There is such a wealth of awful rubbish out this week that it actually hurt my eyes browsing amazon etc to find the new releases. Deep digging of the virtual crates found some great artwork however and more than usual so all is not lost. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ album It’s Blitz is my favourite this week as it’s so evocative. It’s a very sexy image at first glance but there’s actually something kinda gross about crushing an egg.
The Bat for Lashes album also stands out partly because it’s pretty ugly but actually because closer study reveals a beautiful image with lots of detail. The way her head is perfectly centred on the cover and the references from the etheral references in the artwork that reflect the music itself.
The Crystral Antlers album Tentacles using bold blobs of colour to great effect in what looks to be a collage.
How Closer era Joy Division is this? Regular readers will know how much I love design references to Joy Division; neat and effective.
It Hugs Back have release several hand made 7 inches creating highly detailed and unique pieces. This artwork is relfected in their album cover.
Das Pop’s self titled album goes down the photoshopped collage route to great effect.
Not sure if this Black Dice album is photoshopped or if that’s real ink but the result is pretty stunning either way.
A bleak image from The Late Call.
The Toboggan album E Brutal! appears to have light sculptures on its cover but it could equally be clever use of lights and sugar paper.
Dillanthology a compilation of J-Dilla’s production for other artists is another favourite – I’m a sucker for the water colour effect especially when it meets typography.
The Great Lake Swimmers have used what appears to be a hand print to create a distant mountain. I really like the considered result.
The Doves album cover combines images of metal structures (probably bridges) with a gold leaf type effect and some cool typography. Whilst I don’t love the gap between the O and the F the coger still comes together to creat a cover that will at least look good in the mainstream album spaces of the super markets.
