Last week our favorite analog darling and Tiny Telephone founder,John Vanderslice, played some shows in NYC. We had the pleasure of having him over to our backyard (or porch) to hear him play one of his best songs, “Fetal Horses,” for our new video performance series, The Backyard. The rain stopped for just a moment while the birds came out and joined in on the sing song fun. Who needs a back up band when there are birds outside?

Catch John on tour with his band coming to a city or festival near you:

6/25 – House of Blues//Dallas, TX w/ The Tallest Man on Earth
6/26 – The Parish//Austin, TX w/ The Tallest Man on Earth
6/28 – Modified//Phoenix, AZ w/ The Tallest Man on Earth
6/29 – Troubadour//LA, CA w/ The Tallest Man on Earth
6/30 – Casbah//San Diego, CA w/ The Tallest Man on Earth
7/10 – Horseshoe Tavern//Toronto, ON w/ Cotton Jones
7/11 – Ottawa Bluesfest//Ottawa, ON w/ Jackson Browne, Ben Harper
7/12 – Ottawa Bluesfest//Ottawa, ON w/ Jackson Browne, Ben Harper
8/30 – Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival//San Fran, CA w/ MIA TVOTR, Deerhunter
9/16 – Media Club//Vancouver BC, Canada
9/17 – Crocodile Cafe//Seattle, WA
9/18 – The Wild Buffalo//Bellingham, WA
10/3 – Austin City Limits Festival//Austin, TX w/ Andrew Bird, Grizzly Bear, The Decemberists

After heading out on the Gone Primitive acoustic tour together earlier this year, John Darnielle (Mountain Goats) and John Vanderslice will be releasing a special vinyl-only EP of recordings the two did while on the road via Cadmean Dawn Records.

The new EP, Moon Colony Bloodbath, was recorded by Vanderslice and Darnielle while touring and later sold to fans. The EP also features Chris Stamey on a few of the tracks. Since the EP didn’t sell out while it was on sale during the tour, it’s now being made available for retail.

In an e-mail to Pitchfork, Darnielle described the new album saying, “Some of the songs have something to do with a loose rock opera/’concept album’ idea about organ harvesting colonies on the moon and the employees thereof, who spent their off months living in secluded opulence in remote American locations. Concepts like this are actually more fun when you abandon them but leave their traces kicking around, so that’s what we did.”

So if you want to know what organ harvesting colonies on the moon sound like, then this would be the record for you. Not to mention it’s bound to be another one of those rare Mountain Goats EPs, so you should get your hands on a copy while you can.

Moon Colony Bloodbath track listing
Side A
01. Surrounded
02. Lucifer Rising
03. Satori in Denver

Side B
01. Scorpio Rising
02. Sudden Oak Death
03. Columns Pillars Steps
04. Emerging

The line-up for San Francisco’s second annual Outside Lands Music & Arts festival has been announced. The three-day festival will take place in late August at the Golden Gate park, and headliners include Pearl Jam, Beastie Boys, M.I.A. Dave Matthews Band, and… Tom Jones. (If that’s not enough to make you want to go by itself, than we don’t know what to tell you.)

The festival runs from August 28-30, and along with it’s diverse line up, the event offers some of the best food and wine in the California region, as well as providing various eco-friendly options — like recycling and a solar powered cell phone charging station — for concert-goers.

Along with the aforementioned headliners, other acts on the roster include Modest Mouse, TV on the Radio, Mastodon, Built To Spill, Atmosphere, Deerhunter, Portugal. The Man and Matt and Kim, among a whole bunch more. Tickets for the Outside Lands Music & Arts festival go on sale this Sunday, April 19, at 10 a.m. Some of the proceeds for each ticket sold also go to a good cause, helping benefit San Francisco’s Recreation and Park Department.

Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival Line-up
Pearl Jam
Dave Matthews Band
Beastie Boys
Incubus
Black Eyed Peas
M.I.A
Jason Mraz
Ween
The Mars Volta
Thievery Corporation
Modest Mouse
Band of Horses
TV on the Radio
Dead Weather
Atmosphere
Tom Jones
Silversun Pickups
The National
Q-Tip
Brett Dennen
Built To Spill
Mastodon
Raphael Saadiq
Calexico
Os Mutantes
Midnite
JJ Grey & Mofro
Kinky
Deerhunter
Lila Downs
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
The Dodos
Bettye LaVette
Dengue Fever
Heartless Bastards
The Dirtbombs
Lenka
Akron/Family
John Vanderslice
Matt and Kim
Portugal. The Man
The Morning Benders
The Duke Spirit
Zee Avi
Blind Pilot
SambaDa
Ryan Bingham
West Indian Girl
Extra Golden

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.”

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)