Simple Minds this morning announced the release of Big Music — the band’s first new studio album in five years, and 17th overall — on Nov. 3, plus plans to spend much of the first quarter of 2015 on the road in support of the record, with a nearly 60-date tour of Europe and the U.K. planned from February into May.

This wee’s new releases include brand-new studio albums form Erasure (‘The Violet Flame’) and the Information Society (‘_hello world’), plus a new collection of remixes and rarities from the Thompson Twins, and a reissue of David Bowie’s seminal box set ‘Sound + Vision.’

After releasing a steady stream of 7-inch singles over the past couple years, The Dead Milkmen return next month with their first new album in three years, a 17-track collection called Pretty Music For Pretty People that, perhaps not surprisingly, contains many of the songs included on those limited-edition 45s.

Manchester-bred rockers James this week released their new album La Petite Mort in the U.S. — it came out in early June over in the U.K. and Europe — and have now announced they’re “venturing stateside for one night only” with a performance set for Oct. 21 at New York City’s Webster Hall.

Exploring the legacy of ’80s college rock, the Slicing Up Eyeballs Music Hour airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Pacific on Strangeways Radio. If you caught this week’s episode, pop over to the Strangeways message board to leave requests for future shows.

In 2012, U.K. arts website The Space began posting, 100 at a time, titles from the late John Peel’s legendary record collection — reportedly numbering 26,000 LPs, 40,000 7-inches and “many thousands of” CDs. The listings included index cards, the records’ covers and, in some cases, links to stream the music on Spotify.

The Church will release what it’s billing as its 25th studio album next month, a collection of new material that’s been christened Further/Deeper and which marks the long-running Australian rockers’ first record without guitarist Marty Willson-Piper, who was “not available” and has been replaced by Powderfinger’s Ian Haug.

This week’s releases include a brand-new album from Steve Albini’s Shellac, the belated U.S. release of James’ new studio album, a reissue of MInistry’s ‘Twelve Inch Singles,’ a collection of unreleased Scruffy the Cat material, and the U.S. release of New Model Army’s latest record.

Peter Gutteridge, a man described as a hero of New Zealand music and a linchpin of that nation’s famed “Dunedin sound” through his roles in The Clean, The Chills, The Great Unwashed, Snapper and more, died earlier today, according to New Zealand music journalist Simon Sweetman and the Flying Nun Records.

One of Ministry’s earliest tracks — the oft-bootlegged “Same Old Madness,” which was recorded in 1982 and even has a video, but never was released — finally sees the official light of day on an expanded 2CD reissue of Al Jourgensen and Co.’s classic Wax Trax!-era compilation Twelve Inch Singles 1981-1984.

Perhaps fittingly, The Replacements capped off last night’s triumphant hometown gig — their first in 23 years, and the band’s first non-festival date since reuniting last summer — with a performance of fan favorite “Unsatisfied,” the first time the Let It Be classic has been dusted off since the ‘Mats got back together.

Released last October as part of a 64-page album/book combo, Throwing Muses’ first new album in a decade — the 32-track Purgatory/Paradise — will be issued next month on both double LP and cassette by HHBTM Records, the label announced this morning.

Nearly 30 after allegedly being banned from “Saturday Night Live” over a drunken and profane performance, The Replacements returned to NBC’s famed 30 Rockefeller Center on Tuesday night to blast through their 1987 single “Alex Chilton” on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.”