David J, the erstwhile bassist and Bauhaus and Love and Rockets, has been on the road for much of the year, playing full-band shows and incredibly intimate house concerts. Back in April, he stopped by the studios of Seattle’s KEXP radio for a 40-minute performance and interview session. See it here.

Rhino Records’ vinyl reissue campaign for The Sisters of Mercy continues with an expanded 4LP box set of the band’s 1992 compilation Some Girls Wander By Mistake, which finds that album spread over two records, and includes bonus 12-inch singles of “Temple of Love” and “Under the Gun.”

The third in Parlophone’s series of career-spanning David Bowie box sets will be released in September as a 11 CD, 13 LP or digital download edition that features everything Bowie released between 1977 and 1982, including rarities and a new mix of Lodger by producer Tony Visconti. See full details here.

Tanya Donelly has announced plans to go into the studio with her reunited ’90s act Belly to record that band’s 22-years-in-the-making third album, and she’s re-teaming with her former Throwing Muses bandmate (and step-sister) Kristin Hersh for a concert this fall in Boston.

The Breeders, who’ve been in the studio recording a follow-up to 2008’s Mountain Battles, will head out on the road this fall, playing nine dates in Europe in October followed by 10 more dates in the U.S., including a slot opening for the Arcade Fire in St. Paul, Minn. See full dates here.

Paul Westerberg slipped an odd, seemingly home-recorded new song titled “2HAWK_1” out into the world early this week via an anonymous Soundcloud account that may just be the precursor to a new album from the once-again-former frontman of The Replacements. Hear the full song here.

We’ve been on something of an R.E.M. kick of late here at Slicing Up Eyeballs HQ, which made it easy to choose the third subject of our new readers poll series that seeks to rank the full recorded output of a given band. After putting The Cure and The Smiths up for votes, we now turn to R.E.M.