Mark Stewart, the musical agitator and yelping frontman of the wildly innovative, dub-infused post-punk act The Pop Group, died Friday.

The death over the weekend of legendary record man Seymour Stein has unleashed a torrent of heartfelt appreciations from the musicians he championed.

Author Richard Evans delves deeply into “a true golden age of British pop” in his just-published book “Listening to the Music the Machines Make.”

Erasure today announced plans to follow up previously announced European concerts this fall with a 24-date North American tour early next year to support the duo’s 2020 album The Neon, a trek that’ll open Jan. 14 in Miami Beach and wrap up Feb. 27 in Las Vegas.  Full details right here.

After a bit of social-media teasing, Mute Records this morning announced the release early next year of a new instrumental electronic EP from Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore, a five-song collection that’s preceded by a “ferocious slice of electro” called “Mandrill.” Hear it right here.

Is Depeche Mode’s Martin L. Gore preparing to debut new music next week? Mute Records is teasing something involving Gore happening Nov. 17 — this Tuesday — but it’s not clear what that may be. The label tweeted a stylized image of Gore on Saturday with that date. No other information is yet known.

New Order today debuted their first new song in five years, the single “Be a Rebel” — you can stream it below — that had been intended to promote the group’s much-anticipated U.S. co-headlining tour with Pet Shop Boys, a trek that’s now been pushed to 2021. Hear the full new song right here.

Pioneering electronic music act Cabaret Voltaire — now just co-founder Richard H. Kirk — will release its first new album in 26 years this November, an eight-song collection called Shadow of Fear that was born out of Kirk’s return to live performance in 2014. You can hear the first single, “Vasto,” right here.

Erasure returns this summer with its first new record in three years and the duo’s 18th studio album overall, a 10-track collection called The Neon that is preceded by the bright pop single “Hey Now (Think I Got a A Feeling)” — which you can hear right here, along with the album’s full details.

New Order today announced it will follow up its appearance at Riot Fest in Chicago this September with a one-off headlining date at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, a concert that will feature a special opening set by Mute Records labelmates Goldfrapp. See full details and tour dates here.

Classic synthpop duo Erasure — Andy Bell and Vince Clarke — this week announced plans to release their 17th studio album this spring. The 10-track World Be Gone, due out May 19 on Mute Records, will be the group’s first new album since 2014’s The Violet Flame.

The members of New Order continue their slow march toward releasing their first new music recorded without co-founding bassist Peter Hook, and a new interview with Rolling Stone this past week finally took us behind the scene of the recording process and a look at the new record which is now expected to be released this fall.

The members of New Order have been talking up new music since reuniting a few years ago, and the prospect of a new album became that much more real this past September when the band signed to the legendary Mute label and it was announced the group soon would return to the studio to work on new music.