Today, exactly 41 years ago, Joy Division released their second and final studio album, Closer. It was released on 18 July 1980 on the renowned UK label Factory Records exactly two months after the tragic suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis (18 May 1980). Today, Closer is still considered as one of the major releases of the New-Wave and Post-Punk era.

The songs on Closer were drawn from two distinct periods. The earlier guitar-driven compositions like Atrocity Exhibition, A Means to an End, Colony, Passover and 24 Hours were written during the latter half of 1979. The other songs like Isolation, Decades, The Eternal and Heart and Soul were written in early 1980 and included more prominent use of electronics and synthesizers.

Regarding the album's lyrical content, Bernard Sumner recollected: "We'd go to rehearsals and sit around and talk about really banal things. We'd do that until we couldn't talk about banal things any more, then we'd pick up our instruments and record into a little cassette player. We didn't talk about the music or the lyrics very much. We never analyzed it”. Bernard also remembers Ian Curtis saying he was feeling strange because “he felt like all his words were writing themselves. He also said that he had this terrible claustrophobic feeling that he was in a whirlpool and being pulled down, drowning."

Closer was recorded between 18–30 March 1980 at Britannia Row Studios in London. It was produced by Martin Hannett. His production has been highly praised by the music press. However, as with their debut album, both Hook and Sumner were unhappy with Hannett's work. Peter Hook later complained that the track "Atrocity Exhibition" was mixed on one of his days off and when he heard the final product was disappointed that the abrasiveness of his guitar part had been laden with effects and toned down. He wrote; "I was like, head in hands, oh fucking hell, it's happening again. Unknown Pleasures number two... Martin [Hannett] had melted the guitar with his Marshall Time Waster. Made it sound like somebody strangling a cat, and to my mind, absolutely killed the song. I was so annoyed with him and went in and gave him a piece of my mind but he just turned around and told me to fuck off."

The album cover was designed by Martyn Atkins and Peter Saville, with a photograph of a Italian tomb on the sleeve. Designer Peter Saville commented that he, upon learning of singer Ian Curtis's suicide, expressed immediate concern over the album's design as it depicted a funeral theme, remarking "we've got a tomb on the cover of the album!"

Closer as a 12” vinyl album reached No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart. The Album was also chosen as Album of The Year by NME and is still placed highly in various top 10 lists like Best Album of the 80s (Slant Magazine, Pitchfork Magazine, Q magazine, …) and number two on Sonic Seducers “10 key Goth albums”. It got 10/10 review scores by Akk Music, NME, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone album guide, Select, Spin Alternative Record Guide, Uncut and the Encyclopedia of Popular Music

By 1982, the album had sold over 250,000 copies worldwide.

Shortly after this release the remaining members chose New Order as their new and future band name.

Closer
Side A

1. Atrocity Exhibition
2. Isolation
3. Passover
4. Colony
5. A Means to an End

Side B
6. Heart and Soul
7. Twenty Four Hours
8. The Eternal
9. Decades

All songs written by Ian Curtis, Peter Hook, Stephen Morris and Bernard Sumner.

Today it’s exactly 33 years since Siouxsie & The Banshees released their single Peek-a-Boo. It was released on 18th July 1988 as the first single from the band's ninth studio album, Peepshow. Peek-a-Boo was rated "Single of the Week" in both Sounds and NME.

The song's peculiar sound is due to its experimental recording which was based on a sample. The song was built on a loop in reverse of a brass part with drums which the group previously arranged a year before for a cover of John Cale's 'Gun'. The band selected different parts of that tape when played backwards, editing them and re-recording on top of it, adding a different melody plus accordion, a one-note bass and discordant guitar. Drummer Budgie also added another beat. Once the instrumental parts were finished, Siouxsie sang her lyrics over it. The lyric track was further manipulated by Siouxsie's use of a different microphone for each line of the song. It took the band a year to arrive at this result.

Peek-a-Boo was one of Siouxsie and the Banshees' most recognizable and popular singles; it was also the group's first to chart in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, reaching No. 53 in the week of 3rd December. The song was very popular on alternative rock radios and received heavy play on MTV. In September 1988, Billboard magazine premiered a new Modern Rock Tracks chart, which measured radio airplay on US modern rock stations; "Peek-a-Boo" was the chart's first No. 1 song. In the UK, "Peek-a-Boo" became their fifth Top 20 UK hit, peaking at number 16 in the Singles Chart.

The music video was chosen by The Chart Show to be their "Best Video of the Year" for 1988. On the Beavis & Butt-Head episode "Sperm Bank," Beavis noted while watching the video that "this is music for people who don't have any friends”.

Peek-a-Boo (CDS/7”)
a. Peek-a-Boo
b. False Face

Peek-a-Boo (CD Maxi-single)
1. Peek-A-Boo
2. Catwalk
3. Peek-A-Boo (Big Spender Mix)
4. False Face
5. Peek-A-Boo (Silver Dollar Mix)

Peek-a-Boo (Lyrics)

Creeping up the backstairs
Slinking into dark stalls
Shapeless and slumped in bath chairs
Furtive eyes peep out of holes
She has many guises
She'll do what you want her to
Playing dead and sweet submission
Cracks the whip deadpan on cue

Peek-a-boo
Peek-a-boo
Peek-a-boo
Peek-a-boo

Reeking like a pigsty
Peeling back and gagging free
Flaccid ego in your hand
Chokes on dry tears, can you understand?
She's jeering at the shadows
Sneering behind a smile
Lunge and thrust to pout and pucker
Into the face of the beguiled

Peek-a-boo
Peek-a-boo
Peek-a-boo (Golly jeepers)
Peek-a-boo (Where'd you get those peepers?)
Peek-a-boo (Peepshow, creepshow)
Peek-a-boo (Where did you get those eyes?)

Strobe lights pump and flicker
Dry lips crack out for more
"Come bite on this rag doll, baby!
That's right now hit the floor"
They're sneaking out the back door
She gets up from all fours
Rhinestone fools and silver dollars
Curdle into bitter tears

Peek-a-boo
Peek-a-boo
Peek-a-boo
Peek-a-boo
Peek-a-boo (Golly jeepers)
Peek-a-boo (Where'd you get those peepers?)
Peek-a-boo (Peepshow, creepshow)
Peek-a-boo (Where did you get those eyes?)
Peek-a-boo (Golly jeepers)
Peek-a-boo (Where'd you get those peepers?)
Peek-a-boo (Peepshow, creepshow)
Peek-a-boo (Where did you get those eyes?)
Peek-a-boo (Golly jeepers)
Peek-a-boo (Where'd you get those peepers?)
Peek-a-boo (Peepshow, creepshow)
Peek-a-boo (Where did you get those eyes?)

Where did you get those eyes?
Where did you get those eyes?

(Songwriters: N Sioux / Steven Severin / Johnny Mercer / N Budgie / Harry Warren)

A new era is about to dawn for Blutengel with "Erlösung - The Victory of Light". Never before did Blutengel release so many German songs on an album as this time. Allied with the artwork of Stefan Heilemann (Heilemania), Blutengel will seduce you entirely into their world. The light is followed by the darkness and the darkness by the light. An eternal cycle ignites in "Erlösung (Redemption) - The Victory of Light" and takes the listener into the realm of Blutengel.

Already in the gripping first single - sung in German and English - "The Victory of Light" the light shows us the way. Electronic sound, raw, futuristic - in combination with the irresistible appeal to dance and epic rousing choruses, the album reveals a true anthem potential. By the time we can fully enjoy the album, we are called to hit "Repeat" for the single(s), which conveys the prevailing message, especially at this time.

"We are the light! The light will win!" says Blutengel mastermind Chris Pohl. "The light can also be interpreted as redemption in the sense of death - you see the light into which you shall leave...", taking this into account, Chris describes the collective transition into infinity herein.... Be it as it shall be: In the end, there is the LIGHT!

The brand new Blutengel album "Erlösung - The Victory Of Light" is out worldwide on July 16 via Out Of Line Music as CD and as a double CD in a digipak with eight bonus tracks. For vinyl enthusiasts, there will be a double vinyl in the colors turquoise and transparent. As a collector's item, the double vinyl also comes as a 180g "glow in the dark" (a vinyl that illuminates in the dark) and is exclusively available in Out Of Line's shop. All types of vinyl include a download code and are strictly limited. For the first time, a Blutengel album will also be available on a limited cassette (MC). For the authentic cassette retro feeling and to fight the tape clutter, an imprinted pencil will go with it, exclusively in the Out Of Line Shop. Though, the highlight is a limited box set. Besides the double CD in digipak the box contains the exclusive bonus CD "A World Beyond", the photo book "Erlösung – The Complete Story" (a book with the complete lyrics & excl. pictures by Annie Bertram) in a DIN A5 format, a keychain with a LED flashlight and a very special hologram sticker with the Blutengel logo.

Blutengel Album "Erlösung – The Victory of Light" - Tracklist:

1. Illuminate my Soul

2. Wir sind das Licht

3. We are not dead

4. Seasons

5. Wer ist dein Meister?

6. Deine Dämonen

7. I am the Darkness

8. Erlöse mich

9. Wie Sand

10. No Religion

11. Darkness awaits us

12. We fall

13. The Victory of Light

14. Hand in Hand

www.blutengel.de

40 years ago, American new wave band The B52’s released their 12” Party Mix! (July 1981). Party Mix! is a remix album, that came out in between their second album Wild Planet (August 1980) and their Mesopotamia EP (October 1981). Since most of the band’s bouncy songs were already dance-ready to begin with, one can see these remixed tracks more as great alternative versions, rather than real ‘dance’ tracks.

The original 12” featured six songs taken from their first two albums, all remixed and sequenced to form two long tracks, one on each side. On the CD version however, all the songs feature their own track.

The B52's - Part Mix! (12" - 1981)

DISCOGS

Gothic/industrial band BATAVIA has unveiled their first full-length album, Mythos. In the tradition of their previous entries, Mythos is a highly conceptual release. Each song is an exploration of legend and folklore, from both home and abroad.

Mythos explores tales both known and obscure, new and old; from The Bell Witch and Red Headed Hitchhiker to the infamous Buzzer radio signal of Moscow.

For fans of: NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS, SIOUXIE & THE BANSHEES & SKINNY PUPPY

Recording of Mythos began shortly after their previous EP, Quite Mean Spirited, with musical ambitions set higher than anything they had released previously. The result is a collage of influences, ranging from post-punk, goth rock, noise rock, industrial and EBM, with no song standing firmly in one singular genre. While each song was written to reflect the mood of the subject matter, Mythos is a release that was written as a singular listening journey into the stories that have captured our imagination for generations.

Joining BATAVIA on this release is label mate B

eta Virus, who provided vocals on "UVB-76". JD Tucker lent his mixing talents to "Azafrán," with James Scott of Populist Recording and Eric Oehler of Submersible Studios providing mastering for the release. The band has also included three retro-flavored remixes of the songs "Mercy’s Burning Heart," "Her Vacant Chair," and "Anthemoessa."

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