After several years of touring in support of various classic albums, the reunited Sebadoh this week dropped a surprise on fans: a new five-song EP called Secret, which is both Lou Barlow & Co.’s first new music in 13 years and a teaser to a full-length album that should arrive sometime in 2013.

They Might Be Giants is planning a three-night New Year’s bash in New York City this December at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, a run that will find the band spotlighting 1988’s Lincoln and 1990’s Flood, plus playing new songs — and there’ll be horns.

After suffering a heart attack last year and seeing the ‘implosion’ of the American Music Club reunion after two mid-to-late 2000s albums, former frontman Mark Eitzel this fall will release a brand-new solo album called Don’t Be a Stranger that his label, Merge Records, is pitching as his ‘finest solo album in over a decade.’

As promised, the reactivated New Order — Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris, Gillian Gilbert, 2000s-era guitarist Phil Cunningham and Bad Lieutenant bassist Tom Chapman — will return to North America this fall for the first time since 2005, performing at least seven dates in October.

The Cure’s now a few day into a month-long break in its summer festival tour, and frontman Robert Smith says the band will use the time to record with new guitarist Reeves Gabrels for the first time — plus, he claims, the long-promised ‘Mixed Up 2’ will come out before Christmas with new remixes by the likes of Mogwai and Cranes.

Earlier this year, Martin Gore promised the next Depeche Mode album will be out ‘no later than early 2013,’ and now we’ve got a better idea of what that means: DM manager Jonathan Kessler tells Rolling Stone that the band’s 13th studio album is due out in April 2013 and will be followed by a ‘full world tour.’

Pet Shop Boys have recorded a cover of the Bee Gees’ 1968 hit single ‘I Started A Joke’ in tribute to the late Robin Gibb — the band co-founder who died in May at age 62 — and will include it as a B-side to the duo’s upcoming single “Winner,” the first to be released off the forthcoming album ‘Elysium.’

This week’s new releases include the U.S. reissue of Sugar’s catalog, a live CD/DVD from Propaganda’s Claudia Brücken, a live CD from Happy Mondays, an audiophile vinyl pressing of Yazoo’s ‘Upstairs at Eric’s,’ the U.S. release of Peter Gabriel’s ‘Secret World Live,’ and reissues of Icehouse’s ‘Primitive Man’ and ‘Man of Colours.’

Depeche Mode isn’t expected to return to the stage until 2013, but about 150 people got an unusually up-close-and-personal glimpse of frontman Dave Gahan in action Saturday night when he performed a special one-off show with Soulsavers, showcasing seven tracks off ‘The Light the Dead See.’

Welcome to the Week in Rock, where we round up all of the headlines posted on this site over the past week. This edition includes items about The Fixx, Bob Mould, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Gary Numan, Black Francis, Kristin Hersh, Sonic Youth, The Jam and more — plus a special mixtape.

With Merge Records set to release U.S. editions of Sugar’s catalog reissues next week, the label is teasing the discs with this video of Bob Mould and his band — drummer Jon Wurster and bassist Jason Narducy — tearing through ‘Copper Blue’ standout “Hoover Dam” at San Francisco’s NoisePop festival back in February.

The Cure’s Robert Smith reveals the band’s plans to tour South America: ‘We’re supposed to go there just after Easter next year. We’re going to play in every… not every country in South America. We’re not playing in Ecuador because people don’t play in Ecuador. But we’re playing Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Venezuela.’

Depeche Mode’s management this week shot down a supposed 2013 European tour itinerary that’s been making the rounds online, re-affirming that the band will tour next year, but that no dates have been confirmed. That comes as rumors continue to swirl that Dave Gahan will perform a “secret” show with Soulsavers.