Two weeks after announcing the departure of bassist Kim Deal, the Pixies this morning surprised fans with the release of “Bagboy,” the band’s first new song since 2004 and one that sounds like may feature the backing vocals of the group’s now-former bassist. But it doesn’t.

Blondie is gearing up to hit the road this fall with special guest X in tow, and, in announcing that tour, Debbie Harry and Co. revealed their 10th studio album is due out by the end of the year. Well, now comes the first music from that forthcoming record: “A Rose By Any Name,” featuring The Gossip frontwoman Beth Ditto.

The Dead Milkmen return this week with the fourth in their new series of limited-edition 7-inch singles — this one’s called “Welcome to Undertown” — and you can now stream both songs off the vinyl single (the title track and “Streetlamps”) as well as the digital-only bonus track, “The Sun Turns Our Patio Into a Lifeless Hell.”

Front Line Assembly returns next month with a brand new album titled Echogenetic, and label Metropolis Records this week debuted the set’s first single, “Killing Grounds” — which you can stream below. The album, due out July 9, is billed as showing off a “new facet” of FLA, and is completely guitar-free.

The Pet Shop Boys today released “Vocal,” the second single off the duo’s forthcoming 12th studio album, Electric — and you can now stream the full track here. The song’s premiere follows the release of lead single “Axis” and a preview last week of part of the track “Fluorescent.”

The Pet Shop Boys today teased fans with a second cut off the duo’s forthcoming album Electric — or at least 1 minute and 11 seconds of a new song. Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant this morning released an excerpt of the song “Fluorescent,” which follows last month’s debut of lead single “Axis.”

David Byrne and St. Vincent are about to head out on a tour of North America and Europe in support of last year’s Love This Giant album, and, to prime fans, they today released a free EP called Brass Tactics that features a new, previously unreleased track, plus two remixes and a pair of live songs.

A sparse, early demo of the Talking Heads’ 1986 single “True Stories” surfaced online over the weekend, offering fans a glimpse at the origins of the track, which was recorded during the band’s simultaneous for 1985’s Little Creatures and 1986’s True Stories, and became the breakout hit from the latter album.

To help promote his just-announced North American tour on which he’ll perform New Order’s first two albums — 1981′s Movement and 1983′s Power, Corruptions & Lies — Peter Hook is making available as a free download a live recording of that band’s third single, “Everything’s Gone Green,” recorded in Manchester.

Grant Hart returns this summer with his long-in-the-works The Argument, a double album based on John Milton’s epic “Paradise Lost,” on which Domino Record Co. says Hart “distills its essence into pop and rock concoctions that nimbly flit through the history of 20th century music.”

The release of the 5-disc box set Scared To Get Happy: A Story of Indie-Pop 1980-1989 is still nearly two months away, but Cherry Red Records has begun teasing fans with some of the music that will appear on the set, including this rare 1982 flexidisc recording by The Bluebells of “Happy Birthday.”

Metropolis Records is offering up the first taste of Weapon, the upcoming 12th studio album from Skinny Puppy, in the form of lead single “paragUn” — which you can now stream in full. Weapon is due out May 24 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, May 27 in the “rest of the world” and May 28 in North America.

Röyksopp on Saturday will release a red-vinyl 10-inch for Record Store Day in the U.K. that features a live cover of Depeche Mode’s “Ice Machine,” the B-side to the band’s 1981 debut single “Dreaming of Me.” The Röyksopp cover is part of the band’s upcoming installment of the compilation series Late Night Tales.