The Pet Shop Boys today announced that the song “Leaving” will be the second single off the forthcoming Elysium, and will be released Oct. 15 in the U.K. on CD, 12-inch and as a digital download bundle “with extra tracks and remixes.” The track is slated to premiere on BBC Radio 2 on Friday, but you can hear it here now.
Having already canceled three concerts this week over Nick Rhodes’ health, Duran Duran tonight scrapped the final three North American dates of its two-year world tour in support of All You Need Is Now — a trek that already suffered significant disruption last year when frontman Simon Le Bon lost his voice and was unable to perform.
This week’s Slicing Up Eyeballs Music Hour featured new and previously unreleased music from Ian McCulloch, World Party, Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, and Mark Eitzel, plus old favorites from Game Theory, Monaco, The Sisters of Mercy, John Foxx, Hilary, Tones on Tail, The B-52s and more.
The all-too-brief early ’80s career of synthpop duo Yazoo — comprised of singer Alison Moyet and former Depeche Mode member Vince Clarke — will be anthologized next month on a new 2CD set called ‘The Collection,’ which assembles singles, cuts from the band’s two albums and both vintage and recent remixes.
Former Orange Juice frontman Edwyn Collins will follow up 2010’s acclaimed ‘Losing Sleep’ with his eighth solo album, ‘Understated,’ in January, the singer recently revealed — and he’ll be the subject of an upcoming documentary called “In Your Voice, In Your Heart” that chronicles his recovery from a debilitating 2005 stroke.
A new 700-page biography of The Smiths by music writer and biographer Tony Fletcher will be published in the U.K. next week — but not in the U.S. until December — and promises, through “extensive research, dozens of interviews and unprecedented access,” to tell “the complete story” of the iconic Manchester band.
Bob Mould’s first new album in three years — the 10-track ‘Silver Age’ — arrives next week, and the former Hüsker Dü frontman today debuted the record via a full-album stream at RollingStone.com. He tells the rock mag it’s no coincidence the album sounds a bit like Sugar’s just-reissued 1992 debut ‘Copper Blue.’
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 