Former XTC figurehead Andy Partridge this week releases ‘Powers,’ a 12-track, limited-edition album featuring ‘aural sculptures’ inspired by the late sci-fi book-jacket artist Richard M. Powers. Hear audio samples from the album.

This week on the A.V. Club’s ‘Undercover’ series, Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump goes solo-acoustic to offer his take on The Wedding Present’s 1987 single ‘My Favourite Dress.’

Now that EMI has come out defending its last set of expanded Duran Duran reissues, the label has pushed back the release of the band’s next pair: 1986’s ‘Notorious’ and 1988’s ‘Big Thing,’ both now due on Sept. 27, nearly four months after their original June release date.

We reported last week on news of Bryan Ferry’s star-studded new solo album ‘Olympia’ as well as upcoming Roxy Music reunion dates — and now comes the video for that disc’s first single, ‘You Can Dance,’ which premiered at RollingStone.com this morning.

Southern California fans longing for that old Oingo Boingo Halloween experience can still get a taste of those epic late-’80s, early-’90s shows this fall when drummer John ‘Vatos’ Hernandez rounds up some former bandmates for his annual ‘Dead Man’s Party’ bash.

This week’s new releases include a pair of 2CD sets from famed synthpop label ZTT Records (an expanded reissue of Propaganda’s ‘A Secret Wish’ and the Art of Noise comp ‘Influence’), as well as a blue-vinyl issue of Devo’s new ‘Something for Everybody’ and the debut from The High Confessions, featuring Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley and Chris Connelly (Ministry, Revolting Cocks).

Tonight’s ‘Dark Wave’ on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave featured many of the usual suspects, but a few gems stuck out, including a mid-period single from the rarely played Cabaret Voltaire (‘Sensoria’), a dash of Die Warzau (‘Funkopolis’) and some off-base picks for some of the show’s bigger bands (The Smiths’ ‘Never Had No One Ever,’ The Cure’s ‘Siamese Twins,’ Depeche Mode’s ‘Shame’).

Breaking up two years ago hasn’t slowed Ministry’s output: Al Jourgensen’s defunct industrial-metal juggernaut next month will release ‘MiXXXes of the Molé,’ a track-by-track ‘trance metal’ remix of the band’s 2004 album ‘Houses of the Molé.’

Crooner Bryan Ferry enlisted a star-studded cast — including Roxy Music bandmates Brian Eno, Phil Manzanera and Andy Mackay — for this fall’s ‘Olympia,’ his first album of new material in eight years and his first recorded collaboration with those ex-bandmates since 1973’s ‘For Your Pleasure.’

Synthpop favorites Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark are letting fans get a taste of two tracks — including first single ‘If You Want It’ — from the forthcoming ‘History of Modern,’ the reunited band’s first new album in 14 years.

Former Depeche Mode keyboardist Alan Wilder — aka Recoil — this week announced a 14-date fall tour of the Americas in support of this year’s ‘Selected’ best-of collection, a trek a half-dozen U.S. dates and shows in five South American nations.

Reunited Scottish indie-pop outfit The Vaselines today unveiled a 22-date North American tour set for October that includes a trio of dates in Mexico with fellow Scots Belle and Sebastian as well as shows with Teenage Fanclub, Superchunk and the Dum Dum Girls.

Former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr joined composer Hans Zimmer and a 20-piece orchestra last night in Hollywood to perform the score to ‘Inception,’ the new mind-twister from “The Dark Knight” director Christopher Nolan.