Over the past few weeks, the members of the Pixies — Black Francis, Joey Santiago, David Lovering and new bassist Kim Shattuck — have been treating fans to photos and video through a collection of new Twitter, Vine and Instagram accounts named “The Actual Pixies.”

The Pixies today followed up last week’s free release of a surprise new track with more revelations, namely that the band is about to embark on a “massive global tour” to debut material off its follow-up to 1991’s Trompe le Monde with The Muffs frontwoman Kim Shattuck replacing the departed Kim Deal.

Two weeks after announcing the departure of bassist Kim Deal, the Pixies this morning surprised fans with the release of “Bagboy,” the band’s first new song since 2004 and one that sounds like may feature the backing vocals of the group’s now-former bassist. But it doesn’t.

The Pixies this morning announced that bassist Kim Deal — who has spent much of this year touring with the reunited Last Splash-era lineup of The Breeders — has left the band , and, in a statement attributed to Black Francis, Joey Santiago and David Lovering, say “we will always consider her a member of the Pixies.”

We’ve got a rare double milestone today, as not one but two members of the Pixies — bassist Kim Deal and guitarist Joey Santiago — celebrate their birthdays (she’s 51 and he’s 47). We mark the occasion with this complete 29-song ‘Trompe le Monde’-era set filmed on June 26, 1991, in London.

Last night, Jane’s Addiction frontman Perry Farrell may have revealed the Pixies are in the studio, replaying to a tweet from @leCultVult — ‘@perryfarrell back in the day the cool kids at my high school it was all about Jane’s Addiction and the Pixies’ — by writing, ‘Still is Pixies r recording.’

This week’s headlines on Slicing Up Eyeballs included posts about the reunited New Order, David J, X, The Dead Milkmen, Skinny Puppy and R.E.M., plus our interview with the Pixies’ Joey Santiago, and quite possibly the biggest news of the year: the long-awaited reunion of The Stone Roses.