Pitchfork: Bloc Party Plan Spring, Autumn Tours

We're aware that with Bloc Party's debut album not out in America yet (March 22, baby!), the amount of press they get may have made you feel like the one kid in the room without cable TV. So just file this info away until such time as you actually care: Bloc Party have nearly hit the halfway point on their second album, which, according to an interview in NME, the band would like to release late this year or early next year.

Singer Kele Okereke told NME, "I've finished off some new songs. I'm really pleased. I've done 12, and there's about another 10. The aim is to have a new single in October which isn't on the album. I want the new album to sound a lot more competent and confident and hopefully alot warmer and a lot more lush...There's one called 'Into the Blue', one called 'The War's Not Over. That's got a weird medieval guitar line in it; it sounds really heroic. There's one called 'Brothers', too."

Man, if there's one word that makes our fingers hover expectantly over the big red Best New Music button, it's "competent." But we'll let that slide, since "She's Hearing Voices" still has the power to raise the dead. Oh, and did we mention Bloc Party already have a tour booked for next autumn in addition to the shows they're playing through April? Competence has its uses. Dates:

03-04 London, England - Forum
03-05 Portsmouth, England - Pyramid
03-07 Brussels, Belgium - TBA
03-08 Paris, France - Boule Noire
03-21 Pomona, CA - Glasshouse
03-22 Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
03-23 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill
03-24 San Francisco, CA - Pop Scene
03-26 Seattle, WA - Neumos
03-27 Vancouver, British Columbia - Richards On Richard
03-30 Minneapolis, MN - First Ave
03-31 Chicago, IL - Metro
04-01 Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
04-02 Toronto, Ontario - Lee's Palace
04-03 Montreal, Quebec - Cabaret
04-05 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club
04-06 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church
04-07 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
04-08 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
04-09 Washington, DC - Black Cat
04-13 London, England - Astoria
04-14 London, England - Astoria
04-15 Glasgow, Scotland - Barrowland
04-17 Manchester, England - University
10-02 Edinburgh, Scotland - Usher Hall
10-04 Glasgow, Scotland - Carling Academy
10-06 Newcastle, England - Northumbria University
10-08 Cambridge, England - Corn Exchange
10-09 Norwich, England - UEA
10-10 Portsmouth, England - Guild Hall
10-12 Sheffield, England - Octagon
10-13 Birmingham, England - Carling Academy
10-14 Birmingham, England - Carling Academy
10-16 Nottingham, England - Rock City
10-17 Liverpool, England - Royal Court
10-18 Leeds, England - University
10-20 Manchester, England - Apollo
10-21 Manchester, England - Apollo
10-22 Leicester, England - De Montford Hall
10-24 Cardiff, Wales - University
10-25 Bristol, England - Carling Academy
10-26 Exeter, England - University
10-28 London, England - Brixton Carling Academy
10-29 London, England - Brixton Carling Academy