MJ Cole campaign - art direction by Michael Williams

The MJ Cole artwork that marked the producer's move from underground work to major record company in 1999 appears to be a comment on the label-conscious times. But we can see that it also identifies Cole as a 'brand'. The placing of the former hardcore/drum & bass name in the scene's heirarchy also becomes closely linked to the kind of style-oriented images: along with references to Cole's classical training and smooth, melodic output, we find reviewers discussing him as "dapper" and "classy". This is often exaggerated by defining an opposing approach to other names that had emerged within the UK garage scene and the likes of So Solid Crew are addressed as the uncouth alternative to his supposedly more well dressed and assumedly polite direction. [There may be concerns that some of these assertions may be racially motivated and, despite the music within the hardcore continuum being a product of the African diaspora, some critics have commented on major labels cherry picking white artists from within these scenes to achieve crossover success.]

The art direction of Michael Williams does, of course, play with the idea of sophisticated, glossy imagery. The designer bag - indicative of aspirational consumerism - burns. The Champagne bottle spills a thick toxic slick while the chunky sports watch - more a status symbol than a time-piece - is charred. The turntable cartridge/stylus is the only item from the series that is undamaged and we might see its maintained perfection as indicating that this is the only kind of product fetishism that is relevant: that the delivery of the music is of more importance than the items solely associated with displaying wealth.

Or something.

Todd Edwards - 'I Might Be'

Todd Edwards was hugely influential to the development of UK garage. Like fellow Americans Masters At Work, his skippy house rhythms were adopted by the scene here in the UK with special attention paid to his use of sampling. Edwards' approach was to clip elements of the vocal to create a staccato delivery: leaving traces of an actual song reduced to something akin to another, almost percussive instrument. His remix of St Germain's 'Alabama Blues' (1995) is identified as a major turning point within club music. (Edwards is also notable for his subsequent collaborations with Daft Punk.)



In March of this year he released 'I Might Be' through audio-visual label Scion A/V. The project and its remixes are testament to the existence and continued relevance of Reynolds' Hardcore Continuum with reworks coming from post-dubstep talent Joy Orbison and garage producer MJ Cole [who it should be noted started his recording career as tape operator for drum & bass label SOUR].

In terms of looking for more refined examples of visual referents for music within this point of the continuum, I'm noting the artwork that was created (top image). Unfortunately I can't find a designer credit but there is an additional video promoting the release below which furthers a concept of the esoteric/cosmic/kaleidoscopic meeting sophisticated typography.