On Aug. 24, 1980, the members of XTC set up at Richard Branson’s Manor Studio to record another version of ‘Towers of London,’ a track destined to be the second single off the band’s just-completed, but not-yet-released album ‘Black Sea’— a weekend session captured for posterity in the hour-long documentary ‘XTC at the Manor.’

The folks at Sub Pop Records are giving away a free mp3 download of ‘Sex With an X,’ the title track and first single from The Vaselines’ forthcoming album — only the second ever from the newly reunited Scottish indie-pop duo.

Ever-quirky frontman Fred Schneider will take a break from the long-running B-52s this fall to release ‘Destination… Christmas!,’ a collection of 11 original and “party friendly” holiday tunes with his Orlando, Fla.-based side project The Superions.

Peter Gabriel plans to follow up this year’s long-in-the-works ‘Scratch Your Back’ — his disc of orchestral cover versions of some of his favorite songs — next year with another orchestral album, one that this time will feature new takes on his own songs.

Superb pro-shot video has emerged for the first time of the 1995 joint David Bowie/Nine Inch Nails tour. Watch Bowie and NIN perform ‘Hurt’ and ‘Hallo Spaceboy’ together, and ‘The Heart’s Filthy Lesson’ and ‘Wish’ apart.

The A.V. Club’s web series ‘Undercover: 25 Bands, 25 Cover Songs, 1 Small Room’ follows up last week’s installment — Superchunk tearing through The Cure’s ‘Inbetween Days’ — with another iconic ’80s college-rock tune: The Replacements’ ‘I Will Dare,’ as reimagined by Mates of State.