New Liberation Technologies imprint with design by Ben Drury

Link: Liberation Technologies
Link: Ben Drury
Link: Mute

Mute is proud to announce the launch of a brand new label, Liberation Technologies.

Following on from Mute’s long tradition of working with innovative artists, Liberation Technologies plans to extend that freedom and vision. Within this remit the label will work with highly distinctive and pioneering electronic musicians, some established, some new. Citing reference from Mute’s original and continuing statement of intent, the label exists to give space to and encourage artists to experiment and challenge themselves, anonymously if they choose.

Liberation Technologies is headed by A&R man Patrick O’Neill, whose list of associates previous to joining Mute include Actress, T++, Moritz Von Oswald, Joy Orbison, Darkstar and Zomby.

As important as the music itself, will be statement design, a commitment to vinyl product and inventive methods of releasing each work.

The first release on the new label will be the ‘Spring EP’ by King Felix, a producer from Ann Arbor, Michigan who lives in Brooklyn and has also released music as Laurel Halo. ‘Spring EP’ is released on download and vinyl 19th March 2012.

Says Mute founder Daniel Miller: “Electronic music is part of Mute’s DNA and history, and this label is the latest expression of that.”

The Fool's Gold Artist Series presents Haze

Link: Haze
Link: Fool's Gold

The third event in the Dust La Rock curated Fool's Gold Artist Series boasts Eric Haze.

Responsible for the iconic logos used by Public Enemy, Stussy, EPMD, LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys, Haze now brings new imagery including limited edition t-shirts and prints to the Fool's Gold label's store at 536 Metropolitan Ave, Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It all happens 27th January.

Toddla T - Watch Me Dance by Peter and Paul

Link: Peter and Paul
Link: Toddla T
Link: Kid Acne

Peter and Paul's artwork for Toddla T's Watch Me Dance album on Ninja Tune involved the making of t-shirts for its various tracks. Some of these featured illustrations by, fellow Steel City maverick/Peter and Paul collaborator, Kid Acne and specific designs were also photographed individually for their respective single releases.

Meanwhile, demonstrating the approach's versatility as a promotional device, a selection of the garments have also been offered as merchandise plus as competition prizes through the producer/DJ's Facebook-based 'Tbay' giveaways.

Smart.

Florence and the Machine - 'Only If For A Night' Secret 7" designs

In conjunction with Record Store Day and Teenage Cancer Trust, the Secret 7" project will consist of records that are released anonymously.

Sleeve designs for the likes of The Cure, Bombay Bicycle Club, CSS and DJ Shadow have been submitted and voting is open for the next three days to determine which artwork is put into production.

Florence and the Machine contributed the track 'Only If For A Night' and, perhaps reflecting Florence Welch's popularity, the amount of entries has been overwhelming. Although many of those that have been enthusiastic to take part seem to have overlooked the 'secret' aspect: with plenty including a picture of the artist and, in some cases, the band's name and track title. However there are still a fair number that don't feature some flame-haired damsel. Just two of those are found below while there are more to be found over at Secret 7".

Shigeto - Lineage by Michael Cina

Link: Michael Cina
Link: Ghostly

More great work from Michael Cina and this time it's for the latest release from Shigeto - a.k.a. Zach Saginaw.

Intensely personal, the front cover for the mini-album features a photo of Saginaw's great-grandfather's house from 1916 in Hiroshima, Japan. The back cover also includes a photo of his great-grandfather, Shigeto Ohmur. This was taken at the Amache Internment Camp in Grenada, Colorado after his family had been transferred from Tule Lake Internment Camp.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent declaration of war against Japan, many Americans believed that Japanese-American citizens were spies or traitors. Thus, why Saginaw's family members ended up in these camps.

A limited edition screenprinted sleeve will be available from the Ghostly Store at a later date. The digital version plus pre-order for the vinyl will be available on 31st January 2012. Image one is the digital version of the artwork. Images two and three are the vinyl versions.

Boys Noize & Erol Alkan - 'Lemonade' re-release

Coming soon on Phantasy/Because Music is Boys Noize & Erol Alkan’s ‘Lemonade’ - a single that's available in a very special limited edition vinyl format. Yes, that is the vinyl down there. Remixes come from Gesaffelstein and Justin Robertson.

Gonjasufi - MU.ZZ.LE mini album

Link: Gonjasufi
Link: Warp
Link: MR. IMD

Gonjasufi's new mini-album, MU.ZZ.LE, is released 23rd January 2012 across four physical formats. Choose from a screenprinted A2 poster that's limited to a hand numbered run of just 500, the CD version, double 10" vinyl or a bundle featuring the latter plus one of the posters. MP3s are included with all purchases.

Great stereoscopic artwork by MR. IMD throughout.

Jacaszek's Glimmer by Michael Cina

Link: Michael Cina
Link: Ghostly

As well as showing up in end-of-year lists for artwork including his creations for Benoit & Sergio and Peter Wolf Crier, Michael Cina is someone that I repeatedly refer to. He has the ability to shift from the loose, textured and painterly through to the clean and geometric and then there's last month's album from Jacaszek - a design that juxtaposes the two: with the delicate imperfections of gold leaf plus an elegant grid on the reverse.

There's additionally an interview with Cina about this project and its typography at http://rockthatfont.com/

Redefine Mag's Best Cover Art of 2011

Link: Redefine Mag
Link: Planet Mu
Link: Sam Chirnside

With the likes of D&AD joining Creative Review in the discussion of music artwork, there's been a real recent focus on what's happened ever since Alex Steinweiss first invented the album cover. Plus there are also the end-of-year lists in circulation that provide a review of what graced 2011's releases.

An extensive version of the latter - complete with credits, music samples and interviews - has been put together by Redefine Mag [link above] and features, amongst others, this psychedelic solution by Sam Chirnside for the Tropics album on Planet Mu.