This week’s episode of Slicing Up Eyeballs on Strangeways Radio featured new and rare music from The Cure’s Robert Smith, The The and R.E.M., plus, by request, Secession, Front 242, The Three O’Clock, The Wolfgang Press and more.

Before taking the Pixies back out on the road this fall for more ‘Doolittle’ dates, frontman Black Francis will embark on a short solo-acoustic tour of his own — beginning tonight — and he’ll follow that up in September with a brand-new studio album he recorded as a duo with singer-songwriter Reid Paley.

The current incarnation of The Lemonheads — the Evan Dando-led act that emerged from the late-’80s Boston college-rock scene — will perform its 1992 breakout album ‘It’s a Shame About Ray’ in its entirety during tours of both North America and the U.K. this fall and winter, the band announced today.

Today marks the release of the 25th anniversary reissue of R.E.M.’s ‘Lifes Rich Pageant,’ and to help celebrate, the fine folks at EMI Music have provided us with a copy of the set — featuring a whopping 19 previously unreleased studio demos — to award to one lucky Slicing Up Eyeballs reader.

New York rockers Bones Howell claim to draw on punk and goth influences, and they certainly aren’t afraid to show off that inspiration on a new 7-inch that arrives this week and features both a cover of Bauhaus’ ‘Hair of the Dog’ and a remix of their own song ‘Nephritis’ by none other than Daniel Ash, Bauhaus’ guitarist.

Former Depeche Mode member Alan Wilder is auctioning off a treasure trove of studio equipment, records and other memorabilia that spans his tenure with the synthpop group — including everything from Dave Gahan’s custom mic stands from the Devotional Tour to a pair of the keyboardist’s trousers.

Today we commemorate the birthday of Peter Murphy — he’s 54 — by turning the clock back to the Bauhaus era and presenting “Shadow of Light,” a 40-minute film released on VHS in 1984 that includes live performances mixed in with music videos.

Next week, Little, Brown and Company will publish ‘David Bowie: Starman,’ an exhaustive 544-page biography of the Thin White Duke by former Mojo magazine editor Paul Trynka — and the publishing house has been kind enough to offer up copies for three lucky Slicing Up Eyeballs readers.

This week’s new releases include the expanded 25th anniversary reissue of R.E.M.’s ‘Lifes Rich Pageant,’ plus Dead Can Dance’s 4LP ‘Box Set II’ and ‘Weird Pop,’ the brand-new double-vinyl best-of from Bauhaus spin-off Tones on Tail.

Today marks the birthday of Neil Tennant — he’s 57 — and we celebrate by presenting the Pet Shop Boys’ earliest concert film, ‘Highlights.’ Released on VHS in 1990, this short film — which has yet to be released on DVD — features eight songs performed at London’s Wembley Arena in July 1989 during the duo’s MCMLXXXIX Tour.

Our partners at GroopEase are giving away two pairs of three-day passes along with $500 cash to see The Cars, Big Audio Dynamite, Foo Fighters and more at the massive Lollapalooza festival in Chicago’s Grant Park on Aug. 5-7.

Rhino Records later this month will re-release the Ramones’ first four albums — ‘Ramones’ (1976), ‘Leave Home’ (1977), ‘Rocket to Russia’ (1977) and ‘Road to Ruin’ (1978) — on 180-gram audiophile vinyl and in special limited-edition sets packaged with bonus 7-inch singles on blue vinyl.

This week’s episode of the ‘Sound Opinions’ radio show — billed as ‘the world’s only rock ‘n’ roll talk show’ — will look back at the legacy of Wax Trax! Records and will feature an interview with former Revolting Cocks and Ministry members Chris Connelly and Paul Barker.