Pared-down U.K. postpunk act Wire today announced it will self-release its 12th studio album — and third post-reunion effort — on Jan. 11, an 11-track collection called ‘Red Barked Tree’ that is preceded by a free MP3 download of the song ‘Two Minutes.’

The Jam’s Paul Weller is lining up a live CD/DVD package called ‘Find the Torch, Burn the Plans’ this fall that will feature a new Julien Temple documentary and a full live concert recorded earlier this year at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Last year’s ‘Let’s Change the World With Music,’ the first new album from U.K. sophistipop act Prefab Sprout in eight years, receives a belated North American release later this month, Tompkins Square Records announced this week.

With a new album still in the works, The Godfathers this fall will commemorate their 25th anniversary concert at London’s famed 100 Club with a 24-track live CD/DVD combo that features at least two brand-new songs.

Former Dream Syndicate leader Steve Wynn will release ‘Northern Aggression,’ his third album with The Miracle Three, this fall — and to tease the album, he’s giving away a free MP3 of the track ‘Resolution,’ which can be streamed and/or downloaded below.

Former Depeche Mode bandmates Vince Clarke and Martin Gore are working not just on a lone track, but a full ‘kind of dancey record,’ Clarke confirmed in an interview posted by The Quietus today.

With its as-yet-untitled new record nearly complete, Duran Duran today announced its first South African concerts in 17 years, a five-date run in December that’s being billed as ‘the start of an enormous global campaign around the release of their next studio album.’

Fans of The Wedding Present have two new live collections to look forward to this fall: ‘Bizarro: Live in Tokyo 2010,’ a download-only full-album performance of the band’s 1989 album; and ‘Live 1989,’ a 2CD reissue of two of the cassettes the band sold at concerts and through its fanzine in the late ’80s.

The Pet Shop Boys today revealed the tracklist for their upcoming 19-song best-of ‘Ultimate Pet Shop Boys’ — which also will be available as a special edition with a bonus DVD of vintage BBC live performances — and announced the set will close with a newly recorded single called ‘Together.’

The Jesus and Mary Chain will be anthologized next week with a new U.K. career-spanning, 44-track collection called ‘Upside Down: The Best Of,’ a 2CD compilation that features the band’s sole post-reunion recording, ‘All Things Must Pass.’

Ex-Bauhaus leader Peter Murphy took to his Facebook page today to update fans on a number of projects, including his Dalis Car reunion with Mick Karn (sessions being ‘next week’) and the pending release of his new solo album Ninth (‘shouldn’t be too long now’).

A long-rumored concert film of Depeche Mode’s 2009-2010 Tour of the Universe will be released this November in three different DVD/CD and Blu-ray configurations, according to fan site Home, which also reports the famed synthpop act is rumored to be prepping a new remix CD for release next year.

A crisp studio recording of The Ocean’s Blue’s ‘City Traffic,’ a never-before-released concert favorite by the late-’80s/early-’90s jangle-pop outfit, surfaced on YouTube this summer accompanied by a homemade music video.