One week from today, John Vanderslice officially releases his new full-length, "Romanian Names", through the Dead Oceans label, and will soon after head out on lengthy North American tour to support it. Even without this new album and upcoming live schedule, this spring has been a good time to be a JV fan - his recent "Gone Primitive" tour with the Mountain Goats' John Darnielle was truly special, and not only did the collaboration result in some great shows, but the limited edition JV/JD split vinyl "Moon Colony Bloodbath" EP.
It's been relatively tough for fans to track down a copy of that EP, due not only to its limited nature (just 1000, with 200 of those on green vinyl), but the fact that it was delayed and not to be found at the Johns' merch table until the very end of the tour. Post-tour, copies made their way into a couple record stores and quickly disappeared, and 150 were briefly made available as the very last item offered through 3 Beads of Sweat mailorder, which has now officially shut down (RIP). I was fortunate enough to get one from 3BoS, but if you didn't, you're now in luck: They've just become available through the US arm of the Beggars Group. So go here immediately, because they'll be gone soon enough. I can tell you this: The packaging is gorgeous, and the songs and sound quality are tops. Totally worth taking for multiple spins.
For more immediate JV gratification, NPR is now streaming "Romanian Names" in its entirety, and if you pre-order the album from Dead Oceans, you'll get sent download codes so you can start listening ahead of your mailman's arrival (although you're likely too late to be one of the first 100 pre-orders, and missed out on getting a chunk of the studio tape from the RM sessions).
Here's my full recording of Mr. Vanderslice's set from the "Gone Primitive" tour's March visit to Somerville, Mass -- the companion piece to my recent sharing of Mr. Darnielle's stellar performance. To be heard are acoustic versions of a couple "Romanian Names" songs, along with one of the numbers he wrote for the "MCB" EP ("Lucifer Rising"), along with some old JV faves (as a Tascam owner, I'm always glad to hear "Me and My 424"). Enjoy, and look below for two Mp3s from the album as well...
Upcoming tour dates: As I mentioned, John has a lengthy tour booked in the wake of the "Romanian Names" release...
Sun May 17 - Merced, CA @ The Partisan Tue May 19 - San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop Thu May 21 - Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios Fri May 22 - Seattle, WA @ Easy Street Records Sun May 24 - George, WA @ Sasquatch Music Festival Wed May 27 - Provo, UT, @ Velour Thu May 28 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court Fri May 29 - Denver CO, @ Hi Dive Sat May 30 - Omaha NE,@ Slowdown Jr. Mon Jun 01 - St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club Wed Jun 03 - Iowa City, IA @ The Mill Thu Jun 04 - Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall Fri Jun 05 - Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon Sat Jun 06 - Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle Sat Jun 06 - Chicago, IL @ Metronome Celebration Mon Jun 08 - Newport, KY @ The Southgate House Tue Jun 09 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Andy Warhol Museum Thu Jun 11 - Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda's Fri Jun 12 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg Sat Jun 13 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom Sun Jun 14 - Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Downstairs Tue Jun 16 - Washington, DC @ Black Cat Wed Jun 17 - Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506 Thu Jun 18 - Atlanta, GA @ The Earl Fri Jun 19 - St. Augustine, FL @ Cafe Eleven Sun Jun 21 - Orlando, FL @ The Social Tue Jun 23 - Nashville, TN @ Exit/In Thu Jun 25 - Dallas, TX @ House of Blues Fri Jun 26 - Austin, TX @ The Parish Sun Jun 28 - Phoenix, AZ @ Modified Mon Jun 29 - Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour Tue Jun 30 - San Diego, CA @ Casbah Sat Jul 11 - Ottawa, ON @ Cisco Systems Bluesfest Sun Jul 12 - Ottawa, ON @ Cisco Systems Bluesfest Sat Aug 29 - San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival Sat Oct 03 - Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Festival
the fine print... If anyone has an issue with these Mp3s being made available, just let me know (my contact info in the 'nac faq). Live sets recorded with a Sony ECM-719 mic and a Sony MZ-RH10 minidisc, converted to .wav and then edited to 192kbps Mp3s. Files are made available for a limited time, and are not reposted once removed.
