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.

Creative Review - The Music Issue

January's Creative Review is the magazine's music special with a focus on everything from state-of-the-art apps to a new breed of music magazines. There's also some highlighting of some great labels that produce interesting visuals to accompany their sounds. Some that have been featured in posts here and others that I hadn't been aware of. All in all, pretty essential reading.

E17 - 'Stay Another Day (Frank Eddie remix)' by Fred Deakin

Festive fun courtesy of Airside and Impotent Fury with this version of East 17's Christmas hit. Available as a 7" single in a die-cut sleeve as a limited edition of just 500 copies, get it for £8 from Airside.

Stay Another Day (Frank Eddie Remix) by impotentfury

Demdike Stare - Elemental (Parts 1 & 2) by Andy Votel

Link: Modern Love

The return of Demdike Stare has meant that Andy Votel has been back conjuring up some creepy visuals - and this time it takes the form of a some kind of pagan deluxe gatefold that's additionally decorated with flowers [a response to, track titles, 'Chrysanthe', 'Violetta', 'Rose' and 'Iris']. Containing parts 1 & 2 with space to house 3 & 4 [due in 2012], it's again a nice accompaniment to Miles Whittaker and Sean Canty's eerie sonics and culminates in a package that might just blur the distinction between 'fun' and 'funereal'.

Available from Boomkat.

Also worth checking out is the Jean-Claude Vannier box set on Votel's own Finders Keepers label that similarly comes on coloured vinyl but additionally features a selection of inserts, illustrations, photographs, bonus mixed material and a piece of tablature sheet music.

Neil Landstrumm - Bambaataa Eats His Breakfast by Remote Location

Link: Planet Mu
Link: Remote Location

Just listening to Neil Landstrumm's 2009 album, Bambaataa Eats His Breakfast - complete with its warped ice cream van-like melodies and heavy bass - and thought that the artwork by Remote Location needed a post. Commissioned by the always interesting Planet Mu label, it takes its influence from the title and features a head-dress of the type once sported by the electro and hip hop visionary and, presumably, what the Universal Zulu Nation figure usually has instead of Rice Krispies (croissants, it seems). Photography by Sam Robinson.

Bleep.com 100 Tracks 2011 'gift card' by Give Up Art

Link: Bleep.com
Link: Give Up Art

London graphic design studio Give Up Art have created a stylish physical product for Bleep.com's 2011 music round-up.

Incorporating an embossed 90gsm card wallet with clear foil containing a folded A3 poster, the gift package provides a visual referent for over nine hours of modern music across a host of genres. With pre-orders being taken now, lucky recipients of either the MP3 or FLAC formats will be unwrapping music from James Blake, Fennesz, Burial, Modeselektor, Battles, Photek, Rustie, Martyn, Soul Clap, Nicolas Jaar and many, many more come December 25th.