Depeche Mode today announced that Columbia Records will release its upcoming 13th studio album in March, signalling an end to the synthpop act’s relationship with EMI Music, which picked up the group when it purchased Mute Records in 2002. Neither an exact release date nor the album’s title have been revealed.

As part of EMI Music’s ongoing Electrospective campaign designed to celebrate the history of electronic music, Mojo magazine recently convened a roundtable discussion of the genre featuring, among others, synthpop pioneers such as Mute Records; Daniel Miller, Heaven 17’s Martyn Ware and OMD’s Andy McCluskey.

We’ve got a whopper of a Peter Gabriel prize pack to give away to one lucky Slicing Up Eyeballs reader: 12 CDs, including his latest album, the orchestral ‘New Blood,’ which represents nearly his entirely discography, plus a lithograph of the ‘New Blood’ cover signed by Gabriel himself — all courtesy of EMI Music.

The Japanese division of EMI Music this week reissued Public Image Ltd.’s entire catalog in limited, digitally-remastered SHM-CD editions, with 10 titles packaged in vinyl-replica paper sleeves, as well as a tin-can encased, triple-disc ‘Metal Box’ and a standard jewel-case edition of ‘The Greatest Hits… So Far.’

Today marks the release of the 25th anniversary reissue of R.E.M.’s ‘Lifes Rich Pageant,’ and to help celebrate, the fine folks at EMI Music have provided us with a copy of the set — featuring a whopping 19 previously unreleased studio demos — to award to one lucky Slicing Up Eyeballs reader.

The fine folks at Rhino Records have provided us with a copy of the super-limited 6LP deluxe vinyl edition of Depeche Mode’s forthcoming ‘Remixes 2: 81-11’ set to award to one lucky Slicing Up Eyeballs reader — and copies of the 3CD version for five runners up.

The first and second albums from classic synthpop duo Erasure — 1986’s ‘Wonderland’ and 1987’s ‘The Circus’ — will be reissued this summer in deluxe 2CD/1DVD packages stuffed with remixes, B-sides, live sessions, music videos, TV performances and concert footage.

To help celebrate the release of R.E.M.’s latest album ‘Collapse Into Now,’ the folks at EMI Music — who now control the band’s classic college-rock output on I.R.S. Records — have provided us with a 5CD/2LP prize pack to award to a lucky Slicing Up Eyeballs reader.

Thanks to the folks at EMI Music, three lucky Slicing Up Eyeballs readers will score free copies of the 1DVD/2CD edition of Depeche Mode’s just-released concert film/live album ‘Tour of the Universe: Barcelona 20/21:11:09.’

Today, Crowded House releases its new greatest-hits collection in the U.S., and to mark the occasion, the generous folks at EMI/Capitol are providing us with a copy of ‘The Very Very Best of Crowded House’ to give away to one lucky Slicing Up Eyeballs reader.

The expanded 2CD/1DVD reissue of Heaven 17’s synthpop classic ‘Penthouse and Pavement’ will pair the remastered 1981 album with 20 previously unreleased ‘demos, instrumentals and experimentation’ from that era, plus a DVD featuring the hour-long documentary ‘The Story of Penthouse and Pavement.’

A long-rumored concert film of Depeche Mode’s 2009-2010 Tour of the Universe will be released this November in three different DVD/CD and Blu-ray configurations, according to fan site Home, which also reports the famed synthpop act is rumored to be prepping a new remix CD for release next year.

Slicing Up Eyeballs got a chance to talk to Heaven 17’s Martyn Ware last week about the making of the band’s landmark debut, ‘Penthouse and Pavement,’ as well as the forthcoming 30th anniversary tour for the album and plans for a new box set.