Here’s one for fans of unusual covers: Singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson loops her own vocals in place of the piano part in this cover of R.E.M.’s beloved “Nightswimming,” which she recorded during a recent visit to the studios of Sirius XM Satellite Radio.

Howard Jones chatted with Slicing Up Eyeballs via e-mail about his upcoming ‘Human’s Lib’/’Dream Into Action’ tour of the U.K., revisiting those touchstone albums, making the transition back into electronic music (not to mention his dislike of the word “keytar”) — and what all that means for his follow-up to 2009′s ‘Ordinary Heroes.’

Pulp’s trip across the pond to play the two-weekend Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival this April brings added benefit to fans in New York City and San Francisco, as Jarvis Cocker and Co. this morning announced gigs in those cities — as well as a Spanish festival date — on the band’s website.

On Friday night at the MONA FOMA Festival in Tasmania, former Violent Femmes bassist Brian Ritchie and an ad-hoc supergroup featuring The Dresden Dolls, former Bad Seeds multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey and PJ Harvey collaborator John Parish performed the Femmes’ classic 1983 self-titled debut album in its entirety.

It’s pretty skimpy on the new-release front this week, but there are two live sets worth checking out: ‘The Cretin Hop,’ a Ramones live album recorded in 1978, and a DVD release of Public Image Ltd.’s appearance on the German ‘Rockpalast’ TV show in 1983.

The playlist from tonight’s edition of ‘Dark Wave’ on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave featured Love and Rockets, The Human League, Death Cult, Joy Division, Nick Cave and Kate Bush, plus rarely played cuts by The Cure (“One More Time”) and Depeche Mode (“Any Second Now”).

The Cure is appearing on the soundtrack to an ‘Underworld’ sequel (in remixed form) for the second time in three years, and while the ‘Underworld Awakening: Official Motion Soundtrack’ isn’t out until Jan. 31, you can now stream Danny Lohner’s “Renholdër Remix” of the Wish ballad ‘Apart.’