'Cargaa 1 EP' by HelloMe

Link: HelloMe 
Link: Warp 

The first of three Cargaa EPs that represents emerging Lisbon talent is released by Warp next week. Available as as a 12" and download, artwork comes courtesy of Berlin's HelloMe: furthering - as the bottom images suggest - the palette and clean aesthetic of their refresh of Warp's website. Although this time, coupling that Designers Republic 2.0 style with some more expressively daubed detailing.

Mount Kimbie - Cold Spring Fault Less Youth artwork by Leif Podhajsky

Link: Leif Podhajsky
Link: Mount Kimbie
Link: Warp

With that amazing Horrors box set recently unveiled plus an archive of visual material for names like Foals, Bonobo and Tame Impala, Aussie artist Leif Podhajsky's kaleidoscopic view of the world is well established. However his latest imagery for Mount Kimbie's upcoming long-player takes a more restrained graphic, almost mid-century approach yet it simultaneously appears to nod towards Matisse's collage work and, pioneer of the album cover, Alex Steinweiss. So while Podhajsky's more psychedelic offerings will continue to thrill, it's great to see the arrival of this other, cleaner but equally intriguing aesthetic.

Michael Mayer - Mantasy artwork by Wolfgang Voigt

Link: Kompakt

The long awaited album by, Kompakt boss, Michael Mayer has just been released - a whole eight years since his Touch long-player. The artwork for Mantasy - as it is titled - has been created by Kompakt co-founder Wolfgang Voigt; an individual known for making his own music while operating under guises such as Mike Ink, Centrifugal Force and Gas.

Incorporating collaged vintage details, it relies on the kind of glitchy digital manipulation that was previously seen on Voigt's 'For The Love of God' release. Additionally, two deluxe vinyl editions have been made available that both rework the cover art as a repeat pattern on a 35" x 35" silk scarf. The two available options are 'Golden Cherub' and 'Blue Cherub'. For those less flamboyant fans, it is also available on CD and download.

 

Nathan Fake - Steam Days artwork and poster by Jack Featherstone

Link: Jack Featherstone
Link: Border Community

Last week's marathon House Party event on Channel 4 paired up a succession of taste-maker DJs with video artists. However, it seemed to reaffirm that club culture struggles as a spectator sport. Some of the VJing  didn't help with any kind of reassessment either - particularly given that much of the visual work resorted to the tired imagery that's already accompanied at least 44,000 Ibiza-oriented compilations. The dancefloor experience was too easily reduced to some animated gifs of speakers and rotating headphone-clad people.

A notable exception was Jack Featherstone who took an interesting and far less literal approach that did more to illustrate the abstract communicative abilities of sound. Which is unsurprising given his output: the latest of which follows on from the series of 12" singles he prepared for the Border Community label.

Contextualizing Nathan Fake's upcoming Steam Days long-player, Featherstone appears to touch on an area that has previously been visited by Andy Gilmore and Michael Cina: courtesy of the construction of a complex, overlapping geometric image. In this case, though, it has resulted in a hypnotic, vortex-like arrangement of light that is perhaps as dazzling as Fake's productions. Released next week on double vinyl, CD and download, there is also a limited edition A2 print of the artwork that's currently available to pre-order at bleep.com.

Marc Romboy and Ken Ishii - 'Taiyo' artwork by Hort

Link: Hort 
Link: Systematic Recordings

It may signify a collaboration between two techno heavyweights, but Hort's artwork for Marc Romboy and Ken Ishii avoids all the machine-based visual cliches in favour of something more sensual. The release, on Systematic Recordings, comes with a poster/print that also offsets a stark yellow and black text area with more detailed black and white photography.

Flying Lotus vinyl reissues

Link: Bleep

Following the Sony/PIAS warehouse fire during last year's riots, all of Warp's stock was reported as destroyed. There was also the suggestion that many of the releases would not be re-pressed. However that physical back-catalogue has just expanded with the reissuing of four Flying Lotus vinyl releases.

Both FlyLo's Los Angeles and Cosmogramma albums are available again (complete with their artwork respectively by Build/Timothy Saccenti and Leigh J. McCloskey). Additionally 'Pattern+Grid World' (with its sleeve illustration by Theo Ellsworth) and the 'Reset EP' (Stephen Serrato and Seth Ferris) are now also up on Bleep.com.

 

Lorn - Ask The Dust by Jesse Auersalo

Link: Jesse Auersalo
Link: Ninja Tune

The Brainfeeder-affiliated Lorn issued, his second album, Ask The Dust this week. Available via Ninja Tune (with a now sold out reel-to-reel edition and a version on cloudy grey vinyl), it boasts artwork from, Finnish illustrator, Jesse Auersalo.

Auersalo's imagery was previously used as part of Big Active's campaign for Mark Ronson's last long-player although this particular project sees him sticking to the moody monochromatic style that makes up a large part of his portfolio. Additionally the trompe l'oiel concept - evoking Magritte - and the plaster-like texture - adding a touch of de Chirico - makes the cover a beautifully-rendered surrealist work.

 

Jacques Greene - 'Prism' by Jeroen Erosie

Link: Jeroen Erosie 
Link: 3024
Link: Dummy interview

Release 019 on the 3024 label comes from, Canadian producer, Jacques Greene. The artwork is again courtesy of, label co-owner, Jeroen Erosie and continues the specific house style that he's developed through sleeves for the likes of Jon Convex, Mosca, Julio Bashmore and Redshape. As he revealed in an interview with Dummy magazine, he uses the final layer of the previous release for each new piece and has subsequently developed an interesting 3024 continuum within the complex patterns. The latest also appears to have brought in some letter forms with assumedly what is a 'J' and 'G' to correspond with the Greene's intials. The single is out July.

Shine 2009 artwork by Santtu Mustonen

Link: Santtuu Mustonen
Link: Santtuu Mustonen at Hugo & Marie
Link: Expo

Former industrial designer Santtu Mustonen switched disciplines following his experimention with 3D imaging software. His subsequent illustration work for releases by Shine 2009 then demonstrated a real flair for what he has dubbed "slightly moving images": with some beautiful textures and sophisticated colour palettes. And while one of the singles may have featured Paula Abdul, this is far removed from the kind of visual material that would more usually be associated with anyone on the same payroll as Simon Cowell.

Matthew Dear - Beams by Michael Cina

Link: Michael Cina
Link: Ghostly International
Link: Matthew Dear

Following the dark visual and sonic aesthetic associated with Matthew Dear's Black City long-player, Beams - his upcoming album - has a very different feel. There's a more optimistic approach here that, in terms of both sight and sound, was evident on his 'Headcage EP'. And it has continued through, catchy new single, 'Her Fantasy'.

For the artwork, Michael Cina's use of colour is clearly suggestive of the new direction, but texturally - lacking the smokiness and grittiness of Black City - it also feels more joyful (whether that's applied to his abstract or more figurative imagery). Cina says:

"The Beams project has been the most ambitious music packaging project that I have worked on to date. It started in November of 2011 and ended in May of 2012. The full scope involves almost 100 paintings, two of the paintings being 20 feet long, flying to NYC to be filmed painting a six foot portrait, another portrait that took two months to paint, a custom typeface, and countless designs. There will be four singles to come off this record as well, each requiring new pieces as well."

Shackleton artwork by Zeke Clough

Link: Zeke Clough
Link: Boomkat 
Link: Juno

Three years since the closure of the Skull Disco logo and Shackleton has issued a lavish new package via his Woe to the Septic Heart label. Long-delayed, it incorporates three 'Drawbar Organ' EPs plus the Music for the Quiet Hour album that are on sale as a box set and also individually. The packaging utilises the unmistakable illustrations of Shackleton collaborator Zeke Clough although, unlike earlier releases that may have been a bit too close to the morbid imagery of death metal, this now appears to involve some more refined (yet still psychedelic) Robert Crumb-like penmanship.

Jeroen Erosie interview at Dummy

Link: Jeroen Erosie interview

“Doing the artwork for a wide range of producers is a nice way of looking for this Gesamtkunstwerk approach. In the end, all of this is concentrated on this plastic disc with a piece of cardboard around it."

Timothy Saccenti interview at Dummy Mag

Link: Timothy Saccenti interview

 “I don’t pay as much attention to the look or message of the artists themselves. That can be distracting. I try to treat it in a somewhat synthetic manner: turning the audio in to pure visuals; getting a sense of shape, colour and texture before filling in the blanks.”