Ex-New Order bassist Peter Hook will dig through his celebrated musical past this spring, embarking on a U.K. spoken-word tour and performing a set of Joy Division songs at his new Manchester club on the 30th anniversary of Ian Curtis’ death.

Larry Cassidy, co-founder and frontman of Factory Records postpunk outfit Section 25, has died, British music journalist John Robb reports today on his blog. The circumstances surrounding Cassidy’s death are not yet known.

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.

Revered as an iconic singles band, New Order delivered, with its fifth album “Technique,” what now holds up — alongside 1985’s “Low-Life” — as its strongest front-to-back effort. The album was released on this date in 1989.

Florida-based record label 24 Hour Service Station next month will release a two-disc tribute to New Order, proceeds from which will benefit the Salford Foundation Trust’s Tony Wilson Awards, established in memory of the late Factory Records co-founder and Manchester musical icon.

[tweetmeme]The two studio albums by The Other Two — the New Order spinoff featuring husband-and-wife team Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert — will be reissued next month in digitally remastered editions featuring nine bonus remixes.
Due out Jan. 26 in Europe, the synthpop duo’s 1993 debut The Other Two & You comes with new artwork and [...]

Turns out Peter Hook’s Freebass may not be the only Stone Roses/Smiths collaboration afoot: Ex-Roses vocalist Ian Brown this week told the BBC he’s planning to write and record an album with Johnny Marr, the Smiths’ erstwhile guitarist.
According to Brown, he and Marr hope to write soundtrack music for a friend’s in-the-works TV series: “The [...]

Former New Order bassist Peter Hook’s long-gestating Freebass project — which also features the four-stringed talents of The Smiths’ Andy Rourke and Gary “Mani” Mounfield of The Stone Roses and Primal Scream — is poised to release its debut EP, dubbed Two Worlds Collide.
The four-track collection will be released “soon” by Hook’s just-launched — and [...]

Rhino Records has set an Aug. 25 release date for its 2CD re-reissues of New Order’s first five albums following last year’s release of mislabeled, poorly mastered editions that apparently included some tracks ripped straight from vinyl — complete with skips, crackles and pops.
The expanded reissues of Movement (1981), Power Corruption and Lies (1983), Low-Life [...]

Bernard Sumner’s Bad Lieutenant — the new band featuring a Peter Hook-less New Order — this week announced it will release its debut album, Never Cry Another Tear, on Oct. 5.
The group includes a core lineup of Sumner, late-era New Order guitarist Phil Cunningham and singer-guitarist Jake Evans of UK act  Rambo and Leroy. New [...]