Battles artwork

Link: Warp

The latest from Battles is the Gary Numan featuring 'My Machines'. Release date is 15th August. Warp is issuing the track on silver limited edition vinyl [mirroring the 'flavoured' versions that accompanied, last single, 'Ice Cream'] while its sleeve furthers the 'pile' motif of the Gloss Drop album.

The design is uncredited for the more recent offerings but the long-player's cover was photographed by Leslie Unruh with the art itself courtesy of the experimental rock/math rock band's own Dave Konopka.

Animated Covers app from Radio Soulwax

Link: Radio Soulwax

My good friend Gary Ryan tipped me off about this just as seemingly everyone else seized upon the latest project from Radio Soulwax AKA 2 Many DJs AKA the Dewaele brothers.

Reiterating what's been said elsewhere, it's an ambitious undertaking where Radio Soulwax have followed their acclaimed genre-crossing mash-ups with a series available as apps. The most interesting aspect of this copyright flaunting set - for me, at least - is that they've also animated the artwork from the original releases. The work for 'INTROVERSY' can currently be viewed via the link above.

Richard Eigner - Denoising Field Recordings sleeve by Hans Renzler

Link: Wald Entertainment
Released: 2009

Denoising Field Recordings documents an early attempt at using denoising-techniques in a creative and compositional manner. Instead of utilising noise-reduction-algorithms for their intended purpose (the restoration of damaged audio signals), these processes are applied to various field recordings of trains, streets, swimming halls and public transport. Due to the fact that these recordings consist entirely of noises this operation transforms the originals into an uncanny hybrid of newly introduced processing artefacts, occasional silence and sporadically audible traces of the original field recordings. What kind of sound-aesthetics can emerge while denoising field recordings? Which audible parameters are able to resist this »audio-erasement-process«? How are these traces comparable to the visual remanences of Robert Rauschenberg’s erasure of a de Kooning drawing?

Denoising Field Recordings is released as a limited edition of see-through 12" vinyl with an intruiging white-on-white cover [printed exclusively with varnish] designed by Hans Renzler.

Mark Bradford - Pinocchio is on Fire

From: White Cube
Link: Pinocchio is on Fire

'Pinocchio Is On Fire' is a limited edition, vinyl LP that features a recording of the artist speaking in the guise of a quick-witted performer who is being interviewed for a fictional radio programme.

Interspersed with a funk/soul soundtrack, Bradford’s entertainer is a combination of Pinocchio and Teddy Pendergrass, the legendary soul singer of the 1970s, whose stage persona was one of exaggerated heterosexuality. His image was destabilised after he was involved in a car accident with his passenger, who was a transsexual model. Bradford conflates the narratives of Pinocchio and Teddy, and introduces aspects of his own autobiography to create a third character, at the heart of which is a social, ethnic and cultural absence, which Bradford compares to ‘that moment of finding the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain’.

2010
Edition of 150
Vinyl Record
Ø 12 in. (Ø 30.5 cm), 26.13 mins

£ 200.00 +VAT

Mat Maitland from Big Active selects covers from his record collection

The Modular label highlights the London-based creative director's discussion of those sleeves that dominated his youth.

Link: Crate Minds
Link: Big Active
Link: Leopardtreedream

The Vinyl Factory by Tom Darracott

Link: Tom Darracott
Link: The Vinyl Factory

Tom Darracott received a lot of attention for the design/illustration work put together for, London club, Fabric. He also devised the art direction for Mark Ronson's Version album and its successful campaign. Plus there's also the identity work for the Vinyl Factory that is featured below [a company, by the way, whose own lovingly crafted output has already appeared in this blog quite a few times).

Bug Kann & The Plastic Jam - 'Made in Two Minutes'

Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx - We're New Here

Limited box set released earlier this year. Original album comes on pink heavyweight vinyl wrapped in fold-out green sheet housed in die-cut sleeve. Instrumental version comes in green heavyweight vinyl housed in pink sleeve. Original album also included on a pink compact disc housed in a pink card sleeve with the instrumental on green compact disc housed in green card sleeve. Also includes 2 black and white photographic prints.

Design by, XL Recordings creative director, Phil Lee [seemingly referencing his artwork for The xx's self-titled long-player] and manufactured by Think Tank Media.

The Alexandria Quartet - Light Drawings by Grandpeople

Link: September Industry
Link: Grandpeople

"Identity and album artwork for Norwegian pop/rock ensemble The Alexandria Quartet. After touring all over Europe with their debut material for two years, The Alexandria Quartet went back to Bergen, Norway, to work on new material. Coloured by the dark, rainy clouds and the harshness of Norwegian winter, the songs seemed to take on a darker, more psychedelic cloak. With their new sound, and the album title Light Drawings ready, the band contacted us for a visual make-over.

We wanted a look that reflected this new musical direction, which led us to shoot the band in a dark studio setting, and ultimately to combine photography with illustrations and handmade textures.

For the vinyl edition of the album we created a pattern that was engraved into the b-side of the second disc."

The Stepkids - 'Shadows On Behalf' vinyl by Jeff Jank

Link: Stones Throw

Another great package from art director Jeff Jank for the Stones Throw label. The Stepkids' 'Shadows On Behalf' 12" is limited to 1,000 copies and comes with a print-free embossed sleeve and marbled translucent vinyl. The music's great too.

The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck by Marc Bessant

Link: Marc Bessant
Link: Merge Records