Franz Ferdinand Start New Year with new album

Dec. 28, 2008

Perhaps completing a resolution to get some new songs to their fans early in the new year, Scottish modern rockers Franz Ferdinand’s latest record is now due for release January 26. Dubbed Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, the new 2009 set was recorded throughout 2008, both in a South London recording studio and at Franz’ own headquarters in Govan, Glasgow, Scotland. Songs on the new set include “Ulysses,” “Live Alone,” and “Twilight Omens;” the first single and all the details of Franz’ upcoming tour schedule are also set to be announced shortly...
NY band The Strokes, who have recently been on hiatus with various side projects (including drummer Fabrizio Moretti’s new band Little Joy, which just played a well-received show in NYC), have now made plans to regroup in February to start work on composing some new songs and tentatively discussing plans for more touring. No release date has been announced for the new album, but it’s expected to surface before the end of 2009. Moretti also plans to keep on performing and recording with Little Joy, even during his continued work with The Strokes...
Norwegian singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche - now based in NYC - spent the latter half of 2008 traveling between New York and Bergen, Norway, recording a new album that’s set for release around mid-2009. In addition to his usual band arrangements, Lerche added more string and brass to his songs, to make it more of a studio-sleek album than his previous releases. He’s got several mini-tours tentatively planned to test out his new tunes, so keep an eye on his website for upcoming live dates...
The Killers have announced that they’ll be embarking on an early-2009 tour in support of their third album, Day and Age, whose first single, “Human,” spent several weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. They got in a little practice for the tour the past few weeks, which included shows in London and Seattle; the official 2009 tour schedule will include stops in Chicago (1/20), Ypsilanti, MI (1/22), Toronto (2/23), New York City (2/25), Atlanta (1/30), and Nashville (1/31), and will be followed by a 3-week UK tour that will kick off February 20 in Ireland...

MODERN ROCK LINK OF THE WEEK:
Tenacious D is set to be the subject of a second volume of its The Complete Masterworks DVD series, out this month on Epic; this DVD includes a documentary about the pair’s 2007 film, “Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny,” as well as a Late Night with Conan O’ Brien performance and additional performances from SNL and the MTV Movie Awards; check out a trailer at the band’s website. http://tenaciousd.com...

MINI BUZZ:
Dismayed at the recent cancellation of the BBC’s Top of the Pops annual Christmas special, American Idol judge Simon Cowell has offered to buy Top of the Pops from the BBC itself to ensure the continuation of the British music series and special...
The Trans-Siberian Orchestra have released a new tune called “Night Enchanted” as a sample from their long-delayed new album; you can snag the song via Amazon.com as a free MP3 download...
North Carolina band Annuals have announced a half-dozen U.S. live dates to support the release of their sophomore album, Such Fun - the band will make stops in Chicago (1/22) and Toronto (1/24) among other cities...
Singer-songwriter Glen Phillips has been hard at work with his side supergroup project, the Works Progress Administration, which, in addition to Phillips, includes members of various other bands, including Cracker, Nickel Creek, and Elvis Costello’s Imposters; WPA plans to release their debut disc early next year, but you can preview songs now at www.wpamusic.com...
Looking for a topic for lively discussion for your upcoming New Year’s party? Then hop online to www.rollingstone.com and check out their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time - chosen by a panel of “experts.” there’s plenty here to spark arguments, whether you agree or disagree with such choices as John Lennon, Bono, Brian Wilson, Annie Lennox, and Iggy Pop...
And here’s a quick thanks to my Modern Rock readers for your readership and your emails over the past year - and cheers to a terrific 2009, in which we’ll continue to bring you more modern rockin’ music news and info right here at Express...
In the meantime, here are this week’s sparse but worthy new releases... ON CD: Fear the State’s Against the Ropes... ON DVD: The Kinks: Life on the Road... and that’s the buzz for this week’s Modern Rock.

Questions, comments, rants, raves, suggestions on this column or your fave musicians? Send ‘em to Kristi at modernrocker@gmail.com