This week’s new releases include ‘Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes,’ the new album from Social Distortion; a 3CD ‘Omnibus’ reissue of The Fall’s ‘This Nation’s Saving Grace’; and the vinyl-only ‘Head on the Curb,’ a collection of Mudhoney outtakes and demos.

The playlist from tonight’s ‘Dark Wave’ — the Sunday night ‘darker side of alternative’ show on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave — features tracks by The Cure, Killing Joke, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joe Strummer and Love and Rockets.

Last October, Sonic Youth ventured to Austin, Texas, to tape a performance for the venerable public-television concert series ‘Austin City Limits’ — an episode, also featuring The Black Keys, that finally debuts next Saturday.

On a recent swing through Los Angeles, Damon Gough — aka Badly Drawn Boy — stopped by Village Studios to record a few songs for the Nic Harcourt-curated blog Live Buzz, including this cover of The Stone Roses classic ‘I Wanna Be Adored.’

Check out the official music video for Crystal Castles’ re-recording of ‘Not In Love’ featuring The Cure’s Robert Smith on lead vocals.

After nearly 30 years as a bandleader — first fronting Camper Van Beethoven, then Cracker, and, more recently, both — David Lowery next month will release his first-ever solo album, ‘The Palace Guards,’ billed as a ‘batch of songs that didn’t quite fit the vibe of Cracker or Camper Van Beethoven.’

With three tracks off R.E.M.’s forthcoming ‘Collapse Into Now’ — already having made it onto the web, the band today announced the first radio single off the album: the rocker ‘Mine Smell Like Honey.’ Hear it here.