[tweetmeme]Famously dubbed “the only band that matters,” punk icons The Clash return to record stores in a big way this September, with the release of a 9-disc box set called Sound System — featuring five of the band’s six albums, a DVD with unseen footage and three discs’ worth of demos, non-album singles, rarities and B-sides — as well as a new double-disc best-of set.

Due out Sept. 10 on Sony Legacy, the boom box-shaped Sound System — a pricey set, available for pre-order on Amazon.com for $290 — features newly remastered editions of the band’s first five albums, omitting 1985′s post-Mick Jones record Cut the Crap, which continues to be whitewashed from the band’s history. The band has not yet released a full tracklist for the three bonus disc.

The box set’s DVD will include “previously unseen footage” by both Don Lets and Julien Temple and original promotional videos and live clips. The collection also includes “an owner’s manual booklet,” reprints of the original “Armagideon Times” fanzine as well as a brand-new edition put together by Paul Simonon, plus dog tags, badges, stickers and a poster.

In announcing the set, Jones tells The Guardian newspaper:

“The concept of the whole thing is: best box set ever. Remastering’s a really amazing thing. That was the musical point of it all, because there’s so much there that you wouldn’t have heard before. It was like discovering stuff, because the advances in mastering are so immense since the last time [the Clash catalogue] was remastered in the 90s. … We had to bake the tapes beforehand – the oxide on them is where the music is, so if you don’t put them in the oven and bake them, that all falls off, because they’re so old.”

Also in September, the band will release The Clash Hits Back, a new 2CD, 33-track best-of sequenced with studio recordings to replicate the group’s July 10, 1982, concert in Brixton, plus eight additional tracks.

Below, check out details of Sound System, full tracklist for Hits Back and not one but two preview videos.

Details: The Clash, Sound System box set

9-disc set includes:
1. The Clash
2. Give ‘Em Enough Rope
3. London Calling
4. Sandinista!
5. Combat Rock
6. Sound System Extras 1
7. Sound System Extras 2
8. Sound System Extras 3
9. DVD

Tracklist: The Clash Hits Back

CD 1
1. “London Calling”
2. “Safe European Home”
3. “Know Your Rights”
4. “(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais”
5. “Janie Jones”
6. “The Guns of Brixton”
7. “Train in Vain”
8. “Bankrobber”
9. “Wrong ‘Em Boyo”
10. “The Magnificent Seven”
11. “Police on my Back”
12. “Rock the Casbah”
13. “Career Opportunities”
14. “Police & Thieves”
15. “Somebody Got Murdered”
16. “Brand New Cadillac”
17. “Working for the Clampdown”

CD 2
1. “Ghetto Defendant”
2. “Armagideon Time”
3. “Stay Free”
4. “I Fought the Law”
5. “Straight To Hell”
6. “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”
7. “Garageland”
8. “White Riot”
9. “Complete Control”
10. “Clash City Rockers”
11. “Tommy Gun”
12. “English Civil War”
13. “The Call Up”
14. “Hitsville UK”
15. “This Is Radio Clash”

The Clash – Sound System Cut Out Show

The Clash – Sound System and Hits Back Trailer

PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS

• Vintage Video: The Clash rocks Tokyo on Jan. 28, 1982 — watch full hour-long set
• Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros releasing digital box set, expanded CD reissues
• The Clash’s ‘Sandinista!’ to receive 30th anniversary reissue with bonus DVD
• The Clash’s Mick Jones, Paul Simonon reunite on Gorillaz’s upcoming ‘Plastic Beach’
• The Clash’s ‘London Calling’ 30th anniversary reissue skimpier than 25th anniversary set

[tweetmeme]On-again, off-again U.K. post-punk act Sad Lovers & Giants — who’ve earned a strong cult following despite having broken up and re-formed multiple times since debuting in the early ’80s — are in the studio recording what could be their first album in more than a decade, with enough songs currently in the works to comprise “70 percent of an album.”

The band announced the news last week on Facebook (see below), asking fans whether they should be satisfied with the music currently in production or “push on and write and record another four tracks to complete the job.” After fans suggested both releasing a long EP and writing more songs to complete an album, the band replied, “We should focus on the process and see where it leads us.”

If the band opts for a full-length album, it will be SLAG’s first since 2002′s Melting in the Fullness of Time.

Sad Lovers & Giants
May 14 via mobile

We are all enjoying the recording process which bodes well for future releases. Using Dropbox we can do mixes and takes and leave them for each other to play with at home. Tony is producing and what we’re hearing so far, even with guide vocals only, is really promising. The big question, when we’ve finished this batch, will be what to do with them. We will have 70% of an album, do we push on and write and record another four tracks to complete the job?

[tweetmeme]Filmmakers Michael Santorelli and Laurel Harris have turned to Kickstarter to raise $50,000 to help fund “Get Off This: A Film About Music and Perseverance,” a documentary that aims to document the life and music of David Lowery, frontman of college-rock stalwarts Camper Van Beethoven in the ’80s and Cracker in the ’90s — and, now, both.

Of their subject, the filmmakers write:

Bandleader David Lowery is a temperamental and tenacious talent who has made a career out of his work as a singer, songwriter, and producer with his bands Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker. His pursuits and professional skills have survived the challenges of the significantly changing music business as he continues to act as the driving force producing the music of his two bands. This film looks at the art and business of his pursuits and explores the complexities of his professional path while exposing the music of Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker.

The fundraising campaign kicked off last week, and, as of this past weekend, the filmmakers already had raised more than $35,000 toward their goal. Fans who pledge money can receive rewards ranging from DVDs to autographed posters to a producer’s credit on the film and even unreleased Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven music recorded for the doc.

Three people who pledge  more than $10,000 — and one person already has — will get all of the schwag plus Lowery will fly to their home (provided it’s in the U.S.) to play a private acoustic concert.

Check out a video trailer for the project below.

KICKSTARTER: “Get Off This” | A Film About Music + Perseverance

PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS

• Free MP3: Camper Van Beethoven, ‘Someday Our Love Will Sell Us Out’ — off ‘La Costa Perdida’
• Stream: Camper Van Beethoven, ‘Northern California Girls’ — off ‘La Costa Perdida’ LP
• Camper Van Beethoven returns in January with new album ‘La Costa Perdida’
• David Lowery preps solo CD ‘Palace Guards,’ plays Camper Van Beethoven’s ‘Key Lime Pie’

[tweetmeme]Well, this is embarrassing. We’re more than two weeks late with this month’s installment of the Auto Reverse mixtape — two 45-minute sides of music new and vintage from some of your favorite artists. And, while we’re still using Mixcloud to stream the tape, due to popular demand, it’s downloadable, too — at least for a limited time.

This month’s tape features brand-new music from Paul Weller and Lloyd Cole, plus classics from The Cult, The Dead Milkmen, R.E.M., Hoodoo Gurus, The Primitives, Echo & The Bunnymen, Lords of the New Church, The Pretenders, The Waterboys and much more.

Check it about below — and enjoy.

DOWNLOAD: Auto Reverse — Slicing Up Eyeballs Mixtape (May 2013)

SIDE A
1. Paul Weller, “Flame-Out!”
2. The Replacements, “Kiss Me On the Bus” (Demo)
3. R.E.M., “Orange Crush”
4. The House of Love, “Shine On” (Fuck Version)
5. The Dead Milkmen, “Instant Club Hit (You’ll Dance to Anything)”
6. The Communards, “Tomorrow”
7. Book of Love, “Boy”
8. The Smiths, “What Difference Does It Make?”
9. Depeche Mode, “Everything Counts” (Live)
10. Public Image Ltd., “Memories”
11. The Waterboys, “The Whole of the Moon” (Piano demo)
12. Undertones, “Teenage Kicks”

SIDE B
1. The Cult, “(Here Comes The) Rain”
2. Alan Vega, “Saturn Drive”
3. Lloyd Cole, “Period Piece”
4. The Pretenders, “Brass in Pocket” (Demo)
5. Lords of the New Church, “Dance With Me”
6. Revenge, “Pineapple Face”
7. The Primitives, “Crash”
8. The Godfathers, “She Gives Me Love”
9. Echo & The Bunnymen, “Pictures on the Wall”
10. Toy Dolls, “James Bond Lives Down My Street”
11. Hoodoo Gurus, “What’s My Scene?”
12. Electronic, “Forbidden City”

PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS

• Stream: Auto Reverse — Slicing Up Eyeballs Mixtape (April 2013)
• Download: Auto Reverse — Slicing Up Eyeballs Mixtape (March 2013)
• Download: Auto Reverse — Slicing Up Eyeballs Mixtape (February 2013)
• Download: Auto Reverse — Slicing Up Eyeballs Mixtape (January 2013)

[tweetmeme]Record Rack: A round-up of the week’s new albums, expanded reissues and/or box sets, appearing each Monday on Slicing Up Eyeballs.

Visage

RELEASE: Hearts and Knives
BACKSTORY: The resurrected New Wave-era rockers — best remembered for their classic 1980 single “Fade to Grey” — return this week, in the U.K., with their fourth album and first in 29 years. The album was preceded by the single “Shameless Fashion,” and is due out in the U.S. next month.
BUY: Amazon.co.uk (CD, digital)

Texas

RELEASE: The Conversation
BACKSTORY: The Scottish alt-rock act, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, this week release, in the U.K., their eighth album and first in eight years. A deluxe CD edition includes a second disc with live renditions of the band’s greatest hits as well as the new album’s title track.
BUY: Amazon.co.uk (CD, vinyl, digital)

John Foxx and The Maths

RELEASE: Analogue Circuit: Live at The Roundhouse
BACKSTORY: The synth pioneer this week releases, in the U.K., a limited-edition box set that captures his live performance at London’s Roundhouse in June 2010. The 17-song set, which includes Ultravox and solo material, is included on DVD and as a 2CD set. The release is limited to 1,000 copies.
BUY: Amazon.co.uk (CD/DVD)

Section 25

RELEASE: Love & Hate
BACKSTORY: The revived Factory Benelux imprint this week releases, in the U.K., a newly remastered edition of the Blackpool post-punk act’s fourth album, originally released in 1988. The original album is paired with seven bonus tracks, including remixes and demos.
BUY: Amazon.co.uk (CD)

Iggy Pop

RELEASE: Playlist: The Very Best of Iggy Pop
BACKSTORY: The punk godfather this week receives one of Sony Legacy’s bargain-priced CD compilations, a 14-track best-of that includes “Lust for Life,” “Nightclubbing,” “The Passenger,” “Raw Power,” “Search and Destroy,’ “Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell” and a David Bowie mix of “Gimme Danger.”
BUY: Amazon.com (CD)

Talking Heads

RELEASE: Speaking In Tongues
BACKSTORY: Rhino Records this week reissues, in the U.S., the fifth studio album from the Talking Heads in a new vinyl pressing. The record features the songs “Burning Down the House,” “Girlfriend is Better” and “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody).” It was released in the U.K. last week.
BUY: Amazon.com (Vinyl)

[tweetmeme]Tonight’s edition of “Dark Wave” — the Sunday night “darker side of alternative” show on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave — featured music from My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, Front 242, The Cure, Public Image Ltd., Play Dead, Coil, KMFDM, Bauhaus and much, much more.

“Dark Wave,” hosted by Slicing Up Eyeballs founder/editor Matt Sebastian, airs every Sunday from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Eastern on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave (Channel 33). The most recent two episodes also are available as part of Sirius XM’s new On Demand service for online subscribers.

And if you’re not a subscriber, check out a free 7-day trial online.

Finally, if you’ve got requests for future shows, drop ‘em in the comments below.

Playlist: “Dark Wave,” hosted by Slicing Up Eyeballs’ Matt Sebastian — 5/19/13

Bauhaus, “Dark Entries”
Public Image Ltd., “Flowers of Romance”
Alan Vega, “Saturn Drive”
KMFDM, “Virus” (12-Inch Mix)
The The, “Dogs of Lust”
UK Decay, “Killer”
Adam & The Ants, “Physical (You’re So)”
The Cure, “Charlotte Sometimes”
Coil, “Tainted Love”
Acid Horse, “No Name No Slogan” (Hypo Luxa-Hermes Pan 12-Inch Mix)
The Cult, “Nirvana”
Concrete Blonde, “Everybody Knows”
The Mission, “Butterfly on a Wheel”

The Church, “Myrrh”
The Smiths, “I Know It’s Over”
John Foxx, “Miles Away”
My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, “Sex On Wheelz”
The Chameleons, “Swamp Thing”
Siouxsie and the Banshees, “The Killing Jar”
Peter Murphy and Trent Reznor, “Nightclubbing”
Depeche Mode, “Waiting For the Night”
Echo & The Bunnymen, “Paint It Black” (Live)
Play Dead, “Shine”
The Sisters of Mercy, “More”
Joy Division, “The Eternal”

Front 242, “Until Death (Do Us Part)”
Killing Joke, “Eighties” (Live)
Pink Industry, “Don’t Let Go” (12-Inch Version)
Gary Numan, “Metal”
The Jesus and Mary Chain, “Who Do You Love?”
Lords of the New Church, “Holy War”
MCL (Micro Chip League), “New York”
New Order, “Thieves Like Us”
Cocteau Twins, “The Itchy Glowbo Blow”
Shriekback, “My Spine (Is the Bass Line)”
Love and Rockets, “Kundalini Express”
Morrissey, “Now My Heart Is Full”
Fields of the Nephilim, “For Her Light”
Ministry, “We Believe”

[tweetmeme]Welcome to the Week in Rock, where we round up all of the headlines posted on this site over the past week. This week featured posts about The Cult, Public Image Ltd., R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, Echo & The Bunnymen, Peter Hook, The Psychedelic Furs, Love and Rockets, Killing Joke, My Bloody Valentine, OMD, Gary Numan and more.

SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2013
Video: Kim Gordon, Steve Jones, J Mascis, Aimee Mann send off SNL’s Fred Armisen
Echo & The Bunnymen to begin recording new Youth-produced album in coming weeks

FRIDAY, MAY 17, 2013
Peter Hook to play New Order’s ‘Movement,’ ‘Power, Corruption & Lies’ on U.S. tour
R.E.M.’s Peter Buck to release ‘monkey concept single,’ re-press solo debut
Philip Chevron of The Pogues announces grim diagnosis: ‘This time the cancer is lethal’
‘120 Minutes’ Rewind: Trent Reznor spends Christmas Eve with Dave Kendall — 1989

THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2013
Vintage Video: Love and Rockets in London, 1987 — watch full 70-minute concert
The Psychedelic Furs map out 35-date tour across U.S. this summer

WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2013
Riot Fest 2013: Violent Femmes, Blondie, Mission of Burma, X, Dinosaur Jr, Peter Hook
Video: Killing Joke, ‘Corporate Elect’ — off ‘The Singles Collection 1979-2012’
Video: 10,000 Maniacs, ‘I Don’t Love You Too’ — off first new album in 14 years

TUESDAY, MAY 14, 2013
Playlist: Slicing Up Eyeballs Music Hour on Strangeways Radio; Episode 119, aired 5/7/13
Gary Numan announces short U.S. tour: 6 West Coast shows set for late summer
My Bloody Valentine to headline FYF Fest in L.A. — first U.S. show since 2009

MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013
The Cult to perform 1987’s ‘Electric’ on tour, release aborted ‘Love’ follow-up ‘Peace’
Video: Public Image Ltd. live in Australia last month — watch full 2-hour set
Video: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, ‘Dresden’ — off ‘English Electric’
New releases: R.E.M., The Fall, Primal Scream, Love and Rockets, Devo, Breeders, Talking Heads

SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2013
Playlist: Sirius XM’s ‘Dark Wave’ — hosted by Slicing Up Eyeballs (5/12/13)
Video: Astronaut Chris Hadfield covers David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ in space

[tweetmeme]Tonight’s “Saturday Night Live” season finale was notable for its final appearances by a number of soon-to-be-former castmembers, including, in all likelihood, Fred Armisen, who reprised his Ian Rubbish punk character with a live band that included Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, Dinosaur Jr’s J Mascis, “Portlandia” co-star and former Sleater-Kinney member Carrie Brownstein, and husband-and-wife duo Aimee Mann and Michael Penn.

Watch the full sketch below via NBC:

[tweetmeme]With demos already in hand, the Echo & The Bunnymen braintrust — frontman Ian McCulloch and guitarist Will Sergeant — will begin recording their 12th studio album within the next six weeks with Killing Joke bassist Youth likely sitting in as producer, the band announced today.

The news came via a short post to the Bunnymen’s official Facebook page, and is consistent with what McCulloch told The Quietus back in March as he described plans by himself and Sergeant to reconvene after a couple years’ worth of solo projects and occasional touring in an effort to get a new record out by year’s end. McCulloch at the time said the record will be called The Garden of Meedin’.

The album will be band’s first since 2009′s The Fountain.

Although McCulloch and Sergeant have continued to perform as the Bunnymen, they’ve recorded separately for the past couple years. McCulloch last year released a fan-funded studio album called Pro Patria Mori that recent was reissued next month in a 2CD package titled Holy Ghosts that also features a live album, which was produced and mixed by Youth.

And Sergeant released an instrumental solo album and has recorded a new album with his former bandmate Les Pattinson as the instrumental group Poltergeist.

Read the Bunnymen’s full statement about their new album:

Ian and Will are to commence recording of the New EATB album in the next six weeks. Demos have been made and it looks like Youth will be at the production helm. Will will keep you updated.

PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS:

• Video: Ian McCulloch on writing ‘The Killing Moon,’ aka ‘the greatest song ever written’
• Ian McCulloch: New Echo & The Bunnymen album due out before the end of the year
• Ian McCulloch unveils ‘Holy Ghosts’ 2CD set with studio album, live orchestral reworkings
• Echo & The Bunnymen spinoff Poltergeist announces debut album ‘Your Mind is a Box’
• Echo & The Bunnymen’s Ian McCulloch preps ‘Candleland,’ ‘Mysterio,’ ‘Slideling’ reissues

[tweetmeme]Peter Hook today announced that he will return to North America this September with his band The Light to perform New Order’s first two albums — 1981′s Movement and 1983′s Power, Corruptions & Lies — in their entirety, as well as various singles and B-sides “from the corresponding period of the band’s history,” on an 11-date tour.

The tour, Hook’s first U.S. trek in two years, will also include a previously announced slot at Chicago’s Riot Fest, where he’ll perform an exclusive Joy Division set.

The trek opens Sept. 10 in Boston and continues through Sept. 28 in Denver, hitting Riot Fest sometime between Sept. 13 and 15 and also including a Seattle show that is part of that city’s Decibel Festival.

See full dates below.

Peter Hook and the Light North American tour dates:

Sept. 10: Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA
Sept. 13: Webster Hall, New York, NY
Sept. 13-15: Riot Fest, Chicago, IL (Joy Division set)
Sept. 14: The Trocadero, Philadelphia, PA
Sept. 18: Club soda, Montreal, QC
Sept. 19: The Hoxton, Toronto, ON
Sept. 21: Henry Fonda Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
Sept. 23: Venue, Vancouver, BC
Sept. 25: Decibel Festival, Neumo’s, Seattle, WA
Sept. 26: Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR
Sept. 27: Mezzanine, San Francisco, CA
Sept. 28: Gothic Theatre, Denver, CO

PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS

• Video: New Order plays ‘Bizarre Love Triangle,’ ‘I’ll Stay With You’ on Kimmel
• New Order announces U.S. tour in July leading up to Lollapalooza appearance
• Video: New Order play ‘Perfect Kiss,’ ‘Crystal’ at Coachella — via official webcast
• Peter Hook to play New Order’s ‘Movement,’ ‘Power, Corruption & Lies’ live in 2013