The Pixies are busy this spring with a steady diet of touring — not to mention the upcoming release of their first album in eons — but frontman Black Francis has found time to engage in a more literary endeavor, this week publishing his first novel, “The Good Inn,” co-authored with Josh Frank.

The legendary Wax Trax! Records imprint will be reborn this summer under the direction of Julia Nash — daughter of label co-founder Jim Nash — and will mark its resurrection with the release of a 12-inch single from Cocksure, the new project featuring label mainstay Chris Connelly and Acumen Nation’s Jason Novak.

This Saturday, Kitchens of Distinction will release a four-track EP in the U.K. for Record Store Day, a clear-vinyl 10-inch featuring the song “Extravagance” off last year’s comeback album Folly — and we’re thrilled to be able to bring you the premiere of a new video for the song filmed by frontman Patrick Fitzgerald.

David J, the former bassist of Bauhaus and Love and Rockets, this week released his new Kickstarter-funded solo album An Eclipse of Ships via Bandcamp — and fans who buy the record via that page get a downloadable bonus track: David J doing a “super sleazy” cover of Britney Spears’ 2003 smash single “Toxic.”

Over the past week, we’ve had the pleasure of sharing two excerpts from “Mad World: An Oral History of New Wave Artists and Songs that Defined the 1980s,” and now we’ve got copies of the book — signed by authors Lori Majewski and Jonathan Bernstein — to give away to two lucky Slicing Up Eyeballs readers.

The Pet Shop Boys brought their current Electric production to Coachella this past weekend for the first of two appearances at the California festival, delivering a 19-song set over the course of 80 minutes that was heavy on visuals, as is to be expected from the duo.

Echo & The Bunnymen will embark on a 14-date North American tour this August in support of their forthcoming album Meteorites, and this week debuted not just one but two new tracks off the record, including the official U.S. single “Holy Moses.” Meteorites is due out May 26 in the U.K. and June 3 in the U.S.