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."

www.facebook.com/officialbatavia

On this day, 35 years ago, the Belgian EBM icons FRONT 242 were invited to record a BBC live radio session for the legendary John Peel sessions (13 July 1986). The complete session was broadcast on BBC Radio 1 on 23 July 1986. Listen below to some of the amazing alternative versions of FRONT 242's classics, taken from their No Comment LP (1984), Politics of Pressure EP (1985) and their very first release, the 7" Principles/ Body To Body (1981).

Tracklist:

No Shuffle
Funkadafic
Don't Crash
Body to body

Line-up:

R23 (Drums, Vocals)
Patrick Coornys (Keyboards)
Jean Luc De Meyer (Vocals)
Daniel B. (Keyboards, Special Effects)