Our good friends at Strangeways Radio are putting together a week-in-review video series called Alt. Rewind that recaps the news posted at Slicing Up Eyeballs and on the Strangeways site throughout the preceding week, hosted by Velvet Rebel. Watch the latest episode right here.

Bob Mould is roaring back into action with an album of protest songs called Blue Hearts that’s due out later this year, but fans got the first blast of it this week in the form of “American Crisis,” a roaring single that draws parallels between the AIDS crisis in the ’80s and what’s going on now. Hear it right here.

The coronavirus pandemic is wreaking havoc on live music across the globe, with giant festivals — including Coachella and South By Southwest — postponed or canceled and tours in the U.S. and around the world being canceled or curtailed in an effort to protect large crowds from transmitting COVID-19.

This is 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 new releases include a brand-new solo album from Hüsker Dü’s Bob Mould and a new collection of covers from The Lemonheads.

Bob Mould, the legendary frontman of Hüsker Dü and Sugar, is back with a new album and single — both called Sunshine Rock — that he says find him looking on the brighter side of things after a few years living abroad. Or, more simply, “This is not Black Sheets of Rain.” He’s also going on tour next year.

The musical festivities in Minneapolis leading up to this year’s Super Bowl will include an outdoor concert featuring some of the Twin Cities’ indie-rock luminaries of the ’80s and ’90s, a lineup that includes Hüsker Dü’s Bob Mould, Soul Asylum, The Jayhawks and The Suburbs. The bands will play for free on Feb. 3.