Bands & Design» Single Artwork Archives – Bands & Design.

Vega – Well Known Pleasures Artwork

Rich — Fri, 08 May 2009 07:35:17 +0000

I was going to post about Vogue College Records being a label that oozed style but then it kinda dawned on me that this is their only release to date and although the aesthetic they have going on with their logo etc certainly seems like they’re heading in the right direction it would be a bit premature to claim that they “oozed” style at all really.

Instead I’ll focus on Vega‘s first release with them. Big Stereo referred to this release as “nu-hammer, dreamwave or whatever” which typically means someone is trying to find a genre to wedge this track into without just saying “it sounds like an updated 80s because as soon as anyone says “80s electro” we’re all thinking Jan Hammer or Harold Faltermeyer and doing a disservice to what Vega is actually all about (not that Bigstereo are trying to make up genres to fit him into hence the whatever). Besides to my money he’s got more in common with the type of tracks daft punk used to sample (obscure italo disco) but brought thoroughly up to date, by way of late 90s french house, cutting up and looping his own vocals to create the massive throbbing hook thats at the centre of “No Reasons”.

So to the artwork, one of the commentators on Big Stereo referred to it as a “massive clichéd piece of sh*t” but it’s not. Its subject matter – the alien landscape that to all intents and purposes is just a beach scene turned red is a favourite of hack photo-shop artists everywhere – is in itself a massive cliché. If that’s all it was I’d have to agree but it’s more than that. The rainbowed solar flair around the sun, the gentle horizontal lines, the deliberate misalignment of the two main colours giving a forced and faked 3d glasses effect all working, the pyramid with its outerglow and transparency not playing with the background alignments at all and all of it being pinned in place by the subtle typography at the bottom of the image show far more thought that just changing a beach scene red. It’s a striking and ethereal image that completely compliments the music and that’s why it’s not a cliché – because it works.

Antony and the Johnsons – Epilepsy Is Dancing (Single Cover) & Video

Rich — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 14:36:25 +0000

This is such a bleak and traumatic image. The woman’s face appears so pained and the addition of hand drawn angular illustration accentuates the anguish by obscuring parts of the woman’s face distorting her features into an even more pained expression. I love it.

The video is also deeply disturbing yet the song is beautiful.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Youves’ artwork more awesome than previously thought

Rich — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:13:07 +0000

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.

As you can see like the Rolo Tomassi EP the actual artwork is a a full 10 panel monster. Designed by Steven Gorden Fessey aka Fessey. He does crazy cool t-shirt designs often sported by bands (such as Gallows – see his blog) and intricate illustrative artwork.

Record labels that ooze style – Holy Roar Records

Rich — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 12:12:03 +0000

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.

Their earliest iconic piece was the Rolo Tomassi EP; screen printed, I believe, by Angelo Milano.

The Chariots release, The Inner Life, is also worthy of inclusion only I can’t find my copy to scan and the thumbnails on the interwebs do it no favours showing the less than perfect typography rather than the cool fold out artwork. On a side note Emile, the singer in Chariots is a former house mate of mine and you can check out his new project Gold Blood here.

The Cutting Pink With Knives album Populuxxe is exceptional within the release catalogue because it is the only artwork to date to not been illustrated. The typography is beautiful and the image to the left of it is slightly surrealist; the resulting combination of the two is a powerful piece of cover design.

Holy Roar Records 008 is a re-release of the first Rolo Tomassi EP; essentially the same but with a slightly reworking of the artwork by illustrator/designer Fessey.

HRR 010 was a special super limited (100 copies) compilation tape. The illustrative artwork is wonderful and its interesting to see it within the confines of a now dead (come on…it is) format. A CD version of this was released in Japan where the artwork was extended into the full CD format. Designed by Dan Reeves.

HRR011 is a digital only release; no compromise has been made on the artwork however. Designed by Dan Reeves.

The Maths / Throats split CD has crazy cool artwork. Shocking pink meets neon roses and picture frames.

There’s little sexier than white vinyl but when it’s combined with a simple colour-way and minimalist artwork it becomes an object of beauty.

Apologies for the smallness of the Mirror! Mirror! image. It’s a shame as there’s a lot of detail going on in this image.

Exceptionally disturbing illustration on the Dananananaykroyd – Sissy Hits mini-album. The colours are the only subtle thing about this. Look closely; there’s ghosts being secreted from the open pores on the backs of the fighters. One of my absolute favourites.

This Devil Sold His Soul / Tortuga split was designed by Simon Moody; the fabulous illustrator responsible for the current Rolo Tomassi artwork, I Was A Cub Scout and Data.Select.Party.

The Ergon Carousel release reminds me slightly of the poster I featured the other week for Blonde Redhead in so much as both feature the skeleton of a horse. This release too is limited to only a 100 copies.

Holy Roar Records second Christmas tape compilation is as beautiful as the first. Artwork created by James Burgess.

The Holy State ep is super limited edition but is also available digitally. A wonderfully detailed a slightly twisted style of illustration with angular hand drawn typography.

The artwork for the Maths digital release isn’t strictly the artwork for the Maths digital release at all. It was designed as the header for their myspace but the illustration does an excellent job doubling up. Illustrated by Sam Dunn.

I’ve already dedicated an entire post to the Rolo Tomassi artwork for the re-re-release of their untitled ep. I love it so it’s worth showing again.

Holy Roar Records next release is an album for Youves. The cover designed by illusrator Fessey who remixed the artwork for the re-release of the Rolo Tomassi EP (above). It’s a very strong image and fits the bands music perfectly. I can’t wait to get my copy!

Holy Roar are a label who do more than release records though. Their merch collection is incredible. Most of the t-shirts / bags etc were designed by the same people who do the artwork.

Holy Roar Records are a well established indie with a solid set of releases. They are honestly one of my favourite labels and I cannot wait to see who they release and what those releases look like in the future. Who knows maybe one day I’ll get to work with them!

Record labels that ooze style – Fool House

Rich — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:02:17 +0000

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.

With that rather verbose intro over it is my intention to hunt out the record labels that may well be considered a long side Factory Records in the future but for my generation and yours. These labels produce great products in spite of the ease of which they could release something only as an mp3 – the result of which reduces artwork to a 100px x 100px in the corner of a screen. These labels aren’t sticklers for tradition – they’re forward thinking agencies that recognise that the Record or CD itself is all part of the love affair people have with the band.

So to Fool House. A label that seems to ooze style in all aspects. They’re an imprint of infamous french blog Fluokids. Known for posting some of the coolest mp3s on the internet, hosting the coolest parties and after show events: you could blame them for new-rave but that wouldn’t be quite fair. With their set-up it would have been easy to launch an mp3 only download service; it takes about 3 clicks but as stated earlier this is a label that recognises that the product is as important as the music. Instead they’re combining both – physical releases accompanied by digital releases; additional remixes typically.

The artwork that accompanies their releases is a collaborative effort between graphic designer David Lamothe and photographer Gala Collette. Each record is released as a super limited 500 only 12 inch pressing.

Their first EP (pictured above), released back in October, contains four tracks by Mondkopf (including a remix by the legendary I:Cube). The artwork reminds me of something Storm Thorgerson may have come up with in that the artwork draws you in by not telling the whole story.

Their second EP release, released just over a month ago in January, contains two tracks by 33Hz plus a remix by The Shoes and Boombass (one half of Cassius). The artwork, similar in its moment in time snapshot to the first EP, is minimalist in its imagery but appearing to be the same high design a magazine like Wallpaper* is full of.

Their upcoming release is for Delorean, a group based in Barcelona, and is known as the AyrTon Senna EP. I’ve yet to discover what tracks it will contain and as far as I’m aware the artwork has yet to appear but I have little doubt that it will be worthy of owning.

Fool House then, a label with great promise, releasing great music with great artwork in super limited quantities – what’s not to love?

Rolo Tomassi – Untitled Ep – Reissue

Rich — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:17:15 +0000

Rolo Tomassi are one of my favourite bands and not least because of their consistently great artwork. It’s all pretty much down to one guy, Simon Moody aka Lined With Ghosts, a freelance illustrator from somewhere in Nottinghamshire. The artwork for the new Rolo Tomassi re-issue is perhaps my favourite to date. As you can see from the image below the CD packaging folds out to reveal a further four panels of the spiky looking hand drawn mountain range. Officially known as a 10 panel digi-file with foam ‘button’; whilst I haven’t met a foam button yet that can actually hold the CD in place this is still an excellent final product. The mountain range can be seen as a representation of the spiky angular synth-prog-hardcore although I don’t feel this was an intentional metaphor.

Inside the whole image is reproduced in small beneath the CD and additional panels with lyrics and information about Rolo Tomassi are all decorated with an intricate background pattern. Moody seems to hand draw all his illustrations before transferring them to his computer for colouring. The result is a very pleasing effect where the felt pen bleeds in places adding to the roughness of the artwork an effect that is very difficult to fake in paint shop or illustrator.

Of course I could be wrong about certain aspects as I’m currently basing my opinion on the reduced size images within this post. The CD is available for pre-order and will be released towards the end of this month or the beginning of March. Should you want to pick up a copy its available through the Holy Roar Records Store. It’s also available with a t-shirt which has the whole mountain range image emblazoned across the chest. That’s the one I’m plumping for.