R.E.M. tonight posted a minute-long video of the band’s recent recording sessions in Nashville, showing, in typically enigmatic fashion, Michael Stipe playing high-pitched noises off some kind of contraption while the rest of the band and assorted personnel record a round of handclaps — after which Peter Buck asks, ‘Should we double track it?’

The A.V. Club wraps up its summer-long web series ‘Undercover: 25 Bands, 25 Cover Songs, 1 Small Room’ with this final installment: Shambling indie rockers The Walkman take on R.E.M.’s 1985 single ‘Driver 8,’ from the just-reissued ‘Fables of the Reconstruction.’

College-rock fixture-to-be R.E.M. released its landmark debut EP, ‘Chronic Town,’ 28 years ago today, and to commemorate the anniversary, we present alternate versions of three of the record’s five songs: a faster version of ‘Wolves, Lower’; ‘Carnival of Sorts (Box Cars)’ with different vocals and no fadeout; and ‘Shaking Through,’ featuring an organ in the mix.

This week’s installment of the A.V. Club’s series ‘Undercover: 25 Bands, 25 Cover Songs, 1 Small Room’ features indie rockers Superchunk tearing through a cover of The Cure’s classic 1985 single ‘Inbetween Days.’

This week on the A.V. Club’s ‘Undercover’ series, Fall Out Boy frontman Patrick Stump goes solo-acoustic to offer his take on The Wedding Present’s 1987 single ‘My Favourite Dress.’

The members of R.E.M. today marked the release of the 25th anniversary edition of ‘Fables of the Reconstruction’ by looking to their future, announcing they’ve ‘just completed recording their next record in Berlin.’