Blondie Set to Return With New Album in 2011

New Wave pioneers Blondie are set to return next year with their ninth studio album, 'Panic of Girls.' Billboard.com reports that the sessions took place in Woodstock, N.Y. last November and December, yielding 35 tracks, 14 of which are targeted for release. The new material is the first studio work to surface after 2003's 'The Curse of Blondie.'

Speaking to Billboard, Blondie drummer Clem Burke hints that the record is much more focused on live instrumentation, a direction that wasn't necessarily apparent on 'Curse.' "We tried to make the recording process as organic as possible and tried to stay away from programming as much as we could, because ['The Curse of Blondie'] had a lot of programming on it," he said. "So in the spirit of Woodstock, we kept going in the studio and playing."

Blondie fans can also rejoice in the fact that vocalist Debbie Harry wrote the bulk of the lyrics and the band's been showcasing a few new songs on the road this summer on their "Endangered Species Tour": 'What I Heard,' 'The End' and 'Mother' are being worked in with standard Blondie classics.

Surprisingly, Blondie are currently without a record label but hope that those red tape issues will be sorted out by the time their tour hits Australia this November. This week marks their return stateside, with a string of dates where they share bills with Cheap Trick and the B-52s.