Sebadoh today announced plans to release its first new album in 14 years this September, a record titled Defend Yourself that follows up last year’s comeback Secret EP and that new label Joyful Noise Recordings claims “marks a return to the self-recorded DIY ethos of early Sebadoh albums (Bakesale, Sebadoh III).”

As we noted over the weekend, the former members of R.E.M. seemed to go out of their way to avoid staging a full reunion Saturday night at Peter Buck’s wedding in Portland, Ore., as all four ex-bandmates took the stage to perform at the Wonder Ballroom at one point or another — just never all at once.

With a handful of U.K. concert appearances coming up this month, Johnny Marr stopped by BBC Two’s “Later… With Jools Holland” this week, with the program airing a pair of tunes (“The Right Thing Right” off The Messenger and The Smiths’ “Bigmouth Strikes Again”).

Thirty years ago tonight, U2 braved a cold Colorado rainstorm to perform at the fabled Red Rocks Amphitheatre just west of Denver, a concert on the band’s War tour that was filmed and released on video as “Under a Blood Red Sky,” cementing Bono and Co.’s reputation as live act.

New Pornographers’ A.C. Newman, Ted Leo, Will Sheff of Okkervil River, Doug Gillard of Guided By Voices and Nada Surf, The Wrens’ Charles Bissell and more are slated to perform in New York City later this month as part of a tribute to Scott Miller of ’80s college-rock act Game Theory and later, who died in April.

Tonight’s Slicing Up Eyeballs Music Hour featured new music from the Pet Shop Boys, plus old favorites by Marc Almond, The Call, King Missile, Squeeze, Microdisney, Adam and the Ants, New Order, Lords of the New Church, Husker Du and more. Replay at 2 p.m. EDT Friday on Strangeways Radio.

The second round of 5 Albums box sets from Beggars Archive — promoted as “the last chance to present (these) albums as physical releases in the foreseeable future” — will collect full albums, live recordings and assorted bonus tracks from The Fall, The Icicle Works and Buffalo Tom, and should be out by July.

Killing Joke is due to start a tour of Australia and New Zealand this week, but will be down a man: Drummer Paul Ferguson today announced he’s sitting out the six-date trek due to acute tendonitis, not from drumming, but, rather, from hours of “concentrated scalpel use whilst restoring ancient sculptures.”

Since reuniting last year, The Stone Roses have been somewhat consistent in their setlists, sticking to a core group of songs based, not surprisingly, around their classic 1989 debut. But in Paris last night, the band played 1988’s “Elephant Stone” and “Made of Stone” B-side “Going Down” for the first time since 1990.

It’s the first Monday of the month, which means it’s time to unveil the results of Part 4 of our year-long Best of the ’80s feature, a year-by-year poll to determine the best albums of each year of the 1980s — and then, when that’s wrapped, we’ll run a monster best-of-the-decade poll to crown the overall champs.

Introducing Joy Division: The Video Game. Maltese gaming company Mighty Box is grabbing headlines this week with the debut of its new browser-based game “Will Love Tear Us Apart,” inspired, as the title not-so-subtly suggests, by Joy Division’s classic 1980 anthem of pained love and longing, “Love Will Tear Us Apart.”

The Pet Shop Boys today released “Vocal,” the second single off the duo’s forthcoming 12th studio album, Electric — and you can now stream the full track here. The song’s premiere follows the release of lead single “Axis” and a preview last week of part of the track “Fluorescent.”

This week’s new releases include a new The Stranglers Box set, a 2CD/1DVD compilation from John Foxx, a new early-career best-of from The Fall, reissues from The Monochrome Set and Rip Rig + Panic, plus the U.S. release of the new triple-disc singles collection form post-punk legends Killing Joke.