The Waterboys’ Mike Scott is opening up his archives online, posting a series of ‘exclusive Waterboys songs plus various mysterious and wonderful tracks and mash-ups’ recorded at his home studio.

Despite having split in 2008, The Mission UK returns this summer with a new compilation of rare B-sides, previously unreleased demos, new songs left over from the ‘God Is a Bullet’ sessions and a brand-new dance mix of ‘Dumb’ by late-period guitarist Mark Gemini Thwaite.

Synth pioneer and former Ultravox singer John Foxx is marking the 30th anniversary of the release of his solo debut ‘Metamatic’ with a new 2CD/1DVD retrospective called ‘Metatronic’ — as well as a special “analog” concert in London next month with guest DJ Gary Numan.

With XTC now firmly behind him, Andy Partridge continues to dabble in varied projects, the latest of which is a super-limited album of ‘aural sculptures’ inspired by the late sci-fi book-jacket artist Richard M. Powers.

Less than a month after dropping its debut EP, Peter Hook’s triple-bass supergroup Freebass — which also features The Smiths’ Andy Rourke and Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield of The Stone Roses and Primal Scream — today released its five-years-in-the-making album, ‘It’s a Beautiful Life.’

The remaining members of INXS this week released a new 16-track digital-only best-of called ‘Platinum: Greatest Hits’ that will appeal to diehard fans mostly for the ample bonus it comes with: ‘Seriously Live,’ a 26-song double live album that spans the band’s 30-year career.