[Photo by Autumn de Wilde]
Despite being notoriously bad at fantasy baseball, Dead Oceans owner Phil Waldorf is showing he still has good taste. The ex-Misra Records head recently picked up one of our favorite Brooklyn bands and has now turned his sights on San Francisco indie soundscape artist John Vanderslice who will hit the road with Mountain Goat John Darnielle in preparation of his Dead Oceans debut.
From the press release: Following a long and tormenting day of travel including delayed flights, uncomfortable seats, and no sleep, Dead Oceans owner Phil Waldorf arrived at his destination completely fried, wholly frazzled. One of his label partners, Chris Swanson, picked him up at the airport, and as they pulled away from the arrivals curb, Chris turned up the stereo and said, “Listen to this new John Vanderslice tune.”
Thirty seconds into the song, Phil was in a different place altogether. This was unlike any Vanderslice recording he had heard before. This song was, as far as he could tell, the best tune Vanderslice had ever written, and it needed a home. Gone were thoughts of a terrible flight. Rather than mumbling banal and boring missives about how badly travel sucks, he and his partner were lucky to have one of those great conversations about how they had to be involved with this new thing, this new discovery: John Vanderslice’s new album.
Dead Oceans reached out to JV immediately, heard (and was floored by!) more of the material, and is now extremely proud to add him to the label roster. The first fruit of this partnership is JV’s new album Romanian Names, scheduled for release May 19. More details will be available very soon.
John Vanderslice and John Darnielle tour dates
03.18.09 – Asheville NC (The Grey Eagle)
03.19.09 – Durham NC (The Duke Coffeehouse)
03.20.09 – Norfolk VA (The Attacus Theatre)
03.21.09 – Washington DC (Sixth and I Synagogue)
03.24.09 – Northampton MA (Pearl Street)
03.25.09 – Somerville MA (The Somerville Theatre)
03.27.09 – New York NY (The Society for Ethical Culture)
03.29.09 – Gambier OH (Kenyon College)
03.30.09 – Oberlin OH (Oberlin College)
04.01.09 – Chicago IL (Epiphany)
04.02.09 – Champaign IL (Courtyard Café at University of Illinois)
04.03.09 – Iowa City IA (The Mill – Mission Creek Music Festival)
04.04.09 – Richmond IN (Earlham College)
04.06.09 – Bloomington IN (Buskirk Chumley Theater)
