Simple Minds and The Pretenders — long-running ’80s hitmakers fronted by former husband-and-wife Jim Kerr and Chrissie Hynde, respectively — will pair up next summer for a joint 13-date U.K. tour spotlighting each group’s new work and classic catalog. Check out the full dates here. Tickets on sale Wednesday.

John Fryer, a member of This Mortal Coil and engineer/producer who has worked with Love and Rockets, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Clan of Xymox and more, will be in New York City this weekend for a pair of rare 4AD/Mute-themed DJ sets — and we’ve got tickets, and a chance to meet Fryer himself, to give away.

Record Rack: A round-up of the week’s new albums, expanded reissues and/or box sets, appearing each Monday on Slicing Up Eyeballs. All releases due out this Friday unless noted. This week’s titles include a new live album from New Order and a B-sides collection from Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,

Morrissey’s cancellation as headliner of tonight’s KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas show left The Killers as the evening’s closing act, and Brandon Flowers and Co. took the opportunity to give fans what they weren’t getting, covering both The Smiths’ “This Charming Man” and Moz’s own “Everyday is Like Sunday.”

In what will come as a surprise to absolutely no one, Morrissey has canceled his headlining appearance at KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas in Los Angeles on Sunday, the radio station announced this evening, citing illness in the wake of his two previously scrubbed shows this week.

Famed producer Trevor Horn’s residential studio in the Los Angeles hills — a six-bedroom home and state-of-the-art recording facility above Bel Air — is among the hundreds of structures lost in the devastating wildfires currently tearing across Southern California. Horn has vowed to rebuild the facility.

R.E.M. has followed up the recent release of its deluxe multi-disc expanded reissue of 1992’s Automatic For the People with a new 24-minute mini-documentary about the making of that record, a film called “Automatic Unearthed” that is streaming on YouTube. Watch the full program right here.

Reunited Paisley Underground-era rockers The Dream Syndicate today announced they’ll be joined onstage “for a few songs” at two California shows next week by former bandmate Kendra Smith, who played bass and sang on the band’s 1982 debut The Days of Wine and Roses. She’ll play with the band in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

For the second time in a year, a U.S. tour by Morrissey has stumbled to a halt amid medical-related cancellations. This afternoon, Boston’s Orpheum Theatre announced Moz’s tour-ending concert on Thursday is being canceled “due to illness in the touring party” — the same excuse as when the singer scrubbed his Philadelphia show.

Now, we here at Slicing Up Eyeballs HQ have assembled Christmas-themed mixtapes in years past, but never to this scale. Below you’ll find a brand-new, 75-song mix of classic alternative acts performing old standards and holiday-themed originals. That’s a whopping four hours of Christmas cheer, all streaming here.

Stop me if you think… never mind. Morrissey, who had gone nearly a month since canceling a concert, has postponed tonight’s performance at The Fillmore in Philadelphia “due to illness in the touring party,” the venue announced via Twitter just hours before showtime.

Record Rack: A round-up of the week’s new albums, expanded reissues and/or box sets, appearing each Monday on Slicing Up Eyeballs. All releases due out this Friday unless noted. This week’s releases include vinyl reissues from the Beastie Boys and a five-disc box set of U.K. post-punk.

Now we’ve got our first confirmation that something is indeed in the works to mark next year’s 40th anniversary, courtesy of film director Tim Pope, the man behind some of The Cure’s most iconic music videos (“Close To Me,” “The Love Cats”) and the full-length concert film “The Cure in Orange.”