This month’s tape features new music from Jim Reid of The Jesus and Mary Chain and INXS with new lead singer Ciaran Gribbin, plus rarities from The Smiths, Elvis Costello and Ian McCulloch and classics from The Replacements, Propaganda, Camper Van Beethoven and the late R.E.M.

R.E.M.’s rare 1981 ‘Cassette Set’ demo tape — 400 copies were sent to labels, clubs and journalists — has surfaced online, giving many fans their first taste of producer Mitch Easter’s original mixes of ‘Radio Free Europe,’ ‘Sitting Still’ and ‘White Tornado.’

ans of The Jesus and Mary Chain who already have purchased or are awaiting shipment of the new 2CD/1DVD reissue of ‘Darklands’ take note: Demon Music Group has acknowledged that there is a ‘mastering glitch’ on Disc 1 of the set that has resulted in tracks 8 through 16 beginning slightly ahead of their respective track markers.

This week’s new releases include brand-new albums from Erasure (‘Tomorrow’s World’) and Pop Will Eat Itself (‘New Noise Designed by a Sadist’), plus vinyl reissues of Dinosaur Jr’s first three albums, the U.K. vinyl-only and CD-and-vinyl editions of The Smiths’ ‘Complete’ box set and the final two Jesus and Mary Chain reissues.

The playlist from tonight’s ‘Dark Wave’ — the weekly ‘darker side of alternative’ show on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave — featured Tubeway Army, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Skinny Puppy, Public Image Ltd. and much more.

The surviving members of INXS this week announced they’ve replaced game-show winner J.D. Fortune with new lead singer Ciaran Gribbin — a Grammy-nominated Irish singer-songwriter who has worked with Madonna, Paul McCartney and Snow Patrol — and already have begun work on songs slated for the band’s next studio album.

This week’s headlines on Slicing Up Eyeballs included a lot of big news about The Cure, plus items on The Mission, Erasure, Gary Numan, The Sisters of Mercy, R.E.M., Lou Reed (and Metallica) and The Jesus and Mary Chain, plus a new Bangles contest.