Franz Ferdinand delays LP, tours Europe

Although we were banking on the imminent release of Franz Ferdinand's third album, it appears the fiery Scots won't yield any new material until next year. In the interim, fans can get their Franz fix by listening to early tidbits on the music page of the band's website or scoring tickets to any of its European summer shows.

When explaining the album's hold-up, frontman Alex Kapranos told the BBC's 6 Music that the band still has "quite a bit of mixing to do," and he does not foresee the album coming out until at least January.

Perhaps the delay of the follow-up to 2005's You Could Have It So Much Better has something to do with the creative overhaul the album has experienced since its starting point. In March, the band ditched its initial material with pop producer Brian Higgins and opted to start over with producer Dan Carey (Hot Chip, Sia). The whole idea of a "dirty pop record" elicited too many cheap *Nsync jokes anyway.

Catch the band on the road in any of these Europeans shows and festivals:

June
21 - York, England @ Fibbers
22 - Hull, England @ Adelphi
24 - Bristol, England @ Thekla
25 - Bath, England @ Moles
26 - Yeovil, England @ The Orange Box
28 - Cardiff, Wales @ The Point
29 - Leeds, England @ Faversham

July
4 - Tallin, Estonia @ Faversham
12 - Ferrara, Italy @ Piazza Castello
18 - Southwold, England @ Latitude Festival
19 - Gräfenhainichen, Germany @ Melt! Festival

August
7 - Skanderborg, Denmark @ Skanderborg Festival
8 - Gothenburg, Sweden @ Way Out Festival
15-17 - Biddinghuizen, Netherlands @ Lowlands Festival
30 - Stradbally Ireland @ Electric Picnic
31 - Argyll, Scotland @ Hydro Connect Festival

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