Friday, a half-dozen local bands gathered in Springfield, Mo., to play Pixies songs, an otherwise run-of-the-mill tribute night except for one thing: Black Francis and his wife, former Springfielder Violet Clark, returned the favor, sending along their own video tribute to the midwestern city.

Today is the 53rd birthday of Porl Thompson of The Cure, and to mark the occasion, we present what’s arguably his signature guitar solo, the freak-out at the end of ‘Wish’ standout and concert favorite ‘From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea,’ shown here in the version included on the 1993 concert film ‘Show.’

This week’s new releases include a new live CD/DVD set from Depeche Mode, the belated U.S. CD release of Nitzer Ebb’s ‘Industrial Complex,’ a new 2CD compilation from Einstürzende Neubauten and the 10th studio album from Meat Beat Manifesto.

Heavy on The Cure and The Smiths, tonight’s episode of “Dark Wave” on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave also featured lesser-played artists such as Acid Horse and Vicious Pink, plus an excellent one-two punch of Nitzer Ebb’s ‘Lightning Man’ and Martin Gore’s ‘Compulsion.’

With his new album, ‘National Ransom,’ now out, Elvis Costello made the television rounds this past week, appearing and performing on the ‘Late Show With David Letterman,’ ‘The Colbert Report,’ ‘Late Night With Jimmy Fallon’ and even Joe Scarborough’s cable talk show ‘Morning Joe.’

Producer/DJ Mark Ronson tonight gave Duran Duran fans their second taste of the band’s forthcoming album ‘All You Need Is Now,’ premiering the track ‘Being Followed’ — part of it, anyway — on his East Village Radio show.

J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr will tone things down considerably next spring with the release of his first proper solo album, an acoustic — and apparently drum-free — collection called ‘Several Shades of Why.’