Gang of Four this week announced it will release ‘Content’ — its first all-new studio album in more than 15 years — early next year on CD, vinyl and as part of an ‘Ultimate Content Can’ that includes lyrics, artwork, a scratch-and-sniff booklet and ‘vials of band members’ blood.’

The pioneering German avante-garde industrial act Einstürzende Neubauten will embark on a 30th anniversary tour of Europe and North America this fall, playing full-length concerts in each city it visits as well as presenting a second night of films, side projects and audience Q&As.

On Nov. 1, the Pet Shop Boys will release a new best-of disc called ‘Ultimate Pet Shop Boys,’ billed as a ‘comprehensive greatest hits collection’ loaded with 19 singles appearing in chronological order, spanning 1984’s ‘West End Girls’ to ‘Love Etc.,’ the first single off the band’s 2009 album ‘Yes.’

The full 17-song concert R.E.M. recorded for the ‘Austin City Limits’ TV show in 2008 — including three songs that never have been broadcast — will be released on DVD late next month, the band announced today.

Former Stone Roses bassist Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield today apologized ‘unreservedly’ to Peter Hook after blasting his now former bandmate for ‘hawking his mate’s corpse around to get paid,’ a pointed dig at the ex-Joy Division bassist’s recent spate of Ian Curtis tribute concerts.

Today we mark the 56th birthday of Steve Kilbey — writer, artist, solo musician and, of course, lead singer and bassist for Australian rock act The Church for the past three decades. To commemorate the occasion, we present these vintage clips of The Church playing live on Italian TV in 1988.

This week’s new CD releases include new albums from Lloyd Cole (‘Broken Record,’ his first full-band effort in a decade), The Vaselines (‘Sex With an X,’ their first album in 21 years), Nick Cave’s Grinderman side project (‘Grinderman 2’) and James (the 2CD ‘The Morning After the Night Before’).