An unexpected cover can be a real delight for music fans, and as a regular Slicing Up Eyeballs reader points out to us, this one’s really out-of-the-blue: Nickel Creek’s Chris Thile and singer-songwriter Sarah Jarosz performing The Chameleons’ “Seriocity” last weekend on “Live From Here.” Watch it right here.

Check out the latest installment right here — this week’s episode covers news about the Morrissey-headlined Cruel World festival, Front 242, Erasure, Bryan Ferry, Clan of Xymox and more. Plus, the episode is shot from the Hard Cafe Vault, where Velvet Rebel shows off memorabilia from Devo, Debbie Harry, The Cure and Morrissey.

Midnight Oil is planning to release not one but two new musical projects this year, beginning with an eight-song mini-album called The Makaratta Project recorded with “some of our First Nations friends” to be released this summer, followed by a proper Oils studio album due out later in the year, according to the band’s website.

Coachella promoter Goldenvoice today announced a massive one-day festival in Los Angeles called Cruel World that will be headlined by Morrissey and feature performances by such contemporaries as the reunited Bauhaus, Blondie, Devo and Echo & The Bunnymen. Full lineup and ticket info right here.

Reunited Scottish indie-pop favorites Close Lobsters — immortalized on the NME’s genre-defining C86 compilation cassette — next week will release their first new album in 31 years, a 10-song collection that’s preceded by the release of two tracks: “Godless” and “All Compasses Go Wild.”

After securing slots headlining Cold Waves IX in Chicago and the festival’s Wax Trax! Records showcase in Los Angeles, pioneering industrial/EBM act Front 242 today rolled out details of a 13-date U.S. tour that will open in late September and run through early October. Full dates right here.

This is a round-up of the week’s new albums, expanded reissues and/or box sets, appearing each Monday on Slicing Up Eyeballs. All releases due out this Friday unless noted. May also include some other titles released in recent weeks but not previously featured. This week includes titles from Clan of Xymox and more.

“Dark Wave,” hosted by Slicing Up Eyeballs’ Matt Sebastian, airs 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. EDT every Sunday on Sirius XM satellite radio’s 1st Wave (Channel 33). The most recent two episodes also are available via Sirius XM’s On Demand service for online subscribers. Here’s tonight’s full playlist.

Canadian singer-songwriter Allister Thompson — who has recorded as The Gateless Gate, Twilight Fields and Khan Tengri — later this month will release a tribute to Grant McLennan, a collection of some of Thompson’s favorite songs written by the late Go-Betweens co-founder. Listen to three of the tracks right here.

Just days after announcing the ninth incarnation of its Chicago industrial-music festival, Cold Waves today revealed that it will bring a bit of the Windy City to Los Angeles in late September with a Wax Trax! Records showcase featuring performances by Front 242, The Young Gods, My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult and more.

Our good friends at Strangeways Radio are putting together a new week-in-review video that will recap the news posted at Slicing Up Eyeballs and on the Strangeways site throughout the preceding week, hosted by Velvet Rebel. This week: News about Gang of Four’s Andy Gill, The Psychedelic Furs, Throwing Muses and more.

The Psychedelic Furs today announced a 13-date spring U.S. tour — focused largely on dates in Florida and Texas — ahead of the release of Made of Rain, the band’s eighth studio album and their first full-length in nearly 30 years.  Full tour dates and all the details right here.

The Dead Milkmen are back in the studio, working on the band’s first new album in six years and the follow-up to 2017’s Welcome to the End of the World EP. To help bide the time, they’ve also launched a new weekly video series in which they’ll answer “big questions.” Watch the first installment right here.