I included the Youves’ artwork in my assessment/roundup of the Holy Roar Records artwork but it’s even better than I realised from the single panel illustration.
See the outer cover...
Youves’ artwork more awesome than previously thought
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Rich
Great albums – Great Artwork out 30/03/09
Peter Bjorn and John for the win this week. Wonderful use of typography to create the object. Buy this on vinyl to truly appreciate the details.
Dan Deacon, Fever Ray & Life On Earth...
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Rich
Record labels that ooze style – Holy Roar Records
Holy Roar Records are one of my favourite independent record labels in the UK. The music they release is of a consistently high quality and although the artwork wasn’t consistent at the very start they’ve completely upped their game and now release some of the most visually arresting as well as sonically interesting vinyl, cds and tapes of any label in the world. They’ve allied themselves with some very talented designers/illustrators that insure a high quality output every time.
Releases from Rolo Tomassi, Youves, Cutting Pink With Knives, Maths etc...
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Rich
Great albums – Great Artwork out 23/03/09 (uk)
The Royksopp album just snatches the top spot this week with its bizarre “scenesterific! camp collage. The Decemberists album below was a a very close second. I’m really feeling the way, although surely photoshopped, the album creates typography out of wood. Beautiful.
Decemberists, Mono etc
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Rich
Record labels that ooze style – Fool House
There is a treasure trove of small labels across the world who put out great music that isn’t considered financially viable enough for major labels. Great music that has a niche audience of a few thousand (and maybe more – majors generally aren’t interested if the band don’t have the potential to shift 10s of thousands of units). The labels often work closely with artists and designers to produce spectacular results. My friends and I refer to it as the “factory model”, as I’m sure many others do, based on the work on Factory Records. They started small and worked closely with designers such as Peter Saville (who defined the label visually from the very beginning). They were more than a record label, Factory Records produced concepts that helped define a generation, not only of Mancunians but of many Brits as well. A good record label can revolutionise.
See the artwork for 33Hz, Mondkopf...
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Rich
Great albums – Great Artwork out 16/03/09 (uk)
Having cut through some real rubbish again I bring you only 4 albums of note released this week. If you know of any more than should be getting my attention let me know!
The top image is for “Final Song” by various artists including Radiohead and Brian Eno. I really like the 3D paper imagery but I also really like the album’s concept. Asking the compilers the simple but poignant question “what song they would like to have played at your funeral?”. More said about it at Drowned In Sound.
More by Black lips, Bonnie Prince Billy and Wavves
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Rich
Iconic T-Shirt Designs
T-shirts have long been an important aspect for many bands. They are often the one piece of merchandise outside of the albums/singles that fans own. They serve several functions including: allowing a fan to show their support for the band, raise awareness of the band and raising money for the band as shirts are cheap to produce.
Below are a selection of iconic shirts featuring where possible the cast of Flickr. I do not feature in any of the images ha. I’m aware some shirts aren’t strictly original and are lame-ass re-issues. This also isn’t intended to be a complete list by any means. Just 18 t-shirts that I like a lot and are iconic for various reasons.
More T-shirts including Nivarna, Bruce Springsteen, Minor Threat...
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Rich
Great albums – Great Artwork out 09/03/09 (uk)
After last week’s complete lack of decent visuals we’ve got a deluge of stuff that’s actually pretty cool. My favourite, above, is the Dm Stith album. Overlays of watercolour and strawblowing finished in a thick black splodge and a heavy type face cutting through.
More albums below including Pure Reason Revolution, Annie Lennox etc...
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Rich
Blondie Vs Blur Vs Katy Perry
I was just flicking through the Sunday Times Magazine looking at “The Greatest Rock’n'Roll pictures ever” when I noticed an image I’ve seen many times before: Blur’s parody of Parallel Lines by Blondie but what I hadn’t noticed before was how much Damon Albarn’s Debbie Harry looks like Katy Perry. Scary huh?
Original Katy Perry and Blondie after the cut...
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RichDepeche Mode – Wrong Music Video
I could watch this video on repeat. It’s so dark. The song itself is also incredible.
The video was directed by Patrick Daughters who has directed a lot of great videos. He directed the Date With The Night video by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs which includes footage (the flashing gambling machine) from the venue I run my club night in. He’s also done the lion’s share of Feist videos and the video for the Futureheads’ Hounds Of Love. A lot of cool stuff basically.
The guy in the car is the drummer from The Liars, Julian Gross.
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Rich
