Three weeks ago, we launched the inaugural Slicing Up Eyeballs Readers Poll in an effort to gauge what this site’s frequenters think are the year’s best new albums and reissues. Now, with hundreds of ballots cast, the results are in.

Back on Dec. 19, visitors to New York City’s Museum of Modern Art witnessed a surprise ‘walk-in concert’ by R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe and Patti Smith as part of the museum’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of French political activist and writer Jean Genet.

Public radio program Studio 360 is streaming a new piece on the inclusion of R.E.M.’s ‘Radio Free Europe’ in the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry and a special bonus concert from the early ’80s recorded in Athens, Ga. Hear both here.

The release of R.E.M.’s new album ‘Collapse Into Now’ is still more than two months away, but the band is in full pre-Christmas promotional mode, not just offering up free tracks but now releasing a 2-minute trailer for the record that features the band performing many of the new tracks live in the studio.

Just days after R.E.M. started giving away MP3s of the opening track to 2011’s ‘Collapse Into Now,’ a second song — ‘It Happened Today,’ featuring Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder on backing vocals — from the album has hit the web after it was released as a single digitally in other parts of the world.

R.E.M. today released a free MP3 of ‘Discoverer,’ the opening track off its new album ‘Collapse Into Now’ — which will be released March 7 in the U.K. and March 8 in the U.K. via Warner Bros. Download it here.

Members of R.E.M.’s fan club have begun receiving their annual holiday single in the mail, and, like last year’s, the 2010 installment features the return of departed drummer Bill Berry on a cover of Darlene Love’s classic ‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)’ — as well as an instrumental mashup of three tracks off the band’s forthcoming album ‘Collapse Into Now.’

Anyone who saw the ‘Monster’ tour in 1995 no doubt remembers that ‘Country Feedback,’ off 1991’s not-toured ‘Out of Time,’ was the set’s highlight, capped off each night with a mesmerizing solo from Peter Buck — a guitarist not generally prone to long turns in the spotlight.

R.E.M. employed a decidedly old-school medium to announce the full tracklist of its new album ‘Collapse Into Now’: The band revealed the titles of the record’s 12 songs via its snail-mail fanclub newsletter.

Mike Mills revealed the first details of R.E.M.’s 15th studio album, ‘Collapse Into Now,’ on Wednesday, telling Spin.com that the record features a ‘more expansive’ sound than 2008’s hard-rocking ‘Accelerate,’ thanks, in part, to guest appearances by the likes of Eddie Vedder, Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye and Peaches.

Reunited college-rock favorites The Feelies ‘have completed recording basic tracks for a new album’
— the New Jersey combo’s first new record since 1991’s ‘Time for a Witness’ — that is slated to be released next spring on Bar/None Records.

This week’s releases include a new studio albums from Bryan Ferry (‘Olympia’) and Elvis Costello (‘National Ransom’), a live DVD from R.E.M. (‘Live From Austin, TX’), a 4CD ‘omnibus edition’ from The Fall (‘The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall’) and the belated U.S. release of Prefab Sprout’s new album (‘Let’s Change the World With Music’).

The latest side project from R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck — the country-tinged Tired Pony, fronted by Snow Patrol singer Gary Lightbody — stopped by the ‘Late Show with David Letterman’ last night to perform ‘Dead American Writers,’ off the band’s just-released debut ‘The Place We Ran From.’