Morrissey this week confirmed the first three dates of a six-concert visit to Australia and New Zealand this December, including a show at the famed Sydney Opera House. The dates — in Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney — were announced, as usual, via fansite True To You.

Citing “unforeseen circumstances… beyond our control,” reunited post-punk/New Wave rockers Modern English canceled a five-date tour of the band’s native U.K. that was to have taken place this week, and instead announced a trio of concerts in Florida later this month.

It’s an election year, which means a steady stream of musicians asking candidates to stop playing their music at campaign rallies. Now comes R.E.M., which today demanded Fox News stop its “unlicensed and unauthorized” use of the band’s “Losing My Religion” in its coverage of the Democratic National Convention.

The Primitives this morning released a third video for a track off this year’s “concept covers album” ‘Echoes and Rhymes’ — the reunited indie-pop act’s first new collection in 11 years — this time for their cover of the obscure early-’70s single “Sunshine In My Rainy Day Mind” by the long-forgotten Polly Niles.

The Pet Shop Boys are launching their 11th studio album, ‘Elysium’ — due out next week and currently streaming online — by performing a 30-minute live set at 9 p.m. CET (3 p.m. EDT in the U.S.) today in Berlin that will be streamed live on the web by ElectronicBeats.net and can be seen here.

Yesterday, we noted on the Slicing Up Eyeballs Facebook page, was the 22nd anniversary of the release of Ministry’s much-loved In Case You Didn’t Feel Like Showing Up live album — and, as one of our readers quickly pointed out, a high-quality transfer of the out-of-print VHS-only video version recently surfaced on YouTube.

With a downsized U.K. tour saddled with apparently poor ticket sales and the loss of Killing Joke as an opening act set to kick off next week, The Cult has just issued a new music video for “Honey From a Knife,” the opening track and second official single from the band’s current album, ‘Choice of Weapon.’

Bob Mould celebrated today’s release of his new Sugar-esque solo album Silver Age with a network television appearance, turning up tonight on “The Late Show With David Letterman” to tear through the album’s first single, “The Descent.” Here, you can check out that clip courtesy YouTube uploader IdolXfactor2.

This week’s Slicing Up Eyeballs show on Strangeways Radio featured brand-new music from Tom Tom Club, Bob Mould and Pet Shop Boys, plus favorites from The The, Daniel Ash, Pylon, Wir, Elextrafixion, Until December, Cause and Effect, The Fixx, Johnny Marr and more.

The Pet Shop Boys are gearing up for next week’s release of their 11th studio album, Elysium, by streaming the full record for fans on The Guardian’s website and performing a 30-minute live set at 9 p.m. CET (3 p.m. EDT in the U.S.) on Wednesday in Berlin that will be streamed live on the web at ElectronicBeats.net.

This month’s Auto Reverse mixtape includes brand-new music from Bob Mould, Pet Shop Boys and Kate Bush, plus some beloved older tunes by the likes of Wire, The House of Love, The Stranglers, Game Theory, That Petrol Emotion, Ramones, Electrafixtion, Sonic Youth and The The.

Last night at Seattle’s Bumbershoot festival, The Vaselines capped off their very short run of U.S. dates by inviting former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic on stage to play accordion on the Scottish indie-pop band’s 1987 classic “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam,” a performance you can watch here via Guerrilla Candy.

‘Love This Giant’ — the 2-years-in-the-making album by former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne and singer-songwriter/guitar ace Annie Clark, better known as St. Vincent — arrives in stores one week from today, but you can get an early listen to the full record courtesy of NPR.