Manchester-bred rockers James today announced they’ll release their next album — La Petite Mort, the first taste of which, “Frozen Britain,” you can stream below — this June, a record that bassist Jim Glennie says “stretched us and the songs and pushed us to new heights in craftsmanship and intensity.”
Soundgarden will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its blockbuster album Superunknown this year with an ambitious reissue project that begins on Record Store Day with a collection of five limited-edition 10-inch singles, this is followed in June by 2CD and 2LP reissues, plus a monster 5CD “super deluxe edition.”
Back in 2010, Andy Partridge announced that XTC’s 1986 album Skylarking was being reissued “as it was intended to sound, but never has due to human error” — a new double-vinyl pressing that corrected the sound polarity that had been reversed on all prior releases of the album.
This week’s new releases include expanded reissues, on both CD and vinyl, of Bob Mould’s solo debut ‘Workbook’ and Morrissey’s ‘Your Arsenal,’ plus brand-new studio albums from Neneh Cherry and The Woodentops, and vinyl reissues from Peter Gabriel and The Afghan Whigs.
Tonight’s edition of “Dark Wave” on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave featured music from Wire, Xymox, KMFDM, Mission of Burma, Alien Sex Fiend, Lowlife, The Cure, ClockDVA, Assemblage 23, The Smiths, D.A.F., Joy Division, A Split-Second, The Sisters of Mercy, Echo & The Bunnymen, 23 Skidoo and more.
Full details aren’t promised until Wednesday, but Echo & The Bunnymen today “dropp(ed) the veil slightly” on the band’s forthcoming 12th studio album, revealing the title — Meteorites — and artwork for the project via the group’s Facebook page. A full tracklist and release dates presumably will follow later this week.
Welcome to the Week in Rock, where we round up all of the headlines posted on this site over the past week. This week featured news about the passing of Devo’s Bob Casale, plus The Afghan Whigs, The Sisters of Mercy, The Smiths, Belly and more — plus we celebrated our fifth birthday.
Q&A: Daniel Ash on Love and Rockets’ reunion, his new band — and figuring out how to play “So Alive” 
Q&A: Chris Frantz talks Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club and new book ‘Remain in Love’ 
Q&A: Steve Wynn on The Dream Syndicate’s first new album in nearly 30 years 
Q&A: Bauhaus’ David J on his ‘accidental’ concept album ‘Not Long For This World’ 
Q&A: Peter Murphy on ‘Ninth,’ Bauhaus’ break-up, reuniting Dalis Car 
Q&A: Joey Santiago on Pixies’ ‘Doolittle’ tour, possible ‘Surfer Rosa’ shows, new album talk 
Q&A: Prefab Sprout’s Paddy McAloon on new album, changing the world with music 
Q&A: Peter Hook talks ‘Unknown Pleasures’ tour, re-recording Joy Division 