Posts in Record Covers

As sort of a follow up to the previous post, I thought I’d post something about the band Wire. The cover above are from their albums Chairs Missing (1978) and 154 (1979). The following song, The 15th, is from the latter (awesome synth work at 0:47). There’s also a very nice live version here.

Wire – The 15th

[audio:15thwire.mp3]

I’ve been meaning to post something about Fischerspooner for a while, they’re definitely one of my favorite electronic bands. They also have a very good visual sensibility with a lot of great design / imagery surrounding their releases. The top image is from their latest album, the middle is Casey Spooner, and the last is the video for Fischerspooner’s cover of Wire’s classic The 15th. Certainly my favorite FS song. Since Youtube sound quality is terrible, I’ve posted the MP3 itself below.

Fischerspooner – The 15th

I could fill an entire blog with posts about B&S songs, the list never ends. But in the interest of not boring everyone to death I’m keeping it to my absolute favorites. Stuart Murdoch is an incredible poet and it’s a wonder they also come up with such beautiful music to accompany his words. Something that has always struck me about their recording style is the one-take nature they all seem to have (pre-The Life Pursuit albums at least). Not a ton of effects or production work, just them and their instruments. If you check them out live this fact becomes even more evident. Here’s a great video of them performing this song live.

I also love this cover, for obviously reasons. The type treatment is great and the color scheme is perfect. It’s definitely a break from the sort of duo-tone photos they typically feature on their covers, but this was just an EP and I think they might reserve those for the full albums most of the time. Sorry for the poor quality, I couldn’t find a proper scan of the cover anywhere.

Belle & Sebastian – The Loneliness Of  A Middle Distance Runner

The next Tycho single drops April 21st, 2008 as part of the Ghostly International / Adult Swim compilation Ghostly Swim. The single is a live version of a working title from the forthcoming album. The Ghostly Swim compilation will be available as a free download from the Adult Swim website. The comp will feature the Tycho single along with tracks by other Ghostly artists; should be a great collection based on what I’ve heard of the lineup. 

CORRECTION! So apparently this was *not* designed by Philistine (although I still love his work). I was misinformed and now am uninformed….So just waiting on the proper channels to fill me in on who designed this. I’ll let you know as soon as I do.  Below it is a teaser video for the release featuring some cool branding work for the compilation.

Air are, of course, one of the better bands to come around in the past 20 years. They blessed us with 3 albums full of some the best synth work ever recorded (I don’t particularly care for most of their latter day work). My favorite album is a collection of singles released between 1995 and 1997 entitled Premiers Symptômes. Words can’t describe this, so just have a listen. I am sure most of you have heard this album, but it’s so good I thought it warranted a post even 11 years after the fact. And the album cover is so amazing, it should get a post all to itself

Also, click the live shot below the cover for a very cool short documentary entitled Eating, Sleeping, Waiting and Playing: A Film About Air on Tour: Soundcheck, New York via Pitchfork.tv.

Air – Les Professionales

Stereogum asked me to design a cover for their latest tribute compilation. Entitled Enjoyed: A Tribute to Bjork’s Post, the collection features covers by the likes of Dirty Projectors, Xiu Xiu, and Atlas Sound to name a few. You may remember the post about Drive XV, the REM tribute, this is the follow up to that release.

In the spirit of the tribute album, they asked that I base my cover off the original. I really enjoy this sort of work as it’s a lot of fun to approach an existing composition and try to see it from another perspective.

Below is a taste of what’s in store. Check it out then download the full album for free from Stereogum!

Dirty Projectors – Hyperballad

Some good stuff from Erlend Øye’s other project.I never get tired of hearing him over this sort of stripped down dance-rock.

Whitest Boy Alive – Burning

[audio:whitest.mp3]

This is f’ing brilliant. Faux-Academic record sleeves by Nikolay Saveliev for Pop Matters. I’ve spent most of my career searching for beauty in design since I’ve neither the mind nor the inclination for conceptual design such as this and seeing an example so well executed always makes me lament that fact. Sort of a minimalist take on the classic Penguin covers. Can’t get over that last one, "The Lactic Euphemism". Wonder if Nikolay wrote the copy as well? And can’t help but be reminded of Joy Division with that Kanye cover.

Seen this piece by Yes Studio around a few times but never had a full size version to post until Paddy Duke sent me this one. Very nice stuff going on here, as Paddy points out these are obviously inspired by the Prisma book covers.

"Artwork created for the UK band. Inspiration came in the form of pre-1980s analogue hi-fi equipment. Using a reductive graphic approach, multiple designs were created, colours were mixed by hand and large format prints produced at K2 Screen, London. The resulting artwork was then re-photographed and used as the basis for a sleeve and poster campaign." – Yesstudio.co.uk

Really amazing layout here. Love the photography, reminiscent of the Der Prophet cover. I’ve got to figure out a way to replicate this photographic style, it’s so distinct and warm. Via Philip Pupa