Recent Dark Wave Playlists

Linkage: My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Loveless’ at 20, plus PiL’s ‘Album,’ Peter Hook and Pixies

In this latest round-up stuff, we’ve got an assessment of My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Loveless’ at 20, an audio documentary on Public Image Ltd.’s ‘Album,’ an interview with Joy Division’s Peter Hook and a studio multitrack of Black Francis’ vocals on the Pixies’ ‘Monkey Gone to Heaven.’

Video: The Primitives, ‘Rattle My Cage’

As promised, ‘Rattle My Cage’ — the lead-off track from The Primitives’ new EP ‘Never Kill a Secret,’ due out digitally this week — is ‘a bit noisier’ than our first taste of the four-song release.

New releases: R.E.M., The Primitives, KMFDM, Blancmange, The Mission, X's Exene Cervenka

New releases: R.E.M., The Primitives, KMFDM, Blancmange, The Mission, X’s Exene Cervenka

This week’s new releases include brand-new albums from R.E.M. (‘Collapse Into Now’), Blancmange (‘Blanc Burn’) and Exene Cervenka (‘The Excitement of Maybe’), plus a new EP from The Primitives, two mid-period reissues from The Mission and a new KMFDM single.

Playlist: Sirius XM’s ‘Dark Wave,’ 3/6/11

Playlist: Sirius XM’s ‘Dark Wave,’ 3/6/11

The playlist from tonight’s “Dark Wave” — the Sunday night “darker side of alternative” show on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave — features tracks by Yaz, The Cramps, Cocteau Twins, Concrete Blonde and more.

Peter Hook to perform 'Closer' in Manchester, release EP of Joy Division re-recordings

Peter Hook to perform ‘Closer’ in Manchester, release EP of Joy Division re-recordings

Having spent much of last year touring ‘Unknown Pleasures,’ bassist Peter Hook will continue to relive his Joy Division days in 2011, performing the band’s second album — 1980’s ‘Closer’ — in May and releasing an EP of new recordings of four Joy Division songs — including one that’s never been released.

Blancmange returns with 'Blanc Burn,' 1st new album in 25 years; plus U.K. tour

Blancmange returns with ‘Blanc Burn,’ 1st new album in 25 years; plus U.K. tour

Reunited synthpop group Blancmange returns this week with ‘Blanc Burn’ — its fourth album, and first in more than a quarter century — as well as an eight-date U.K. tour, although ailing co-founder Stephen Luscombe has been advised by doctors to skip the trek.

Depeche Mode demos: ‘Photographic,’ ‘Radio News,’ ‘Ice Machine’ clips surface online

Real or fake? Depeche Mode fans are debating a trio of 30- and 40-second samples — including one that may be a never-before-released track — that surfaced online yesterday and purportedly come from a 1980 demo tape. Hear those samples here.