As reported, The Strokes will enter the studio in February to begin writing the follow up to 2005's First Impressions of Earth. Albert Hammond Jr. recently told Rolling Stone that session will happen on "February 11th at 2 o'clock." [www.rollingstone.com]
With Merriweather Post Pavilion now released, Animal Collective has announced a worldwide tour in support of the album. Chartattack has all the dates. [www.chartattack.com]
The second installment of the Poison The Well 7-inch series was released yesterday. Accordingly, "Bowie" from the two-song set is now up on MySpace. [www.punknews.org]
Julie Doiron will release I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day on March 10th through Jagjaguwar. The album was produced by her Eric's Trip bandmate Rick White and harkens back to the 90's with "thick distortion and melodic pop." [www.chartattack.com]
Paulson has posted the first demo, "Chances," from their follow up to 2005's All At Once on MySpace. The new album is reportedly fit for "training montages in the Karate Kid trilogy." [www.myspace.com]
Doug McCombs of Tortoise revealed to Billboard that the Chicago outfit will release a new full-length in April via Thrill Jockey. A spring and/or summer tour is in the works. [www.billboard.com]
Bloc Party have lined up worldwide tour dates from January 25th through May around their latest album, Intimacy. Longwave will join them on the US leg. Update: Additional West Coast dates have been added in April. [www.pitchforkmedia.com]
LA's Crystal Antlers will release their debut full-length, Tentacles, on April 7th through Touch & Go. [www.pitchforkmedia.com]
O+S will release their self-titled debut of "light/dark, electronic-tinged pop" through Saddle Creek on March 24th. The group is comprised of Orenda Fink (Azure Ray) and Scalpelist (Cedric LeMoyne of Remy Zero). A supporting tour is currently being scheduled.
Apparently, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are set to go on indefinite hiatus after a show at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on February 13th. That's the rumor. Update: According to band manager Nick Stern, the band aren't necessarily breaking up. [www.thetripwire.com]
Brooklyn's Black Dice will release their sixth album, Repo, through Paw Tracks on April 7th. [www.pitchforkmedia.com]
Reportedly, D'Angelo will return with his long-awaited follow-up to 2000's Voodoo. The album, tentatively titled James River, is expected this summer through J Records. Collaborations with Prince, Cee-Lo, Raphael Saadiq, Mark Ronson and Roy Hargrove should appear on the record. [www.billboard.com]
According to Billboard, Jack Johnson and his own Brushfire Records are assembling a Nick Drake tribute album to be released later this year. So far, Eddie Vedder, Dave Grohl and Norah Jones are among the acts lending a cover to the record. Heath Ledger's short film Black Eyed Dog will be included on a DVD. [www.billboard.com]
The Rakes will return on March 23rd (UK) with Klang. The band has posted a preview of the single "1989" and behind-the-scenes studio video on YouTube. [www.therakes.co.uk]
Today, the latest from A.C. Newman, Get Guilty, was released via Matador. The album features performances from Jon Wurster (Superchunk), Mates of State and Nicole Atkins. [www.acnewman.net]
NPR is now streaming the new album from Bruce Springsteen, Working On A Dream. The album will hit stores January 27th. [www.npr.org]
On March 31st, Gomez will release A New Tide through ATO Records. The album features performances from Amy Milan, bassist Josh Abrams and Stuart Bogie of the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra.
In celebration of their forthcoming tour, Phish will issue a 7-DVD collection of The Clifford Ball on March 13th. The set documents the entire two-day festival held in upstate New York in August 1996.
Warp Records is giving away the track "Illegal Dustbin" from the new Squarepusher EP, Numbers Lucent. All you have to do is provide a valid email address. Easy enough.
Canada's Junior Boys will release a new album, Begone Dull Care, through Domino on April 7th. A six-week North American tour is set to begin on March 28th. [blogs.myspace.com]
