L.A. punk vets Social Distortion — currently in the midst of their first-ever South American tour — today announced initial dates for a summer U.S. tour that includes a slot at the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago’s Grant Park.

News is spreading across the web this afternoon about the death of Malcolm McLaren, the legendary Sex Pistols manager/creator who famously claimed to have invented punk rock. To mark his death, we’ve posted the video for ‘Buffalo Gals,’ his highly influential hip-hop crossover single.

Last week we reported that Concrete Blonde is reuniting this summer to mark the 20th anniversary of ‘Bloodletting’ by performing the album in its entirety — and today the band posted nine U.S. dates in June.

The rejiggered Public Image Ltd. made its first U.S. television appearance since 1992 last night with a performance of ‘Rise’ on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ to promote its upcoming appearance at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival and subsequent U.S. tour.

There’s a flurry of activity on tap from Modern English next month as the British post-punk/New Wave act releases ‘Soundtrack’ — its seventh studio album and first batch of new songs in 14 years — and issues 1986’s ‘Stop Start’ on CD for the first time.

During a break from sessions for R.E.M.’s next album, Mike Mills contributed a cover of Billy Bragg’s ‘Sing Their Souls Back Home’ — off the agit-folkie’s 2008’s album ‘Mr. Love & Justice’ — to The Voice Project.

We mark this week’s 30th anniversary of The Cure’s ‘A Forest’ single with this rare 1979 performance on French TV, which features Robert Smith singing entirely different lyrics to a revved-up version of the band’s classic track.

Thirty years ago today, R.E.M. played its first-ever concert — reportedly billed as Twisted Kites — performing to several hundred friends and Athens townsfolk at a birthday party inside St. Mary’s Episcopal Church.

This week’s new releases include new albums from David Byrne & Fatboy Slim (‘Here Lies Love,’ about Imelda Marcos) and Robyn Hitchcock (‘Propellor Time’), plus expanded reissues from David Bowie, The Colourfield and Squeeze.

Highlights from tonight’s ‘Dark Wave’ on Sirius XM’s 1st Wave include a rare selection from Die Warzu (‘Never Again’), Depeche Mode’s greatest B-side (‘Dangerous’) and a one-off 1989 industrial-dance single from the long-forgotten Gruesome Twosome (‘Hallucination Generation’). Plus, the playlist actually ventured outside of the ’80s, offering ’90s and ’00s cuts from The Cure (‘Burn’), Love and Rockets (‘Sweet F.A.’) and Bauhaus (‘Black Stone Heart’).

Pioneering EBM act Front 242 this month will release ‘Moments in Budapest,’ a live DVD filmed on Dec. 6, 2008, in Hungary at the tail end of the Vintage Tour, during which the group resurrected their old ’80s analog sequences. Watch the trailer here.

Following their upcoming dates opening for the reunited Spandau Ballet in Australia, Tears For Fears will return to North America late this summer for a headlining tour of their own, with at least 17 dates announced so far in the Eastern U.S. and Canada — including a pair of free concerts.

The second post-reunion album from Crowded House — dubbed ‘Intriguer’ — will be released this June under the band’s new deal with Universal Music, and will be followed by a lengthy, 28-date tour of North America beginning in July.