This week”s installment of Slicing Up Eyeballs on Strangeways Radio featured new music from Ian McCulloch of Echo & The Bunnymen, Robyn Hitchcock and Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan, plus old favorites from Tom Verlaine, Midnight Oil, Morrissey, Cocteau Twins, Kate Bush and more.

It’s enough to make fans of (very) early Depeche Mode swoon: Photographic evidence of DM co-founder Vince Clarke sitting down for dinner with former bandmates Dave Gahan, Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher. Earlier today, Clarke tweeted, ‘Tonight I am dining with the ‘Modes’. Apparently, Fletch is cooking…who knew?’

Well, it’s once again Morrissey’s birthday — insert “Unhappy Birthday” joke here — and the perpetually glum Smiths frontman is 53 today. To celebrate, we thought we’d dig up our favorite photo of him (yes, that’s Moz and Rick Astley), and then post a dozen Smiths and Morrissey concerts for your viewing pleasure.

Peter Gabriel will celebrate the 25th anniversary of his classic ‘So’ album with a deluxe multi-format reissue plus a 13-date North American tour dubbed “Back to Front,” which will find him performing the album start to finish backed by members of the same band he originally toured the album with.

When it came time to announce their slot headlining the U.K.’s Bestival, Britain’s Florence + The Machine opted for an unusual unveiling: The whole band dressed up in animal costumes and rambled their way through a stripped-down take on the Talking Heads hit single ‘Wild, Wild Life.’

With expanded reissues of Sugar’s catalog — 1992′s landmark ‘Copper Blue,’ the 1993 companion EP ‘Beaster’ and 1994 sophomore album ‘File Under: Easy Listening’ — coming out over the next few weeks in the U.K., Merge Records has announced it will release trimmed-down versions in the U.S. later this summer.

Thirty years ago tonight, The Haçienda — the famed Manchester nightclub opened by Factory Records, New Order and Tony Wilson — opened its doors to the public. Check out clips of New Order playing there, plus full sets from The Smiths, The Stone Roses and The Chameleons.

New wave legends Blondie and Devo will team up for a run of U.S. dates this September, four of which — two concerts in Washington state and two in California — already have been announced. Outside of those dates, however, it’s not yet clear how extensive the Blondie-topped joint tour will be.

Seattle proto-grunge rockers Skin Yard — whose members included Jack Endino, producer of Nirvana’s ‘Bleach,’ and future Soundgarden and Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron — this month reissued most of its catalog digitally, with each record remastered and one, 1990’s ‘Fist Sized Chunks,’ remixed.

This week’s new releases include new studio albums from Echo & The Bunnymen’s Ian McCulloch and The Cult, plus Depeche Mode frontman Dave Gahan’s album with Soulsavers, a posthumous Joey Ramone record and the U.S. release of the Hoodoo Gurus’ new best-of.

The playlist from tonight’s edition of ‘Dark Wave’ — the weekly ‘darker side of alternative’ show on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave — featured Kate Bush, The March Violets, TSOL, Tubeway Army, Ministry, Tones on Tail, The House of Love, The Stranglers and much more.

Our latest collection of links includes sad news about the passing of former Crowded House drummer Peter Jones, plus an interview with Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan about Soulsavers, news of Morrissey’s libel suit against the NME proceeding to court this summer, and a mix of David Bowie covers from Strangeways Radio.

This week’s round-up of Slicing Up Eyeballs headlines includes news about Robyn Hitchcock, The Housemartins, The Cult, Paul Weller, Public Image Ltd., My Bloody Valentine, The Psychedelic Furs, Dead Can Dance, Depeche Mode, The Primitives, Ultravox and more.