Phil Selway – Familial
Design: Traffic
Artwork: Sleeps In Oysters

With the year beginning to draw to a close I thought I’d drop one more entry in this series, which simply examines the trend of using heads in music art in 2010.

Not an entirely unique trend in this industry, but from my observations there have been enough notable examples to warrant the examination. Besides, it’s fun.

You can check out the original article here and the fem-bot focused follow-up here.

I’m kicking Vol 3 off with one of my favourite covers from this year – Phil Selway’s Familial, which is one of many albums in this article that I’m still yet to hear. It’s elegantly designed and features a lovely slice of British domestic surrealism. This cover in fact displays three heads belonging to a typical nuclear family looking rather, well nuclear – as their faces have been adorned (mutated) with feathers and other strange organic artifacts. The rather ornate and bizarre imagery contrasts beautifully against the restrained design. I believe that’s Helvetica, handsome as always.

I’d love to know who’s responsible for the artwork and design of this cover – so if you’re able to fill me in please leave a note in the comment section.

Tracy Thorn— Love and its Opposite
Design: IWANT

Similar in its design and concept is Love and its Opposite, Tracy Thorn’s third solo album and her second collaboration with the massively exciting UK design studio IWANT. The family photo that makes up this cover looks like it was defaced by a child armed with textas. Incidentally that was one of my favourite pastimes as a kid and a look through almost any book from my childhood library will reveal numerous abstract and non-sensical “revisions” rendered in a rainbow of crayon, pencil and paint.

IWANT are really producing an exceptional, psychedelic body of work. Their custom type for Tracy Thorn’s logo is quite lovely too.

Hot Chip— We Have Remixes
Design: Wallzo

To be fair, the Selway and Thorn covers don’t strictly fit into the “head music” canon (I just really like them) so it’s back to the big heads and back to one of the designers that helped kick this whole series off.

Darren Wall (Wallzo) has been Hot Chip’s designer since album #2, and it’s hard to imagine the band working with anyone else. He’s successfully brought something fresh and unique to each release. This particular cover is for We Have Remixes, which is a remix album of their most recent studio release – One Life Stand. The cover doesn’t so much “remix” the LP cover as it does expand on and continue the original idea – which Wallzo talked about indepth on It’s Nice That—

“When statues are installed or transported they are often lowered into place with large, colourful canvas slings. Owen had a few photographic examples of this in action and they seemed to create an interesting theme; classical forms intersected with bright stripes of colour. The idea of a head seemed to appeal to the band most of all, and from there it all came together after lots of experimentation. There’s plenty of Giorgio de Chirico and Hipgnosis reference in there too. I think its essentially quite an over-the-top image – like a prog-cover reduced to a screen-print. The most enjoyable part of the process was working with the Vinyl Factory who created the 12” versions of the album. The special edition is a 2-disc gatefold with an art print and we’ve even printed a pattern hidden on the inside of the sleeve.”

Arp – The Soft Wave

An excellent new release from purveyors of excellent music and design Smalltown Supersound. Between the previous Hot Chip cover and this, perhaps there is a minor trend emerging in the use of Greek (or is it Roman) statue heads?

I’d love to know who designed this one too, as it doesn’t immediately strike me as the work of Smalltown regulars Kim Hiorthøy or Rune Mortensen.

Mark Ronson and the Business International— Record Collection

Up until last week I knew next to nothing about Mark Ronson beyond the fact that he’s produced for Amy Winehouse and his sister is famous for being Lindsay Lohan’s girlfriend/DJ. Since then I have to confess to becoming slightly addicted to The Bike Song – completely unlike what I usually listen to but an undeniably great pop single. The video is brilliant too—

I’m assuming design duties for this one were again undertaken by uber studio Village Green, who took care of Ronson’s previous album Versions, which incidentally features a similar concept. And Ronson’s head.

It’s clever, striking, and reminiscent of both the Sleeveface meme and some of Jonathan Zawada‘s ‘Vintage’ club night posters—

Seems like at least some of these covers are based on real covers too. I can spot Duran Duran’s Rio in there. Are there any others?

Type is set in Poplar. I’ve heard typography fiends complain about the R in this font, but I find that to be one of my favourite characters in the set.

Tricky— Mixed Race

Tricky’s considerable output is filled with great songs and great ideas, but in my opinion only one truly great album – Maxinquaye. I actually felt that his last album Knowle West Boy flashed moments of Maxinquaye era-greatness, so I’m somewhat optimistic about this one. The cover looks like it might have been shot in the same session as 2001′s Blowback – an album with a far superior type treatment.

Big Boi— Sir Lucious Left Foot

Lots of fuss around this album. I must admit I’ve only heard 3 or 4 songs, but none of them have really turned me on that much. I’ve enjoyed listening, and there’s some interesting production at work, but nothing has struck me as being better or more revolutionary than your average Outkast record. I’m apathetic about this cover too. It’s not your typical hip-hop terribleness, but it’s not a patch on Speakerbox/The Love Below. It also doesn’t reflect any of the inventiveness and visual trickery of Big Boi’s music videos, which are always excellent. That’s a missed opportunity in my books.

M.I.A— /\/\ /\ Y /\

It’s hidden behind a barrage of YouTube play-bars, but that is definitely M.I.A’s head. The logo is made from an animated gif and the album title is rendered in an OSX button. It’s internet punk.

Robert Hood— Omega

I know nothing about Robert Hood.
I’m assuming that’s his head though, and that the typography is custom.

Give Up Art seem to have established themselves as the dubstep artwork specialists – creating the most sophisticated design work in the genre. I’m yet to hear the album, but I think this cover is quite cool.

Matthew Dear— Black City

Cool cover and artwork – really suits the album – but the really exciting stuff is happening with the digital packaging.

Grinderman— Heathen Child

This isn’t the new Grinderman album cover. This is the single.

It’s pretty spooky.

Grinderman— Grinderman 2

This is the new Grinderman album cover. Also spooky.

According to Gavin Lucas at Creative Review, photography is by Polly Borland (who did all those fantastic promo shots for Black Cherry era Goldfrapp) and design is by the always excellent Tom Hingston, marking his second collaboration with the band.

Grinderman seem to have a thing for sininster looking animals – with this snarling wolf taking the place of the hypercolour monkey from the previous record.

Nice blackletter type too. Can anyone identify that for me? Apparently the type on the Heathen Child single will be gold foil block. Delicious.

Very much looking forward to this album too – and everything I’ve heard from it and about it sounds amazing. Warren Ellis has described it as a psychedelic record that melds stoner rock with Sly Stone and Amon Düül. That my friends is a very good thing.

Martina Topley Bird— Some Place Simple

It’s hard to follow up a Julian House cover but this one feels particularly lackluster. It’s not a terrible cover, it just looks like an untreated digital photo standing in for the real thing.

Martina Topley Bird deserves to be far more famous than she is too. Buy her music.

Laurie Anderson— Homeland

Laurie Anderson releases approximately 2 studio albums per decade. All but one have featured her head. She’s married to Lou Reed and strikes me as an incredibly cool lady, although I must admit I’ve never really paid her music that much attention. I think I’ll have to change that – if for nothing else than how great this cover is.

Devo— Something For Everybody

Devo’s first new album in 20 years is yet another I haven’t heard. I must confess to not being much of a Devo zealot either.

It’s a great cover, but for some reason I think it would have been more suitable for a greatest hits set – mostly due to its use of the “energy dome“, which I’m fairly certain has only been used on one other Devo cover.

The head on this cover belongs to Russian model Natasha Romanova – herself a member of the band Discrete Encounter and fondly refereed to by Devo fans as “Sexy Candy Dome Girl”.

Katy Perry— Teenage Dream

It’s lurid. It’s neon. It’s 80′s.

It’s Katy Perry.

It’s actually not terrible cover either -
you know, for what it is.

This seems to be an alternative or an earlier version of the cover. I could never bring myself to listen to it deliberately, but I dig the artwork.

Robyn— Body Talk 2

Would you believe I actually found a great article about the process behind designing and shooting the covers for Robyn’s Body Talk trilogy, and have since misplaced the link?

True story.

Zola Jesus— Stridulum II

Too scary for words.
I also have no idea who Zola Jesus is or are.

Röyksopp— Senior

I’ve heard this album a few times now and I love it. It’s the most mellow and down-tempo thing that Röyksopp have done – which is saying something. In the words of the band Senior is “the senile sibling of Junior who lives in the attic.” It’s nuanced, quite beautiful, entirely instrumental. The perfect comedown album.

I like the idea behind the cover, but it’s nothing special. I prefer the cover (and more subtle use of type) for Senior single The Drug, which is a superior visual counterpart to Junior and simply more interesting to look at. Incidentally it’s quite similar to the Phil Selway cover. I guess I just have a thing for the combination of modernist typography and weird costumes.

I’m not proud of myself for posting this abomination, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t. Weezer’s Hurley. Terrible to the last drop.

Of course its not only humans that possess heads, as evidenced by Klaxons on the cover for their new album Surfing The Void. It’s like something Storm Thorgerson may have done if LOLCats were around in the 70′s. Equally amazing and ridiculous.

I’m going to wrap things up now with my prediction for 2011′s album art anatomy trend, as proposed by Scissor Sisters by way of the great Robert Mapplethorpe.

Thanks for reading.

Some more recent work for New Weird Australia – this time it’s the cover art and layout for the second volume of the Broadcast series – which essentially compiles performances from the New Weird Australia radio show on FBi.

While the branding and artwork system will continue to be used for a variety of purposes, project off-shoots like the Broadcast series allows us to do something a little different visually, just to keep things interesting. This particular cover was loosely inspired by two of my favourite album covers Andy Warhol’s The Velvet Underground & Nico and Michael Vadino’s LCD Soundsystem. Broadcast Two sees elements from both these covers mashed up with a distinctly Australian flavour, featuring a mirrorball, six-stitcher cricket ball and a banana, which combine to form a slightly deranged looking smiley face.

All stock images were converted to greyscale and then treated with a half-tone effect. These were placed onto a spot colour using the Overlay blending mode.

Typography is all set in the beautiful Caslon, which I had a great deal of fun with on the back, playing with the various weights, glyphs and superscript.

Find out more information about the series here.

Download the compliation and artwork for free from here.

I should also point out that I assisted The Nest with the design of the New Weird Australia site, which has just gone live. Check it out.

Just for fun I produced a few alternative versions of the cover art – which I’ve included here for your viewing pleasure. Both feature essentially the same idea as the final cover art, although the “eyes” have been replaced by a CD & a black balloon in one, and a tennis ball & a diamond in the other.

You can download this compilation for FREE from here.

As part of my ongoing work for New Weird Australia I’ve recently produced a template and artwork for the first in a series of releases entitled New Editions.

New Editions aims to help promote and distribute new experimental Australian music in a collection of physical and digital releases. Punters like yourself have the option of downloading a digital version of each album for free, or to help support the project and artist by purchasing a physical copy.

The first New Edition is by Melbourne based ambient / industrial / hip-hop group Caught Ship, with their album Start Dencing Dad Start Dencing. It’s a great release, and really helps set a high quality standard for future releases.

The artwork (and overall layout) concept uses the system and assets created for the New Weird Australia branding – which is essentially built around a 4×4 grid filled using a library of geometric shapes, strange images and hand-made textures. Part of the idea behind using a square grid for all artwork was so that it could easily fit into both CDs and posters, so it’s great to see that it actually works in practice.

Again, type is set in Nimbus Sans – which is the primary New Weird Australia typeface. A strip of text with the New Editions label name and “edition number” runs vertically down the front, and next to that is the band name and catalogue number which makes up the sleeve spine (also vertical).

The artwork is being printed onto a white sticker, which will be affixed to a recycled carboard wallet containing an audio CD and artwork created by the band themselves.

I used the band’s artwork as a reference guide for the cover art colours and (to an extent) the imagery, which features decorative Middle Eastern textiles and jewelry and ancient Egyptian artwork. A nice RGB colour scheme emerged out of it all too – which also helps tie it all together. There’s a bit of improvised formalism to the way each piece of art comes together for each project, so I’m glad that the system can not only accomodate that and also allow for the specific project to have a unique look.

Future releases in this series may continue to reference supplied artwork in unusual ways, or they may also directly use assets supplied by the band (such as photography). There’s still quite a bit of tweaking that goes into each image and a great deal of consideration into the way each element fits into the composition. To a large extent the final result really comes down to how pleasing everything looks and well each element fits together, so how and when new assets are used will largely depend on those considerations.

The image below shows just how the template comes together. Click for a larger version.

You can download (name your price) the album right now from here.

This series of articles aims to examine the relationship between design and music. How does one compliment the other? How do different designers solve the various creative problems of this discipline? What makes a successful (if not iconic) solution for music design? And how do creative partnerships in this field operate?

I can think of few more important, successful and inspiring case studies for this series than the creative partnership between Underworld and Tomato – which spans two decades, six studio albums, countless tours and side projects, a number of changes in personnel and numerous shifts in visual and musical style.

Throughout all this change, three players have remained at the core of the partnership and continue to work together today – Underworld’s Karl Hyde and Rick Smith (who have recorded together in various incarnations since 1980) and Tomato’s John Warwicker, who is an artist, designer, writer and conceptualist.

The work of John Warwicker and the music of Underworld have both played a massive part in the development of my own work, so I feel extremely privileged to have been able to speak with John about his relationship with the band, his process and how the visual identity of Underworld has evolved over the past 20 years.

I began my conversation with John by asking about how the dynamic between Tomato and Underworld has changed over time, how work is structured between the two and if any creative conflict exists within the partnership today.

“Essentially it hasn’t changed. You have to remember that Rick, Karl and I have known each other since 1983 and the tomato/Underworld partnership has been going since 1991.”

“We both offer each other opportunities. Sometimes they’re right, sometimes they’re wrong and sometimes the timing is wrong. And of course this goes beyond ‘commercial’ projects into the self-initiated and when it does we always try and help each other out. This has been happening from the very beginning.

I don’t think there’s been any conflict in a big way, disagreements yes. but that’s only natural. Very rarely is the direction predetermined, it’s something that we work out during the process of a project. We also give each other room and accept what the other does. I think part of this process is the respect we give each other to present something different, something that we, ourselves, wouldn’t have thought of.

“In the case of the new album, Rick and Karl felt and communicated that they were making something different, something lighter and more energetic than previous albums. So they did say that they wanted to signal this change on the sleeve. But there again listening to the first iterations of the album this was self evident anyway.”

These sentiments seem to encapsulate the very nature of the creative partnership between Tomato and Underworld. Production seems to orbit around an ongoing creative dialogue between the two. It is the sharing of ideas that enables both parties to push their work into new territory— be it in music, artwork, video, software or any other medium that can be explored collaboratively.

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dubnobasswithmyheadman (1994)

Underworld’s third album, their first under the visual direction of John Warwicker and Tomato, marked a significant evolutionary jump in both the musical and visual identity of Underworld. The artwork is dark, chaotic and typographic. The music is layered, hypnotic and narcotic. This release signaled that there was something truly special about the band – from the signature sounds they were making, to Karl Hyde’s steam-of-consciousness vocal poetry, to the indecipherable and utterly compelling artwork it was packaged in.

I asked John about how the musical and graphical growth spurt occured, and how the album artwork was expanded into the book “mmm… skyscraper i love you”, which is a typographic study of New York.

“Sometimes something just ‘pops’ out. It’s of the moment. What is in the ‘air’ alchemically forms into an object. For whatever reason if one is ‘tuned in’ the work forms itself.”

“Underworld were going to play their first major concert. At the Astoria in London. We didn’t want to produce a t-shirt or any memorabilia of a conventional kind. We had designed the album cover using words from Karl so we decided to make a book to expand on these words/notes that he had written in drifts through New York and typographically articulate these words (which produced a further form of writing). The pressure was on as we only had 3 weeks to get the book ‘designed’ and published. The whole book was put together in 36 hours. Because of the temporal nature of a book, where one could create a rhythm that unfolded over time, I feel that mmm… skyscraper is a purer articulation of the idea. The album cover however is a purer articulation of our group ethos since everyone contributed something.”

Second Toughest In The Infants (1996)

For me, this was the cover that truly cemented my interests in Tomato and Underworld. At the time I was still listening to the likes of Nirvana and Soundgarden, and electronic music was a million miles away from my thoughts – but then came Born Slippy .NUXX. I had no idea what the song was about, what it meant, or even how I’d classify it – I just new that I loved it and that it completely changed my notion of what music was or could be.

And then there was the album cover, unlike any that I’d seen before. Challenging. Revelatory. And really messy.

The album and single also came about in the same year as Trainspotting, for which Underworld contributed music and Tomato contributed title design. A big year for all involved.

I asked John about how Tomato and Underworld actually work together, as well as how specific Tomato projects have helped shape the music of Underworld.

“We are in constant touch with other so the ongoing conversation shapes what we all do. When asked about how tomato works i’ve always replied ‘it’s a bit like alcoholics anonymous, it’s a support system and critical forum’. Of course there are certain moments when this support and criticism is more pertinent than at other times but the effect of this rarely manifests itself in a major way it shapes and guides on a day to day basis. However, there are certain projects that have concentrated or demanded a change or different response … ‘riverrun’, ‘dérive’ , the book of ‘mmm… skyscraper, i love you ‘ and ‘what’s going on in your head when you’re dancing/bungalow with stairs’.

Process has been at the core of what tomato has been about since its beginning and I’m sure this gave Rick and Karl an interest in releasing work as it happened. I also think that suggesting ‘riverrrun’ for the project helped it gave it a descriptive word, borrowed from James Joyce, that focussed the working process. This is a good example of something small helping and supporting. words and ideas are ‘artwork’ as much as a graphic form.”

John went onto explain some of those projects in greater detail.

“‘dérive’ is a 20 minute installation piece that is a wander through the streets of Soho made by Rick and myself. It’s a reconfiguration of our (male) conversation into a (female) monologue, and the film that was made for this compliments this drift and this gives confidence. Confidence to Rick regarding the music and to me (in this instance) confidence in the visuals. The conversation that it generates effects and shapes both forms of expression.

‘mmm… skyscraper, i love you’ cemented our interest in the rhythms of the street. One of the reasons why an artist makes work is to prove the idea or feeling. To give it substantial, physical form rather than just being an idea. and i guess ‘mmm… skyscraper’ did exactly that.

‘what’s going on in your head when you’re dancing‘ is Karl’s upcoming painting and drawing show at La Foret in Tokyo. ‘bungalow with stairs’ is the cd of music by Rick to accompany the show. Undoubtedly the rhythm of his paintings and drawings effect (and will effect) how Karl’s musical contribution (you have to remember that it we all – that’s tomato and underworld – produce imagery and tomato is active in the sonic). ‘bungalow with stairs’ is an evocative collection of tracks that is going to be released for the la foret show. ‘dérive’ is one of the tracks. whether this collection would have been made in the same way had it not been for ‘dérive’ is a matter of conjecture.”

Beaucoup Fish (1999)

Beaucoup Fish Singles—
Push Upstairs
King Of Snake
Bruce Lee
Jumbo

“Tomato is different to most design groups that I know about, in that there is not a ‘style’ that dominates or shapes any expression. tomato was initiated as a conversation/support system/critical forum rather than a studio interested in modernist expression (as an example). Tomato is set up to support the individuals on their own exploratory journey and whatever form that might take. It is expansive rather than reductive. This is not a criticism of other studios, far from it. it’s just how we are. the onus on everyone is to bring back something different whether it be an improvement in craft or something radically different, something unexpected.”

Everything, Everything (2000)

A Hundred Days Off (2002)

The artwork for A Hundred Days Off (and Beaucoup Fish) were largely taken care of by Tomato members Jason Kedgley and Dirk Van Dooren. Regarding who does what and when within the Tomato camp, John had this to say—

“All of us have worked on ‘Underworld’ projects at one time or another. For example the deluxe edition and special boxed set of ‘Barking’ contains films by Simon, Dylan, Jason and Michael. it ebbs and flows. It all depends on who has an idea at any given time.”

A Hundred Days Off Singles—
Two Months Off
Dinosaur Adventure 3D

1992—2002 (2003)

Oblivion With Bells (2007)

With all the Underworld designs, typography has been a key feature and intergral part of all the artwork. I asked John about his approach to typography and his response to formal typographic rules.

“um … what typographic rules? That’ s like saying there are musical ‘rules’. Certainly there are ways to make things ‘work’ in most circumstances and fully engage with and support them. But … there are other ways and it’s up to us all to find these ways and to explore the possibilities. I think there is a tyranny of modernism. It’s as if many designers feel that if they learn the ‘rules’ then it’s job done. Now, in the hands of the talented then this is true because their craft transcends its basic elements into something quite beautiful but rules in themselves don’t produce a work of beauty. If it is that expressive, emotional transcendence, where a work has ‘spirit’ then its form can be anything – from 17th century Arabic manuscripts to a punk newsletter  - Sniffin’ Glue, for example.”

“For those interested in typography the question that should be asked is why is this like this rather than saying that it doesn’t correspond to the ‘rules’, to what has been identified as ‘good practice’. it is both an emotional and intellectual decision.”

Our discussion about typography went a little deeper, examining Warwicker’s approach to type selection and treatment, specifically in regards to his unique applications of common typefaces such as Helvetica and Caslon. I was interested in how he takes such widely used fonts and makes them appear fresh and distinct.

“It’s an instant emotive decision. Felt rather than worked out (in a conventional way). Let’s take Caslon. Like any typeface there’s a timbre to its ‘voice’. It has been around for several hundred years and has a structural and aesthetic resilience that means that it is mutable. If one used something that had been designed in the last few years there might not be this type of resilience. Of course this a strategic decision but it is also one of personal choice. Josef Müller-Brockmann spent decades using Akzidenz-Grotesk. Just like learning a musical instrument it takes years to get a typeface to work for you. after that learning period you can now play and express yourself through the nuances.”

Inspiring stuff.

Oblivion Singles—
Crocodile
Holding The Moth
Boy Boy Boy
Beautiful Burnout

There is an obvious lyrical, musical and emotional quality to Tomato’s artwork and designs for Underworld. But is it all an attempt to visualize the music, or to apply the same creative process that occurs in songwriting to the creation of graphic design?

“To be honest neither. It just happens to be. One thing I would say is that it is not meant to be an ‘illustration’ or faux score. Rather it is a reception of the music emotionally processed and translated. Musical scores always fascinated me (as much as the emotive and even concrete experience of listening to music. and of course this all (imagery, type, music, ideas) comes together in the work of John Cage.”

I asked John about his process in specific relation to his Book of Jam series (download these by signing up here), and how he might be creating visual riffs within the e-books for use in future compositions.

“They are visual riffs for a music that is unwritten, and never assuming that they might one day be compositions. And they never have. But as I said everything we all do contributes to our ‘group’ palette of moods and in that indirect way, the influence of the ‘weak forces’, that i previously described influences all of us.”

“At my most personal I see words and ideas like musical phrases (more poetry than literature) and typography as having similarities with music … tone, timbre, rhythm, ‘voice’. That is what i am trying to achieve, as in my book ‘The Floating World‘ and ‘mmm… skyscraper, i love you’ as examples … and some of my recent typographic work that i have self-initiated.”

“It is my understanding that one track on ‘Barking’ that has been influenced by one of our extended family is ‘Moon on Water’. Graham, who is no longer in Tomato but of course still part of the ‘family’ had given Rick a text some time ago. Rick was so moved by it that it became ‘Moon on Water’.

Of course one of the most notable aspects of this release was its similarity to the artwork for dubnobasswithmyheadman. While the similarities are somewhat superficial, it’s hard to look past the relationship between the monochromatic, chaotic forms they both share.

“It was only after the process of assembling artwork was begun that this became apparent. It wasn’t a conscious decision but looking back it seemed like the two albums bookended a period of Underworld. And onto the next…”

The Bells The Bells (2008)

Athens (2009)
as Underworld vs. The Misterons

One thing that all Underworld covers share is the sense of the hand-crafted, the use of material, ink, paint and paper. Even when the work is purely digitally, there’s still a rawness and grittiness to it all that makes it feel special and unique. In regards to the overall look and feel of Underworld’s artwork, John had this to say—

“A pixel is not as interesting as the pencil mark. I think it’s irrelevant what medium is used the only importance is in the conveyance of spirit.”

“Before moving to Australia, I had lived in London all my life. Detritus is part of the grain of that city. You could almost describe it as informal (urban) landscape gardening. And there can be a certain beauty poetic in the sodden newspaper that has been pressed into kerb in an interesting shape by the tyres and the feet, or there can be a poetic beauty in the sunlight catching the lip of a broken polystyrene cup that has been inserted into a wire fence. Through its history and its streets, London is a montage city a riverrun or profusion of narratives that embed themselves in the fabric of the city. If you look at many of Karl’s photographs over the years they are of the marks and scuffs of the city and the accidental sculptures that the city throws up.”

Barking (2010)

Barking in many ways represents a new chapter for the band. There seems to be a sense of positivity and joy permeating the visuals and music. The tradition of collaboration that has occured between Tomato and Underworld seems to now be informing the music, as each track features a guest producer. It’s truly exciting to see a band and design studio continue to push their already considerably expanded creative boundaries.

John talks in more detail about the creation of the artwork

“On hearing the initial versions of the tracks and in conversation with both Rick and Karl the (reborn?) energy was evident and ‘of its time’. A counter-point to ‘Oblivion With Bells’. Of course our conversations are not purely about music or imagery they are about many things, including general cultural & social matters. All of this combined to make the colourful deconstructed ‘mess’ that became the cover. One other important intervention in this process was the excitement that both Karl and Rick felt for some work for the live shows that they had been doing with Toby Vogel (who assembles and creates the live show projections). This work deconstructed the face (or number of faces)  into a sort of surrealist ‘photo-fit’ or more accurately ‘photo-doesn’t fit’. There is an energy in montage/collage, and this work seemed to vindicate the work that had already had been started.”

“Although it might been seen as a radical departure from ‘Oblivion’ in many ways, it is the same thing but with colour so there is a continuity but from a different angle. I’m sure there will be a few comments about ‘my child of 6 could have done this’. well, if its that good i take it as a compliment.”

Barking Singles—
Scribble
Always Loved A Film

“There is no ‘final’ version. There are subtleties that distinguish all the sleeves (standard cd, deluxe dvd, vinyl, special boxed edition and their electronic equivalents). The sleeve was assembled over a period of time, some elements came, some went, others subsumed. The source material came from randomly searching the net on a day to day basis and then rebuilding/translating what was found. During this period Simon had sent through some drawings that Dexter had done on the portraits of every member of tomato/underworld and then sent through some other drawings that Dexter had done. so i used these. If my 6 year son had done the same at that point in time or had any of the other children in tomato i would have used them.”

“Fans of underworld and tomato shouldn’t be surprised. We’ve always been interested in detritus. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde ‘lying in the gutter looking at the stars’. With us it’s more like ‘lying in the gutter looking at the sodden newspaper floating above’. This time it’s the electronic gutter.”

*

I’d like to extend a huge thank you to John Warwicker for donating his time and thoughts to this discussion. It’s not every day that you get the chance to chat with one of your idols about their craft.

And a huge thanks to you for reading. If you’ve enjoyed the article please tell your friends, and make sure that you purchase a copy of Barking when it’s released on September 2nd.

Underworld
Underworld Wiki
Underworld Twitter
tomato
Tomato Wiki

Instead of just skimming, reading and deleting, I’m going to take cue from the fantastic book blog The Casual Optimist, who does a regular “midweek miscellany” post which compiles a whole bunch of random links and article excerpts in one bumper entry.

And that’s what this is – a place for me to share some of the gems from my Twitter feed.

Expect another one in oh, say 12 months.

Enjoy.

Hip-hop album art redone with Lego

Adrian Shaughnessy sleeps at the Bauhaus

And then speaks with Erik Spiekermann— Part One & Part Two

Did you know Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore has a blog?

Seriously lovely solo piano work (and some photography) by Nils Frahm

Bjork does MTV Cribs

Jonathan Barnbrook’s speaks at the Sydney Biennale about art, design and branding.

This is Brian Ferry’s art collection.

Project Thirty Three – seriously delicious vintage and modernist album art.

The strange and beautiful world of Kate MccGwire

The surreal and beautiful world of Tim Walker

Fabulas Panicas— the comic art of Alejandro Jodorowsky

A great collection of ABC Verlag book covers

Uncovering the typographic artifacts of New York City .

Get to know a little more about the most excellent Michael C Place with Computer Arts.

An incredibly frank, honest and illuminating interview with Paula Scher about design and the business of design.

Swiss Miss also has a couple of fantastic videos with Paula Scher speaking on how New York has influenced her work.

Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja speaks about collaborations.

Signal To Noise— a look at Australia’s post-punk history.

Some really lovely photography capturing the moods and colours of Berlin.

An indepth look at Pentagram’s Guitar Hero rebranding. And the Ryan Hicks led Adobe CS5 branding.

A fantastic collection of movie title screen typography.

Something a little different – a collection of public transport upholstery.

An interactive history of the Guggenheim.

A diagram of the history of Swiss design.

The Archigram Archives

Amazing movie title designer Danny Yount speaks about his work and inspiration.

Yes, that is Timothy Leary (and William Gibson)speaking about a Neuromancer film.

An awesone John Doran interview with Vaughan Oliver.

”

And finally, the amazing, inimitable Storm Thorgerson on why we become designers

Key Personnel:

Martin Gore — Guitar/Synth/Vocals/Songwriter
Dave Gahan — Vocalist
Andrew Fletcher — Keyboards
Alan Wilder — Keyboards (1981-1995)

Flood — Producer (1990 – 1993)
Tim Simenon — Producer (1997)
Mark Bell — Producer (2001)
Ben Hillier — Producer (2005 – 2010)

Anton Corbijn — Photographer/Art Director/Designer (1990-2010)
Richard Smith (Area) — Designer (1990-2000)
Mat Cook (Intro) — Designer (1998 & 2004)
Form — Design (2004-2006)
Four5One — Design (2006-2008)

Anton Corbijn’s relationship with DM began in 1986, when he directed the clip for A Question of Time, from Music For The Masses. The collaboration was such a success, that the band asked him back to direct the video for a single that would become a monumental hit, Enjoy The Silence. The clip, based on themes and imagery from The Little Prince went on to become a landmark piece of work itself, and has influenced numerous other videos, most notably Coldplay’s Violet Hill and the Corbijn directed Viva La Vida.

The creative union between Corbijn and DM continues to the present day, some 20 years on, and has spanned album and single art, promotional photography, more music videos, documentaries and concert imagery.

Corbijn, a Dutch photographer, artist, designer and now filmmaker had become well known for his black and white, grainy, high contrast photos of musicians and celebrities. With subjects that have ranged from Miles Davis to Robert DeNiro, Corbijn’s photography is often highly emotional, capturing his subjects in various expressive states. His photos are also highly graphical, frequently using architectural backdrops and plants in the compositions, as well as symbolism and iconography throughout. His textured, stark, and organic photographic aesthetic translates beautifully into his art and design work, and has become a defining element in his work for DM.

After establishing a creative partnership with DM, Corbijn enlisted designer Richard Smith and his studio Area to help design the artwork for what would be their seventh album, Violator. Smith had met Corbijn while working on Corbijn’s book Famousz at Peter Saville Associates. Smith possesses a great love for the art of sleeve design, evidenced in his strong, thoughtful and distinctive work. I was fortunate enough to speak with Smith recently to get his insights into the process of creating an entirely new visual image for DM – one that would come to help define them as a band.

Violator (1990)

Following the release of Music For The Masses Depeche Mode sought to “reposition their brand personality”, something they did in spectacular fashion with Violator, a remarkable about-face for the band visually and landmark release musically. The dark romanticism that had become the signature style of Depeche Mode’s sound is beautifully reflected in the artwork, and the hand-made aesthetic would come to define them visually during the 90′s and beyond.

On Violator, Corbijn’s entire design centres around the image of a red rose on a black background. It’s an image that has become an iconic symbol in music history and deeply beloved by fans, to the extent that many have been inspired to get it tattooed. The stem of the rose is broken in two, separated by a handwritten album title. Corbijn’s bespoke, often handwritten typography would become a reccuring and important part of the DM visual language. The rose was hand painted and photographed, with layout completed on a Mac with one of the first versions of QuarkXPress.

According to Smith— “The album title has sexual violence overtones, Martin’s lyrics often reference a kind of sweet tortured love affair with someone or something. The cut rose was Anton’s idea and is a subtle reference to these ideas of violation, love, etc – it’s quite simple really. There were no other ideas presented.”

It’s a powerful and unforgettable graphic symbol, and the kind of iconic sleeve design that only appears every few years. Smith suggests that the iconic nature of the sleeve is tied up in the commercial and critical success of the album, and while I’d have to agree with that, there is much to be said about the stiking simplicity and power of the image also contributing to that success.

“DM were very hands off. Anton was the driving force in terms of art direction, that was the relationship he had with them … The ideas usually came about through a discussion with the band, record label and mostly what was in Anton’s head. It’s a record cover not a brand ID, you shoot from the hip intuitively, but often without any brief or rationale from the band or label.”

Without a strong guiding hand from the band, and few restrictions from the label (Mute had few concerns beyond cost), Corbijn and Area were able to expand the vision across the sleeve, singles and tour merchandise. Violator went on to become both an artistic breakthrough and commercial smash hit for the band, and it’s widely regarded as the album that truly turned them into international superstars.

Songs Of Faith And Devotion (1993)

It had been over ten years since DM formed, and the world and the music scene had become radically different from when they started. New new musical movements like grunge were emerging, and their synth-pop roots were falling further into musical history. DM were in a unique position to capitalize on what was their most successful album to date, but in this ever-changing musical climate, what direction would they take?

Songs of Faith & Devotion is a fascinating album. It remains true to the spirit of the band but it also embraces the new ideas and sounds. It’s dirty and industrial, and it expands their synth driven sound with distorted guitars. It’s also arguably their most diverse record, taking inspiration from the blues, gospel and rock music.

The cover stands out in the discography as the only studio album to feature photos of the band.

Smith explains— “From what I recall the band had been very successful with Violator and I believe everyone hoped to follow that success with SOFAD. At that point the band also was going through major personal struggles, so my impression is that everyone wanted to be represented. Anton had an idea to make a cover like With The Beatles, I think to represent the individuality within the band.”

After shooting each member, Corbijn and team placed the faces around a hand painted album title, and then layered misshaped, semi-transparent purple objects over all their faces. According to Smith each object represents the members in some way, most notably Martin Gore with his wild, spiky hair.

Corbijn ended up painting extensively for the artwork, including a complete alphabet, which Smith and co were able to use for the tracklisting. We also see here the first use of what would become an ongoing stylistic trend for Corbijn— to create repeating motifs in letterforms. On this cover, he has painted the D & M in a darker purple and larger size to the rest.

The cover has an incredibly raw and hand-crafted feel to it. There’s a warmth to it. It’s messy and painterly, which contrasts beautifully with the band’s mostly electronic sound. Of course it’s the music that has earned them so many fans around the world, but I believe Corbijn’s organic and intimate design plays a big part of what inspires people connect with them.

While all the single artwork from Violator onwards are visually linked to the album artwork, those from this period arguably make the most complete “family” – featuring the same colour palate to the repeated use of Corbijn’s lettering and illustrated motifs.

Ultra (1997)

As the decade progressed, the band developed divisive internal struggles – largely driven by Gahan’s drug problems and his creative conflicts with Gore. As this occurred their music and design became progressively more dark and introspective. While DM had never been a particularly sunny band, Ultra is probably their most bleak album, and at the time it appeared that it could be their last.

Over the course of recording, Gahan nearly died from a speedball overdose, founding member Alan Wilder left the band, and all members generally became disillusioned and pessimistic about their future. Despite all this, Ultra became a fan favorite, and one of their best records. Rich and atmospheric, Ultra was produced by the Bomb The Bass’ Tim Simenon, who was able to truly coalesce the guitar and synth sounds explored on the previous record.

The cover art is suitably dark and industrial, and prominently features more of Corbijn’s typographic work, which was all created photographically. Smith tells me that Corbijn made slides of embossed type which were then printed. The printed letters were finally processed and composed on the Quantel Paintbox, a graphic workstation most commonly used for broadcast television graphics.

“Anton and I worked very well together, I believe we had a mutual respect for each other’s strength’s. Often we were his hands helping him bring ideas to life. It was an honor to work with him and DM. There were no differences, I might have done things differently if I were in control, but design is subjective and I believe Anton’s personal approach is unique, primarily though his lack of training, but you don’t have to know how to design to create a great cover”

Ultra would be the final DM sleeve that Smith would work on with Corbijn, but he managed to really put his personal stamp on the artwork for this period, particularly in the singles. The Barrel of a Gun arwork features Smith’s own handwriting and lettering, the result of Corbijn passing on much more creative control to Area, who would then go on to design sleeves for bands such as Orchestral Manouvres In The Dark and ABC.

Also joining the illustrious ranks of Depeche Mode designers and illustrators is Corbijn’s then 8 year old niece, who painted the cover art for the Home single.

Smith gave me some personal reflections on his experiences from this period, and on designing for music—

“Record cover design is an art in itself. And I wish people appreciated it’s importance more than they do and also more fully recognize its relevance in the evolution of design in general especially the work from the mid 70s. However, most people look to other factors for that. It would also be easy to say I wish all clients allowed such freedom, but really musicians and record labels are harder clients than banks and corporations. However, the abstract thinking that goes into a record cover I think I use on daily basis in all my work, but some people get it and some don’t, it’s obvious in some instances and not so obvious in others. At the end of the day you pick and choose your battles in terms of what’s important for you and your client. Regardless of the work I did for me in general record cover design reinvented design, period, in my humble opinion, but no one will ever admit that.”

I couldn’t agree with those sentiments more. I imagine there are very few designers out there who haven’t been motivated or inspired by sleeve art, and the influence of great covers extends beyond the world of art and design, and into areas of culture and history.

Make sure you check out Richards latest work at Think Create Believe, as well as his fabulous Dollar ReDe$ign project.

Exciter (2001)

Exciter was quite a surprising entry in the DM discography, not only for it’s mere existence after such a tumultuous few years for the band, but for the fact that it featured a significantly more upbeat, club-oriented sound than fans were used to.

The cover too was uncharacteristically bright and colourful, featuring a photo of an agave plant, taken by Corbijn. The agave is known as the “century plant”, blooming only once in it’s life after growing for 20-50 years. The plant was harvested by Native Americans and baked in a stone lined pit for 2-3 days. Following this the baked plant could be used for a multitude of purposes, including clothing, tools and food.

The typography almost feels like a throwback to Violator featuring a similar, almost naively caligraphic style. Corbijn plays with the lettering again, finding new forms by joining the c & h to make it look like the d. Aside from the ascenders on the d and the h, and the descender on the p, all the letters are capitalized, and uniform in size.

While Corbijn handled the photography and typography, the layout and design is by the excellent UK studio Form – who did a fantastic job with the singles too, capturing the freshness and positivity in the music. Form also produced some really stunning tour programs and specialty packaging, with their own unique take on Corbijn’s original art.

Interestingly enough, Form was established by designer Paul West, who also worked with Richard Smith at Peter Saville Associates. West had previously worked with the band on the layout and design for the Depeche Mode live album and film 101, which is shown at the top of this article.

Playing The Angel (2005)

Referred to by the band as the “Gothic Teletubby” and by fans as “Mr Feathers”, the little creature designed by Corbin is made up of black feathers, and is placed on a collage of torn coloured paper and cardboard. Corbijn’s intention was to interpret the ‘angel’ of the title as a dark angel, and to play on the notion of light and dark.

The figure is also said to be a tip-of-the-hat to Robert Smith of The Cure, and the cover of Boys Don’t Cry.

It’s almost the most hand-made feeling in a series of hand-made covers – particularly with the raw, grungy typography. The recurring typographic motif in this case is the repeating E’s in the band title, which are rendered slightly smaller than the other letters, and without the stem.

Design duties for Playing The Angel were handled by the team at Four5One in Dublin, who are perhaps most famous for their extensive work with U2 (also one of Corbijn’s long term music clients). Four5One make generous use of Corbijn’s photography throughout the booklet, showcasing some of the most interesting and abstract shots he has taken of the band.

It would be four years till the next DM record, and the next Corbijn design, however there was another designer who took over duties during this period for some of the non-studio releases. Mat Cook of Intro in London would take the band in a different visual direction, starting in 1998 between the release of Ultra and Exciter. The results of this new collaboration are quite incredible, and after speaking with Cook recently, I discovered that the journey the creative team went through to get the images was quite an odyssey in itself.

Having produced artwork for other Mute records artists like Can and Luke Slater, Cook and his studio were chosen to produce the artwork for the band’s singles collections as well as an accompanying music video collection. Like the band, Cook was born in Essex, and grew up with a strong love of analogue synthesizers and electronic music – so the band, label and designer all mixed together well.

His work for the 81>85 and 86>98 singles collections are completely unlike what Corbijn was doing, however the results are stunning, and fit into the DM design canon beautifully.

According to Cook, the brief was completely open, and he aimed to provide a distinctive and unique look, that also paid tribute to some of the band’s memorable imagery from over the years.

“We followed a slightly fucked up trip along highway 101 in California, we had a bunch of relevent props and shot at locations reminiscent of some of the previous artwork, but shot in a moodier, more malevolent manner. For me the LED was at once historic and technological which fitted. It’s also a very flexible device to use over a campaign.”

The LED screens featured in the artwork were shot in different locations (and weather conditions) around the USA. It’s brilliantly big concept while still having quite an analogue, lo-fi quality. The project resulted in something of a design odyssey for Cook and his team, encountering just about every possible weather disaster and production obstacle.

“We had to replicate the spacing of the digits on each shot, yet lens and locations varied. Making the images optically correct (and therefore a set) took hours, by the end of the shoot we had a system but it was certainly painful to say the least. On uneven ground getting the digits on a true horizontal was a nightmare, also the kit & generator was bulky and heavy. Carting the stuff in 43 degrees in the desert was special, and there are lots of nasty bitey things out there. We also had a sand storm that wrote off half a day, but the self same storm created one of the most beautiful sunsets ive ever seen, and I got it on film, so you won and lost. We got arrested on the last day and gave the guy the unshot film with slight of hand, that was very touch and go”

The variety of locations photographed were chosen both for their relevance to the band’s visual history, and for their natural beauty and cinematic qualities.

“I never specifically shot for singles or albums, we just shot for impact and edited down later. The band were huge in the states, the areas shot were a vague homage to the film 101, also the epic nature of the Yosemite landscape suited the music, as did the desolation of some the urban settings

Typography plays a huge role in the design, with the LED effectively playing a typographic role, denoting the years that bookend each singles period. There’s some beautiful symmetry that occurs on the 86>98 singles cover, where the digits mirror each-other. Cook suggests that the LED numbers give of a feeling of both modern technology and retro synths, which compliments the band’s music perfectly.

All other typography, including the band name and album title, is set in FF Dot Matrix.

Intro were commissioned again in 2004 to design artwork and packaging for DM’s remix and video remix collections. It’s another brilliant set, rendered in a distinctive visual style that Cook refers to as “soft digital”

“Soft digital, that was the idea, basically I liked the idea of making something hard become soft, a bit like some of the music. All the textures are created by shooting a Mac CRT monitor”

Despite being so structurally geometric, and despite the fact the textures actually come from computer screens, there is definitely a softness to the work, and quite a hand-made collage feel to it. The typography looks almost like it’s in motion, hanging in digital space momentarily before it shifts and changes.

I love this set not only for the simple fact that it looks great, but because to me it feels like a visual remix – a graphic deconstruction to compliment the musical re-workings within.

Make sure you visit Mat Cook’s extraordinary studio Intro, and pick up one of the amazing, limited edition screen prints from his latest collections.

I’d like to extend an extra special thank you to both Richard Smith and Mat Cook for being so generous with their time and thoughts.

As always, a big thanks to you for reading. If you enjoyed the article, please tell your friends, and share it on your networks using the social icons below!

To Be Concluded.

Depeche Mode Home
Depeche Mode Wiki

It’s good to be writing again. I’d love to be returning with amazing adventure stories, earth-shattering new work, and enlightening cosmic truths, but the reality is I’ve just been a bit tied up with day to day life, and so blogging has had to take a back seat. I do have some great stuff coming up though, and I will be finally be getting back on track with work and my plans to relocate overseas. High Five will be back very soon too. I have a whole host of brilliant designers lined up, the first of which should appear sometime in the next two weeks.

I’m also finally publishing the followup to my Depeche Mode Discography. I’m incredibly excited about getting back into this series of articles, and I’m especially excited about this one, which covers 1990 – 2008. I was able to interview two of my favourite designers for the article, Mat Cook and Richard Smith. Both were extremely generous with their time, and they’ve provided some great insights into their exceptional work with the band.

Both designers have some really interesting things to say too. Richard Smith speaks on the subject of album art and its importance in the history of design, and Mat Cook gives an idea of the sheer amount of work and dedication that often goes unappreciated in the creation of the images that shape our culture. Great stuff.

The DM article is quite timely, as today marks the 20th anniversary of Violator – an absolute classic in every sense of the world. I’ll be looking at the artwork in a bit more depth in the Discography article, but musically the album is just perfect. Amazing songwriting, flawless production, a stunner. DM continue to produce amazing records, but even the most casual fan has a special place for Violator.

Unfortunately EMI continues to ban embedding of their YouTube clips, so I can’t post Anton Corbijn’s inconic, The Little Prince inspired clip, but here’s the band playing Enjoy The Silence on top of the Word Trade Centre in New York.

Over the Easter break Chloe and I took a short trip to the Blue Mountains, our retreat of choice, especially at this time of year. I imagine it wont be too long before we look at making a permanent move up there. The air, the atmosphere, the environment and lifestyle are all incredibly inspiring and seductive.

While away, we watched Aaron Sorkin’s infamous Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip over a few nights. I can’t understand any of the negative criticism surrounding the show. Not only does it have possibly the best pilot of all time, the show is just a flat out pleasure to watch from begining to end, and it’s a tragedy that the show only got one season.

On high rotation is the new LCD Soundsystem record, which is completely brilliant as expected— filtering Berlin-era Bowie, Lou Reed and David Byrne through James Murphy’s own, unique, no-wave dance lens.

Once that’s done I’m usually in the mood for some Talking Heads

And then I’ll wind it on down with a bit of Coltrane.

Work-wise, I’m quite thrilled to be working on my first commercial wine label. I can’t say too much about the project right now, but it’s an incredibly unique venture, and the concept that we’re working towards is something I’m very excited about. Beyond that I’m still working on my promotional mailer, as well as the very early stages of some new personal projects and illustrations.

As always, I’m available to meet with new clients, studios and agencies for all work enquiries. I’d love to hear about your new project, so don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Wherever you are, have a great week.

I think I’ve been far too precious with my blog. Too concerned with perfecting entries and ensuring that each one reaches some level of importance or gravitas. After all, this is a process journal, not a major work.

And so from now on I vow to post when I feel the desire, rather than when I feel that it’s appropriate. So let’s begin.

Like New by Deerhunter was released on the band’s Fluorescent Grey EP, which was recorded in July of 2006 and released in May of 2007, just a few short months after their breakthrough album Cryptograms. Like most Deerhunter songs, it’s a reverb soaked, dreampop excursion. It’s shimmering, ethereal and otherworldy. It’s also a perfect pop song, one that gets under your skin and sticks in your head the way peanut butter does to the roof of your mouth.

I find a great deal of design inspiration in music. A lot of my process and approach relies on emotional instinct and what just “feels right” . This instinct is something I’m still developing and it’s something that has come about from years of consuming and examing design at all levels, from the mundane to the sublime. It’s also a quality that I believe I have in common with a lot of musicians.

Both design and music require a great deal of theoretical and technical knowledge, but they also rely on sensory information. Balance, texture, form and shape are all terms that can be applied to both disciplines. There is a reason why music and design have such an intrinsic relationship. Both compliment and enhance the other.

I’ve picked this particular song because it’s one that moves me, and one that inspires my work. I try to evoke the same types of emotions and ideas in my designs. Both design and music have the power to evoke memory, and transport you to a particular time and place— real, imaginary or a distortion of both. They also have the power to stimulate feelings and thoughts, and I am definitely interested in inspiring the same thoughts and feelings as this particular song.

There’s an echoey, spacious quality to the track, not unlike Pet Sounds era Beach Boys. This is a style that bands like Animal Collective have tried to ape, but Deerhunter do it here effortlessly, in a way that makes it feel like they invented the style. It’s slightly drugged-out and intangible. It feels like a soundtrack to a daydream. There’s a nostalgic quality to it that relates to a time and space which may never have existed. This is exactly what I want to accomplish with my work: to take qualities of our shared experiences, and re-contextualize them in a way that makes them feel entirely unique, new and slightly unknowable. It’s this process of taking signs, symbols and signifiers that we understand and rely on, and then pushing them in new directions that interests me. I believe that this is the only way that communication can change, evolve, and the only way that design can continue to diversify and be relevant to our needs.

It doesn’t hurt that primary songwriter, singer and guitarist for Deerhunter, Bradford Cox is a designer himself, and as far as I’m aware has taken care of all design duties for the bands 3 albums and numerous EPs. I’m a firm believer that a band who appreciates good design probably has something pretty interesting going on musically themselves. His designs expand the aural philosophy of the band into the visual.

Anyway, here’s the track, and the lyrics, which are absolutely beautiful and evocative on their own. Be sure to support the band if you like what you hear. Buy all their music and see them when the come to your town.

Author insert a music with WS Audio Player.
(Download) this music.

I opened up my aim
I put cotton to flame
I saw the city lanes
Mirrored in falling rain

Seems like new

And so the skeletons
Had left their work undone
Nowhere to hide their skin
Back to the crypt again

Seems like new

Warhol needs very little introduction.

He simply changed the landscape of art, fashion & celebrity, and left an indelible mark on whichever medium he took his hand to, including graphic design.

He’s most commonly known for his silkscreen portraits, experimental films, and for establishing Interview magazine, but Warhol also illustrated, art directed and designed over 50 album covers. One of his very first commercial jobs was for Columbia Records— a Carlos Chavez album entitled A Program of Mexican Music (1949):

There are Warhol ink drawings and layouts on classical and world music albums from the early 50′s, and following these he was commissioned by a variety of Jazz labels to illustrate and design covers for artists such as Count Basie, Thelonious Monk and Artie Shaw. His effortless, expressive line work fits beautifully into the Jazz world, and there are numerous hallmarks in these covers that would come to characterize much of his later work.

There’s a fantastic use of white space, and simple, economical use of typography. In the case of his Thelonious Monk & Sony Rollins cover (a collaboration with Jazz sleeve legend Reid Miles) it’s Warhol’s mother who’s responsible for the blue, calligraphic typography.

Through these covers, we can see the development and evolution of Warhol’s “blotted ink” style of illustration, which would go on to be used extensively throughout his paintings and commercial art.

Jazz

Thelonious Monk with Sonny Rollins

Count Basie

Kenny Burrell

Johnny Griffin – The Congregation

The Joe Newman Octet – I’m Still Swining

Trombone By Three

Kenny Burrell – Blue Lights

Cool Gabriels

Pop

Of course his most well recognized sleeves come from the 70′s and early 80′s, for artists such as The Velvet Underground and Rolling Stones. Some of these covers have become so iconic that they are frequently referenced, appropriated and imitated today.

Aretha Franklin – Aretha

Diana Ross – Silk Electric

Paul Anka – The Painter

Billy Squier – Emotions In Motion

John Lennon – Menlove Avenue

John Cale – Honi Soit

This Is John Wallowitch!!!

Debbie Harry – Rockbird

The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers

One of the most iconic and controversial album covers of all time, the original vinyl pressing of Sticky Fingers featured a working zipper, which could be unzipped to reveal a man in cotton underwear. Art directed by Warhol, photographed by Billy Name and designed by Craig Braun, the cover focuses on the jean clad crotch of an anonymous man. Many argue that it belongs to actor Joe Dallesandro, others say it was Factory artist and designer Corey Tippin, and there are those who believe it is Mick Jagger himself. It’s a shame we don’t get these types of myths and legends surrounding album covers these days.

Subsequent pressings of the record had the zipper removed, after it was discovered that the metal would actual damage other sleeves and records.

In Russia, the cover was given an injection of national pride, with a hammer and sickle inscribed in the belt buckle.

In Spain, a completely new (and incredibly disturbing) cover was created by record label Hispavox.

Although it made it’s first appearance in the Sticky Fingers artwork, The Rolling Stones “lips” logo is often wrongly attributed to Warhol. This was designed by John Pasche, who has himself done extensive work in the music industry for artists such as The Stranglers, Sinead O’Conner and Jethro Tull.

The Rolling Stones – Love You Live

The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)

Warhol once again takes inspiration from the supermarket, resulting in one of the most iconic and influential album covers ever made. Early copies of the album featured the instruction “Peel slowly and see”, and the proud owner was alble to pull back the banana skin to reveal a pink banana underneath. It would cost a small fortune for record label MGM to specially manufacture the first printing of these covers, and in order to try cover costs the label made attempts to link the artwork to Warhol’s celebrity status— notably substituting the band and album name for Warhols.

In 2003, illustrator Ron English paid tribute to both Sticky Fingers and The Velvet Underground and Nico with this cover for The Dandy Warhol’s 2003 album Welcome To The Monkey House. It’s actually a pretty fantastic cover itself.

Last year Beck had a go at re-drawing The Velvet Underground and Nico cove for his Record Club project.

While not designed or photographed by Warhol specifically for the band, the debut album by The Smiths (1984) features a frame from the Warhol film Flesh — specifically featuring Joe Dallesandro.

And finally, last year Banksy protege Mr Brainwash was comissioned to design and illustrate this cover for Madonna’s billionth greatest hits record, which directly appropriates one of Warhol’s most famous Marilyn Monroe silkscreen portraits.

Andy Warhol Museum
Andy Warhol Foundation
Andy Warhol Wiki
The Factory Wiki

Autumn is slowly making itself known, and not a moment too soon. I don’t think I can survive another Australian summer so the cool change is most welcome. I find Autumn to be an incredibly inspiring time. The changing colours, moods and atmosphere are almost palpable. It’s all definitely starting to creep into the new work I’ve been slowly making too, but more on that another day.

Last night C and I went to see Massive Attack at the Sydney Opera House. Far and away the best live show I’ve ever seen. Powerful, emotional, hypnotic and completely unforgettable. It’s a rare thing for an event to surpass your lofty expectations, but this show just floored me. Aside from the precision and power of the band, the amazing live arrangements of the songs, and the atmosphere and ambience provided by Sydney harbour at dusk, the real star of the show was UnitedVisualArtists, who produced the electrifying LED backdrop animations.

The animations (which are completely in sync with the music) morph seemlessly from protest images, to localized news feeds, to cryptic messages to pure abstraction. It really is a jaw dropping experience. UnitedVisualArtists are a collective based in the UK who in addition to live performance and responsive installations also create permanent architectural installations. I love their philosophy of research and exploration, and given the experience of lasts nights show, the theoretical approach to their work really pays off. I recommend checking out more of their work.

To accompany the changing weather I’ve been listening to a lot of warm, analogue electronica and pastoral instrumental stuff.

Currently on high rotation is:

Four Tet – Pause

Balmorhea – River Arms

Kim Hiorthøy – My Last Day

Jaga Jazzist – One Armed Bandit
(my favourite album of the year so far)

Röyksopp – The Understanding

How beautiful is that Röyksopp cover? There’s a surreal, cinematic quality to the photo and the ornamental typography is just stunning. I’d love to know more about the concepts behind it, and how it was all put together.

And finally, I’ve even squeezed in a little bit of this:

The Fall – Bend Sinister

I saw Dead Poets Society for the first time over the weekend. You’d be surprised how many classic 80′s films I’ve either never seen or have only seen in recent years. At the time, if it didn’t involve either George Lucas, Jim Henson or some level of science fiction or fantasy then I wasn’t interested. It’s been nice to catch up on the unseen films of my childhood though. I thought DPS was particularly great, athough I thought the devastating ending did seem to overshadow some of the films message.

I do believe the typeface used in the DPS logo is Carlton, which was designed during the early 1900’s by the Stephenson Blake Foundry and later digitized by Letraset. Not one that you see too often these days, but a really lovely display serif with some unusual character.

I’ve also been continuing my House-a-thon, and am now well into season 5. I’ve been enjoying this and season 4 far more than the first three. I love when a TV show breaks formula and explores new storytelling ideas and styles. I’m also quite impressed with some of the House promotional artwork.

In fact promotional artwork for television has been pretty great across the board lately— I may have to do a whole post on this. For now though, here’s one of my favorites from the last few years, for Six Feet Under’s third season. Really beautiful stuff. Anyone know who’s responsible for this one?

This week I’m hoping to have my European-studio-job-seeking-mailer finished, a couple of new blog articles written, and some progress made on my top secret new projects. As always, I’m available for new projects, commissions and collaborations—
so don’t hesitate to get in touch,

Wherever you are, have a great week.