful For What You Got
Jackie Paris- Make Me Smile
The Coasters- Down In Mexico
Annette Denvil- Oh So Nice
Animal Collective- No More Running
Yo La Tengo- Dreaming
Ducktails- Backyard

Download Bobkast #26: Another Day in the Park

(PC: right click+save; MAC: Mac Users: hold down control+click the above link and select "Download Linked File")

covers: Bjork

"My headphones, they saved my life"

Stereogum dropped a bomb today with the third incarnation of their covers project. We were big fans of the Drive: Automatic for the People(especially covers by Bodies of Water and Shout Out Louds), and, of course, the fantastic OKX: Tribute to OK Computer. This time they've tackled Bjork's Post, the Icelandic princesses second solo record and some say her best. Personally, my favorite is Homogenic, but who cares.

After a first listen we're really digging Atlas Sound's version of Post closer "Headphones", which sounds like it was recorded in an underwater garden. S'gum really couldn't have picked a better candidate to deliver the classic lyric "My headphones, they saved my life/ Your tape, it lulled me to sleep." While Bradford gets dreamy, Dirty Projectors transform "Hyperballad" (aka the best Bjork song ever) into a jangly tropical jam akin to the sound of the Belizean jungle. In a similar use of summery sounds, Barcelona's El Guincho does his loopy SP-404 shit on "Cover Me."

Also really feeling the distortion fueled, shot gun blasts of "Army of Me" by the Liars, which is so sinister it makes the original sound like a lullaby. Some covers don't stray too far from the original, as is the case with High Places "The Modern Things" and Bell's "It's Oh So Quiet". Another highlight, one sure to end up on mixtapes for years to come, is Final Fantasy & Ed Droste's (Grizzly Bear) cover of "Possibly Maybe", which gets the blessing of Owen Pallette's signature string arrangements and Ed's ethereal voice. Also pretty impressed by White Hinterland's "I Miss You." Basically, this covers album is the f'ing shit, so download it asap. Full .zip file below, as well as a few of our favorites.

Oh yeah, if you haven't seen the new Bjork video for "Wanderlust", do it now. While the quality kinda sucks online, we're gonna highly recommend picking it up on DVD, especially for the 3-D version. Bjork, CGI and 3-D equals a stoned evening in heaven.

Enjoyed: A Tribute to Bjork's Post Full .Zip

High Places- The Modern Things
Final Fantasy & Ed Droste- Possibly Maybe
Atlas Sound- Headphones