For The Record #6: Kate Moross

Link: Kate Moross
Link: Studio Moross
Link: Stiff Records
Link: Design Manchester 13
Link: Paul Gorman's Reasons to be Cheerful book


Ahead of her talk at Design Manchester 13 tomorrow (alongside Malcolm Garrett, Peter Saville and Mark Farrow, no less), Kate Moross selects the Kandinsky-inspired 1977 work by Barney Bubbles for The Damned's Music For Pleasure as her personal favourite sleeve.

"I didn't know what it was when I first found it but I loved it immediately," she says. "Some people will obviously know about Barney Bubbles but I still don't think he's had the recognition that he deserves. Not when you consider the amount of great work he did.

"I've got to know Bubbles' biographer Paul Gorman and he's said that he sees some of him in me. Not necessarily in terms of our styles... but it's a huge compliment."

Kate Moross' own book, Make Your Own Luck, is published by Prestel April 2014.

Manchester Confidential also has a feature on Design Manchester 13.

Modeselektor - Monkeytown (Deluxe Edition)

Now available on pre-order from Bleep and Boomkat is the super-limited and super high-quality edition of Modeselektor's anticipated long-player, 'Monkeytown'.

The edition of just 500 comes as a deluxe hardcover book - 12" in size - with 28 picture pages including various unseen and exclusive full page black and white pictures from Modeselektor (including images that document their studio plus travel and portrait shots). The double album of Monkeytown additionally comes in exclusive clear vinyl while all books are signed and hand-numbered by Modeselektor. Digital versions too.

Dan Sicko

I was saddened by the news that author Dan Sicko was suffering from ocular melanoma when it was reported by Beatport two days ago. The story came with a link to an appeal to assist with hospice care given how advanced his condition was. I had already planned to post that link here - just in case it would help contribute anything towards raising additional funds - but then I heard yesterday that the 42 year-old writer of the definitive Techno Rebels book had passed away.

Dan Sicko's condition had already been outlined by his brother Matt at http://mattsicko.blogspot.com/ and it is still possible to make a donation to help his family at http://www.gofundme.com/DanSicko. The money that had been specified for care staff will now be directed towards an education fund for his daughter.

I didn't know Dan Sicko personally. I sent him an email a while ago to pick his brains for my own research work as Techno Rebels had inspired elements of the project I'm involved in. If you haven't read it, by the way, and you have more than a passing interest in electronic music, buy a copy (Amazon link). What I particularly found interesting was how he considered the visual material that existed within the genre rather than simply writing it all off as 'anonymous'. This understanding and interest may have been linked to his job at Detroit creative agency Organic, Inc. In any case, it's a lovingly created account of the development of a form of music that Sicko truly championed and - a fine legacy - I'm sure many will be revisiting his writing for years to come.

Further links:

Journalist Shared Detroit's Techno Music With World
Loss of a Techno Rebel: Why Dan Sicko Will Be Sorely Missed
RIP Dan Sicko
RIP Dan Sicko: A True Techno Rebel

Touchable Sound: A Collection of 7-inch Records from the USA

Soundscreen’s recent book, Touchable Sound: A Collection of 7-inch Records from the USA, is a celebration of nearly 25 years of labor intensive 7-inch record packaging and design. Curated by Brian Roettinger, Mike Treff, and Diego Hadis, it features over 300 records and 600 bands, with an introduction from the always insightful Henry H. Owings, and essay contributions from Simple Machine’s founder Kristin Thomson, Amphetamine Reptile founder Tom Hazelmyer, Three One G founder Justin Pearson, and many more.

Amazon link: Touchable Sound

Sleeves of Desire: A Cover Story

Link: ECM

Often typified by a combination of European sans-serif type with intriguing imagery, the ECM label has built an archive of influential sleeve design around its classical and jazz releases.

Sleeves of Desire - A Cover Story compiled many of the key moments from the back-catalogue including the abstract approach of Barbara Wojirsch. Anyway, I've routinely had the library copy at home and was beginning to think that I should get one for myself. Although now out of print, I was shocked to see that the best price I could get on a used copy was £200. So, basically, if you see one knocking about in a charity shop, snap it up. Then drop me a line and I'll give you back the 20p that you paid for it.

Failing that, a more reasonably priced alternative that focuses on ECM's output is more widely avaible. Granta's Horizons Touched - The Music of ECM can be ordered via ECM's site for €29 [link above]. Meanwhile Lars Müller Publishers (the company that printed Sleeves of Desire) has issued Windfall Light - The Visual Language of ECM which places considerably more focus on some of the photography-based artwork.
That one is currently discounted at Amazon via the following link:

Windfall Light: The Visual Language of ECM

'Cover Versions'

Link: Record Covers as Pelican Books set

I had already posted Little Pixels' records as vintage books elsewhere but then just stumbled on the set again. Last time I was interested in the use of Penguin/Pelican's 'Marber Grid' [which also appears to have influenced the design of the previously mentioned Ghost Box label]. I do also like the suggestion of more basic print techniques.

Worst Album Artwork

Following on from all the discussion of the best packaging, there have also been a number of lists highlighting the supposedly piss-poor artwork that emerged last year.

Some overlap with entries on the 'best of' lists [Kings of Leon with that Desdemona-like font and murky palm trees, Anthony Ausgang's trippy cartoon for MGMT] but a variety of different sources selected Jeff Beck's Emotion and Commotion - featuring an image that couldn't be any more flag-wavingly American if it tried. Still, it's seriously classy when you compare it to some time-honoured examples such as the infamous Millie Jackson cover which I've placed, rather aptly, at the bottom.

For even more vintage terrible sleeves, there is also a cheap book available.
Link: Nick DiFonzo - Seriously Bad Album Covers!

New Kraftwerk books

You wait all Christmas for a Kraftwerk book and then two show up at once.

Now available on pre-order (as advised by my steady stream of Amazon recommendation emails) is Kraftwerk Publikation by David Buckley: a biography about Dusseldorf's most famous cycling enthusiasts. Then there's Continuum's Kraftwerk: Music Non-Stop which is actually a collection of essays and includes intriguing chapters like "Vorsprung durch Technik – Kraftwerk and the British Fixation with Germany". £14.96 and £12.61 respectively.

I previously read Wolfgang Flür's I Was a Robot a few years back so it's the latter that's really got my interest. And my order.

Links:
Kraftwerk: Publikation
Kraftwerk: Music Non-Stop

Bjork As Book by Bjork in collaboration with M/M

Bjork is one of those musicians that has used the medium to experiment visually by recruiting a who's-who of contemporary photography/design/director talent. While the Icelandic singer has delved into technology (a process perhaps best represented through the artwork created for her by Me Company), I admire how she also will use more lo-fi methods. The book featured here was a collaboration with Paris' M/M and it fully understands Bjork's relationship to the collectable image and the use of physical media as 'artefact'.