Just when it was looking like the flip side to Peter Gabriel’s song swap project, Scratch My Back, would be fractured at best and canned at worst, Justin Vernon has reciprocated Gabriel’s cover of “Flume.” On Saturday, April 17, Jagjaguwar will release an exclusive split 7”, featuring Bon Iver’s cover of “Come Talk To Me” off Gabriel’s 1992 album Us, as well as the aforementioned “Flume” cover.

For the one-off recording, Bon Iver mastermind Justin Vernon enlisted regular co-conspirator Sean Carey, as well as his very own sister and brother-in-law.

Jagjaguwar describes Vernon and company’s rendition of “Come Talk To Me” as “an intimated triumph,” adding, “It has the sensation of soaring, but its feet and hands are dug into the ground, rooting it there while it flirts with flight.”

We may be able to add Solid Gold to the list of hard band names to Google, but the Minneapolis-based band’s Zack Coulter and Adam Hurlburt just announced a new project that is sure to not have that problem: GAYNGS.

As their press release reads, GAYNGS started out as a simple collaboration between Coulter, Hurlburt, and producer Ryan Olson, based out of a bedroom studio in their hometown. One move to a Wisconsin studio and over 25 notable guest musicians later, however, and they’ve compiled quite the epic one-sheet for their debut LP.

Guests on the album, dubbed Relayted, include Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and Mike Noyce, the Rosebud’s Ivan Howard, all 3 members of Megafaun, Rhymesayers’ P.O.S, Dessa, Leisure Birds’ Jake Luck and Nick Ryan, and a slew of other artists.

Magnetic Fields mastermind Stephin Merritt is busy plotting a new synth-heavy record, prepping a documentary, and heading out on tour to support the release of Realism this week, but his calendar isn’t quite packed yet: “I’m working on a score for the 1917 silent film version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” Merritt told Exclaim, adding later: “I’m going to try to musicalize it to be more or less in sync with the moving lips of the actors, who actually talk a great deal, considering it’s a silent film.”

Not only will Merritt write the score to Jules Verne’s classic science fiction tale of Captain Nemo’s hunt for an underwater monster, but he will also be singing and performing with a live band at the San Francisco Film Festival in May.

In other “musicians scoring silent films” news, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and Steve Kimock wrote and performed music set to Charlie Chaplin’s silent films at the New York Guitar Festival’s Silent Films/Live Guitars series last week in NYC. Check out a nice review with pictures and a brief interview with Kimock here.

Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and St. Vincent’s Annie Clark played BrooklynVegan’s Haiti benefit at the Music Hall of Williamsburg this past weekend and it looks like we can now add them to our list (alongside Ben Gibbard and Kevin Barnes) of indie stars covering Neil Young’s classic “Harvest Moon” for charity of late.

Not only did the pair pull of a wonderful rendition of Young’s early 90s hit, but they also took on Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” invoking a bit of the White Stripes’ famous version and tacking a noise freakout jam to the end.

BrooklynVegan posted photos, setlists, and more videos here, but we also have some decent audio/video of Vernon/Clark’s versions of “Harvest Moon” and “Jolene” below:

Surely you’ve heard about Radiohead’s Haiti benefit show in LA or Fiona Apple’s “Love and Haiti, Too” at Largo by now, but here’s a new gig for people near NYC, as well as a couple more interesting Largo charity events.

BrooklynVegan and Bowery Presents have put together quite the comedy/music show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg (formerly Northsix) on 6^th St. in Brooklyn. All proceeds will go to the Red Cross and an orphanage in Haiti personally chosen by Zach Galifianakis, who is performing alongside the Daily Show’s Wyatt Cynac, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, Spoon frontman Britt Daniel, St. Vincent, Janeane Garofalo, and “possibly more TBA.” For ticket info and more, go thataway.

We mentioned Fiona Apple, Jon Brion, and Gillian Welch’s benefit at Largo earlier today, but we missed two more important shows being held at the LA club next week. LAist reports that Largo will host “Love and Haiti: A Comedy Benefit” on Monday (Jan. 25) and “Song Circle for Haiti: Jenny Lewis & Friends” on Tuesday (Jan. 26).

It wasn’t until Peter Gabriel abruptly canceled his scheduled Academy Awards performance (after they demanded he cut his song down to 65 seconds earlier this year) that I realized what an awesome artist he truly is. Late to the party, I know, but it looks like he’s going to start getting respect all over very shortly. The tracklist to his upcoming album of orchestral cover songs was leaked by the distributor in Japan and it’s a doozy.

All we knew before today was what collaborator John Metcalfe had teased on Gabriel’s official site: that Scratch My Back (due out early next year) consisted of “song swap[s] with some of the world’s most legendary artists.”

Does that mean that Arcade Fire, Radiohead, Neil Young, Lou Reed, Bowie and more will be covering Gabriel’s songs in return? We can’t confirm that, but here’s the tracklist, which Metcalfe refused to confirm or deny to the Guardian. All he would say is that “there are some very, very famous singers and bands involved,” and “there should be something in there for everybody.”

Yes, indeed (via Barks via Guardian):

“I think this is probably the weirdest thing any of us have ever done,” Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon announced for fans at his sunrise concert at LA’s Hollywood Forever Cemetery this morning, according to IndieMuse. And based on the couple videos/reviews trickling onto the internet today, I’d say it was well worth any potential weirdness. The best thing about the videos I’ve come across is that every scene and every song is painted in a different shade of dawn, as they kicked off the set in the predawn darkness and closed in full view of the day.

The first video here or embedded below shows Vernon and friends singing without microphones or a PA system:

Bon Iver plays “Stacks” in this video. It’s shot very far from the stage, but the audio quality is top notch:

Lastly, the band closed the set with “The Wolves (Act I and II)”. If you weren’t already jealous of the attendees at this point, you will be after hearing this triumphant coda:

“Let’s do it again maybe or maybe never again,” Vernon said when it was over.

Um… again, please.

Keats and Yeats won’t be on his side, but Rudolph Valentino, Jayne Mansfield, and other deceased residents of LA’s Hollywood Forever Cemetery will be nearby at Bon Iver’s sunrise performance/slumber party next month, Consequence of Sound reports.

According to CoS’s Alex Young, a $25 dollar fee includes admission to the cemetery at midnight on Sept. 26^th, breakfast, and a lucky spot at Justin Vernon’s performance at 6AM on the 27^th.

Between this show and the Dinosaur Jr./Sonic Youth double bill in NYC this fall, I’m thinking I need a helicopter for all these dream gigs.

It sure looks like New Moon director Chris Weitz is trying to build anticipation for the second installment of the Twilight series by boasting about its awesome soundtrack. As previously reported, Thom Yorke has shown interest in submitting a song, as well as Radiohead, Muse, and Band of Skulls. Now HitFix.com confirms (via Pitchfork) that Yorke has in fact submitted a tune, as well as Bon Iver.

Strangely, Weitz claims he hasn’t even listened to the Yorke song yet, but “unless it’s sounds of him belching,” he said, “I think I’ll put it in.”

What’s more, last year’s breakout singer/songwriter dude Bon Iver is also on board. “I think [Bon Iver] is fantastic,” Weitz added. “He says he wrote it for the film, but who ever knows if it might just be something laying around in his cupboard.”

I think he should be happy with the playlist so far, but Weitz is still shooting for a Kings of Leon track as well. No worries though, folks, as soon as he books KOL, I’m sure we’ll be hearing all about it.