Art-rockers Stereolab [ tickets ] have announced dates for a North American tour next spring which will coincide with the release of their new album in March.

The British/French electronica pioneers will kick off their 2006 outing with a March 1 appearance in Costa Mesa, CA, the first of 17 stops currently scheduled on the band's latest trek. Tickets for most of the shows are currently on sale.

Dates will cover major cities in both the U.S. and Canada, with a few side-trips to out-of-the-way places thrown in for good measure.

The band is planning a March 6 release for "Fab Four Suture," its 10th full-length studio album. Three singles from the album, "Interlock," "Plastic Mile" and "Kyberneticka Babicka," were released simultaneously on Sept. 12.

The new disc is the band's first output since returning to the Too Pure/Beggar's Banquet label after splitting ties with Elektra last year. This year's three-disc compilation of singles and b-sides, "Oscillons from the Anti-Sun," was also released on Too Pure.