Recent Dark Wave Playlists

Pet Shop Boys to release 'Winner' — first single off upcoming 'Elysium' — next week

Pet Shop Boys to release ‘Winner’ — first single off upcoming ‘Elysium’ — next week

The Pet Shop Boys will premiere “Winner,” the first official single from their forthcoming 11th studio album Elysium, this coming Monday between 9:30 a.m. and noon on BBC Radio 2’s “The Ken Bruce Show,” then, later in the day, make it available for sale via iTunes.

Free MP3: Dead Can Dance, 'Amnesia' — off 'Anastasis,' 1st new album in 16 years

Free MP3: Dead Can Dance, ‘Amnesia’ — off ‘Anastasis,’ 1st new album in 16 years

The reunited Dead Can Dance — co-founders Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard — today debuted the first track off ‘Anastasis’, their first album in 16 years, which arrives Aug. 9 in conjunction with the launch of a massive world tour. Download the 5-minute radio edit of ‘Amnesia’ in exchange for an e-mail address.

The Alarm's Mike Peters to play 'Spirit of 76’ concert in New Jersey on Fourth of July

The Alarm’s Mike Peters to play ‘Spirit of 76’ concert in New Jersey on Fourth of July

He’s been busy of late fronting the resurgent Big Country at performances across the pond, but The Alarm frontman Mike Peters will make it to these shores for a special, one-off solo-acoustic show at Maxwell’s in Hoboken, N.J., on July 4 that’s being billed as a “Spirit of ’76 Independence Day Concert.”

Free MP3: Joe Jackson and Iggy Pop, 'It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)'

Free MP3: Joe Jackson and Iggy Pop, ‘It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)’

Joe Jackson returns this week with a tribute to legendary jazzman Duke Ellington, an album called ‘The Duke’ that features guest turns by the likes of Iggy Pop, The Roots’ ?uestlove, Steve Vai and Sharon Jones, among others. Download a free MP3 of Jackson’s duet with Pop on ‘It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).’

New releases: The English Beat reissues, plus Joe Jackson, Ministry, The Flaming Lips

New releases: The English Beat reissues, plus Joe Jackson, Ministry, The Flaming Lips

This week’s new releases include expanded reissues of all three of The Beat’s original albums, plus a new CD of Duke Ellington interpretations from Joe Jackson (‘The Duke’), an alleged expanded reissue of Ministry’s 1983 synthpop debut ‘With Sympathy’ and the CD and digital releases of ‘The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends.’

Playlist: Sirius XM’s ‘Dark Wave,’ 6/24/12

The playlist from tonight’s edition of “Dark Wave” — the Sunday night “darker side of alternative” show on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave — featured Clan of Xymox, Cocteau Twins, Kraftwerk, The Cure, Love and Rockets, Death Cult, The Chameleons, Siouxsie and the Banshees and much more.

The Week in Rock: June 17-23, 2012

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 Sex Pistols, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Simple Minds, Morrissey, The House of Love, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Cure, The Fixx, Icehouse, Ministry and more.