Recent Dark Wave Playlists

Slicing Up Eyeballs to guest-host 'Dark Wave' on Sirius XM's 1st Wave this Sunday

Slicing Up Eyeballs to guest-host ‘Dark Wave’ on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave this Sunday

Some exciting news on the radio front: Slicing Up Eyeballs will guest-host Sunday night’s installment of ‘Dark Wave,’ the weekly show that explores the ‘darker side of alternative’ on satellite-radio network Sirius XM’s classic-alternative station 1st Wave.

Download: Auto Reverse — Slicing Up Eyeballs Mixtape (August 2011)

Download: Auto Reverse — Slicing Up Eyeballs Mixtape (August 2011)

This month’s tape features recent tracks from Paul Weller and Gang of Four, and classic cuts from The Clash, Camouflage and Simple Minds, plus British Sea Power covering The Cure, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs remaking Sonic Youth and The Shop Assistants doing The Jesus and Mary Chain.

Milestones: MTV debuts 30 years ago today; watch first full hour of music videos

Milestones: MTV debuts 30 years ago today; watch first full hour of music videos

This is a little more mainstream than what we usually cover, but it’s hard to deny the significance: Thirty years ago today, on Aug. 1, 1981, MTV went on the air (‘Ladies and gentlemen, rock ‘n’ roll…’), changing the course of music in the ’80s and beyond.

New releases: The Wild Swans, New Order's Gillian & Stephen, Pop Will Eat Itself

New releases: The Wild Swans, New Order’s Gillian & Stephen, Pop Will Eat Itself

This week’s new releases include ‘The Coldest Winter For a Hundred Years,’ the first new album from The Wild Swans in 21 years, plus ‘Swing,’ a CD/12-inch combo from New Order’s Gillian & Stephen and expanded reissues of the first two albums from Pop Will Eat Itself.

Playlist: Sirius XM’s ‘Dark Wave,’ 7/31/11

Playlist: Sirius XM’s ‘Dark Wave,’ 7/31/11

The playlist from tonight’s ‘Dark Wave’ — the weekly Sunday night ‘darker side of alternative’ show on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave — features tracks by Joy Division, Lords of the New Church, Death Cult, Shriekback, Visage and many more.

Milestones: Daniel Ash is 54 today; watch Love and Rockets' '120 Minutes' promo

Milestones: Daniel Ash is 54 today; watch Love and Rockets’ ‘120 Minutes’ promo

Daniel Ash — he of ’80s darkwave trifecta Bauhaus, Tones on Tail and Love and Rockets — turns 54 today, and to mark the occasion, we present this little nugget: It’s a promo for MTV’s ‘120 Minutes’ featuring a cue-card reading Ash and his Love and Rockets bandmates David J and Kevin Haskins that aired sometime around 1986.

Free MP3: The Wild Swans, 'In Secret' — ex-Teardrop Explodes, Echo & The Bunnymen

Free MP3: The Wild Swans, ‘In Secret’ — ex-Teardrop Explodes, Echo & The Bunnymen

Next week, Liverpool’s The Wild Swans — the brainchild of former Teardrop Explodes keyboardist Paul Simpson — will release their first album in 21 years and only their third overall, a 13-track collection called ‘The Coldest Winter For a Hundred Years’ that features veterans of Echo & The Bunnymen, Spiritualized and The Brian Jonestown Massacre.