R.E.M. today shared a previously unreleased song the band recorded 15 years ago at the famed Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas in an effort to help raise money for Mercy Corps’ Hurricane Dorian relief and recovery efforts in those storm-ravaged islands. The track can be streamed for free or purchased for $2.

R.E.M. is offering the first taste of Scott Litt’s new remix of Monster — part of the upcoming 6-disc box set marking the 25th anniversary of that album — via a worked-over version of the record’s first single, the Dan Rather-paraphrasing “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?” Hear it right here.

The list of artists who are believed to have lost tapes in the 2008 fire that destroyed a Universal Music Group warehouse at Universal Studios in Los Angeles includes R.E.M., Sonic Youth, The Damned, The Police, Squeeze, The Dream Syndicate, Oingo Boingo, Suzanne Vega, Adam Ant, Joe Jackson and more.

Former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe performed a pair of new songs during a short opening set for Patti Smith at New York City’s Webster Hall, performing the electronics-backed “Your Capricious Soul” and “Drive to the Ocean” with help from Andy LeMaster of Now It’s Overhead. Watch them here.

Sara Romweber, the powerhouse drummer who held the beat in the first lineup of jangle-pop heroes Let’s Active and who went on to play in Snatches of Pink and, later, with her brother Dexter Romweber, has died of cancer, according to music journalist David Menconi. She was 55.

R.E.M. famously didn’t tour behind 1991’s breakthrough Out of Time, but the band did play a handful of largely professional shows that year, among the best-known of them being a pair of concerts in London under the nom-de-rock of Bingo Hand Job. See the full details and tracklist right here.

R.E.M. will continue its album-by-album reissue series with a 25th anniversary re-release of its ninth studio album Monster next October, the band’s manager, Bertis Downs, revealed today in a post on the group’s website reminiscing about the genesis of that record. And, he notes, 2020 will be the band’s 40th anniversary.

R.E.M. continues to dole out samples of the material that will be found on its upcoming 9-disc R.E.M. at the BBC box set, most recently in the form of a 2003 on-air performance of Green-era single “Orange Crush” on the BBC’s “Mark and Lard” program — which you can stream in full right here.

For longtime fans, one of the key lures of the upcoming 9-disc R.E.M. at the BBC box set is the inclusion of a 16-song live set recorded at Rock City in Nottingham, England, in 1984 during the Reckoning tour. The band is now previewing that disc with the high-octane live version of “Radio Free Europe” that you can stream here.

Last month we brought you early word of a giant 9-disc R.E.M. boxed set filled with BBC recordings, and while it’s still not officially announced — though it seems we’re close to that happening — we can now offer full details and a complete tracklist for the package. Full details right here.

Though not officially announced, it appears a major archival project is in the works from R.E.M.: a nine-disc CD/DVD boxed set of BBC recordings that currently is listed for pre-order via Amazon in the U.K., along with a 2LP “best of” set culled from that larger collection. We’ll pass on more details as they emerge.

Former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe this morning debuted a short, 40-second song called “Future, If Future” — featuring his vocals over minimal electronic accompaniment — ahead of this morning March For Our Lives gun-control events across the country. Hear the full song right here.

Three-quarters of R.E.M. — Peter Buck, Mike Mills and drummer-turned-farmer Bill Berry — reunited onstage tonight in Portland, Ore., at the second of two benefit concerts for Scott McCaughey, the longtime R.E.M. sideman who suffered a stroke in November. See video from the reunion performances here.