Ex-New Order bassist Peter Hook’s long-gestating Freebass — a triple-bass supergroup featuring The Smiths’ Andy Rourke and Gary “Mani” Mounfield of The Stone Roses and Primal Scream — today released its debut EP and will make its official live debut in London and Manchester in June.

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists cover Tears for Fears’ ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ in the debut of the A.V. Club’s new ‘Undercover’ series, which will feature bands covering tunes by The Smiths, The Cure, Depeche Mode, R.E.M. and more.

The short career of enigmatic Liverpool indie-pop act The La’s will be celebrated this spring with Callin’ All, a four-disc, 91-track box set that compiles singles, b-sides, unreleased outtakes and live material — and no fewer than six versions of ‘There She Goes,’ the band’s signature tune.

To show our support for 1st Wave’s Sunday night ‘Dark Wave’ show — and the idea that Sirius XM should dig deeper all the time, not just once a week — tonight we begin posting each week’s playlist.

The Smiths’ classic second album, ‘Meat is Murder,’ was released Feb. 14, 1985 — exactly 25 years ago today. To mark the occasion, we’ve assembled live video of nearly every track on the album (“Well I Wonder” being the missing link).

The editor of Smiths Indeed — the classic fanzine published from 1986 to 1989 and sold at The Smiths’ ‘The Queen Is Dead’ shows in the UK — is reprinting the full set of 12 issues in a limited-edition run for the second time.

Peter Hook last night christened his new Manchester club FAC251 — housed in the former headquarters of Factory Records — with members of The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays helping perform a career-spanning set that included the live debuts of an unfinished Joy Division song and a New Order outtake.

Esteemed UK publishing house Faber & Faber has posted “An Open Letter to Morrissey” on its blog, imploring the former Smiths singer to not only complete his long-discussed autobiography but let the company publish it — noting that, “History demands it; destiny commands it.”

Tweet Robyn Hitchcock this spring will release the 3-years-in-the-making Propellor Time, an album recorded with current back-up band The Venus 3 — R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, […]

Tweet A previously unheard alternate take of The Smiths’ 1984 B-side “Girl Afraid” has surfaced on a just-discovered Rough Trade Records reference cassette of the […]

Tweet Morrissey today issued a lengthy and somewhat whiny statement to his fans in which he reflects back on his troubled 2009, addressing, for the […]

Tweet The increasingly commitment-phobic Morrissey abruptly canceled tonight’s concert in Indio, Calif., without official explanation — bringing the total number of shows Moz has canceled […]

Tweet Record Rack: A round-up of the week’s new albums, reissues and/or box sets. ARTIST: Morrissey RELEASES: The 7″ Singles ‘88-’91, The 7″ Singles ‘91-’95 […]