Indie News Round-Up

• Wolf Parade announce their summer tour dates supporting their new album, now to be titled At Mount Zoomer. If you’re based in Iowa, you might be able to catch them in Chicago or Minneapolis (thanks, Pitchfork).

• The Strokes are working on a new album, perhaps hoping to overcome the somewhat apathetic reaction to their last release. Best of luck to them, but tellingly, the one and only comment on the related PrefixMag.com blurb reads in its entirety, “cool….forgot about them.” Hm. (from Prefix, as mentioned)  ALSO: Strokes’ guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. seems to be wrapping up and about ready to release his sophomore LP, Como Te Llama, which is slated vaguely as a June release. More on this as it develops, as one of our KRUI bloggers (John Wilmes) considers Hammond’s debut LP Yours To Keep an utter pop masterpiece. (ALBERT HAMMOND JR. MYSPACE)

• The Arcade Fire continue to rock for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, this time in North Carolina on May 1 and 2 (Prefix again).

• In the “matter of taste” department, Stereogum offers links to various new media from Death Cab For Cutie and the cover art for Coldplay’s upcoming album, Viva La Vida (due June 17), plus news about two free Coldplay concerts in June. How cool you think this is probably depends on how much indie cred you’re willing to risk by saying you like Coldplay (come on, guys, nobody should be excommunicated for thinking “Clocks” is a good song).