In this clip recorded for Levi’s ‘Pioneer Sessions,’ James Mercer — leader of The Shins and one-half of Broken Bells — throws down a solo-acoustic cover of Squeeze’s classic ‘Goodbye Girl,’ which also is available as a free download.

Taking a pause from the ongoing Dinosaur Jr reunion, Lou Barlow this week released a new digital EP called ‘= Sentridoh III’ — recorded with his current backing band, The Missingmen — and announced two rounds of North American summer dates.

Monday, Duran Duran co-founder Nick Rhodes — who today celebrates his 48th birthday — posted a short video update on YouTube to bring fans up to date on the band’s lengthy sessions for its 13th studio album.

This week, Beck and his Record Club crew — St. Vincent, Liars and Os Mutantes — checks in with the title track of INXS’ ‘Kick,’ delivering one of the more rocking covers of the project.

The 2008 reunion tour by Yazoo — or Yaz, as the Vince Clarke/Alison Moyet group was called here in the U.S. — will be documented with a two-disc live album called ‘Reconstructed Live’ that’s due out this fall, the band announced today on its official site.

In this late-’70s news footage from a Kansas City TV station, R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe is among the fans interviewed about the ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ phenomenon — in full Frank-N-Furter regalia.

This week, Beck and his Record Club cohorts — St. Vincent, Liars and Os Mutantes — cover INXS’ ‘Mystify,’ the fifth and final single, in the U.K. at least, from 1987’s ‘Kick.’