Big Eyes - Demo 7"

grave mistake recently released the Big Eyes 4 song demo from 2010 as a 7", and the final product is a clean and easy to digest release. the front cover is as much a bold use of typography as it is a subtle nod to The Replacements "stink" cover art, which was simply a hand stamped type lock up.  utilizing just the band name within a box as the cover art makes a pretty bold statement about the confidence of a band and their sound, since there is nothing being presented for your judgement other than the recorded material...

 the covers are printed on a uncoated vanilla cover stock paper with black ink and were folded not glued.  the back cover has a really nice blown out live shot of their singer / guitarist, which was taken with an emphasis on the long perspective of the guitar neck.  its a great shot to use for a record layout cause it gives the viewer a sense of depth and movement that lends itself well to creating a composition around it.  that said, i feel like all the type and logos on this back panel are over sized and fighting with each other for dominance.  a more delicate and scaled back approach with a stronger sense of graphic hierarchy would have really helped this panel feel less cluttered...

there is a 4.25" x 5.5" photocopied lyric sheet on a vanilla paper included with this record as well.  everything here was typed out on an old typewriter and cut together, which i am always a fan of.  just the facts, ma'am...

A and B record labels are Grave Mistake standard issue, and are presentable for sure.   the maroon color ink was a well needed splash of color to this layout, and really rounds everything out....

there you have it, now go support these guys on their summer tour!

Kent State - Behind Closed Doors package....

the wonderful people over at Novelty Haus made these awesome limited edition merch packs for my shoegaze/noise pop band Kent State.  using the art created by the lovely Emma Maatman for the cassette release of "Behind Closed Doors", they made up some limited edition 12"x12" 2 color screen printed posters on black paper, a t-shirt, 2 pins and a digital download card all packed up in a 12" record sleeve.  unfortunately, i wasn't able to post this up before these all sold out thru Novelty Haus, but luckily there are still a handful for sale up in the Paranoid Futures webstore!  check out the pics....

New Artwork....

here are the new art pieces i made for 2 separate group shows that i was asked to be in this month.  both of these pieces are 18" x 24" screen printed test sheets from my print shop that i illustrated on top of with black india ink.  "Give Me Death" was sent out to Philadelphia for the P.A.W.S. Benefit art show and is on display now thru the end of the month.  "No Sun No Tan" will be on display here in southern california at the "California Gold" benefit art show this weekend at the O.C. Fair Grounds....

to see more of my art, click here

The Shirks - LP

here's to saying a lot with a little, the brand new The Shirks lp came in as a submission from Grave Mistake Records this past month, and it's a nice example of a simple yet bold record design.  for cover art, we have a crudely cut out and heavily distorted image accompanied with a simple hand-written typeface.  it may not be groundbreaking but it reads clean and very "classic punk" to me, and for that i like it....

these covers are factory printed and glued on standard issue jackets.  although these jackets were printed black and white, creating inverted color compositions with the back and front covers was a great way to raise the sophistication level of the overall package.  the back panel follows the same graphic theme of the front cover by relying on a central over sized and highly distorted image to fill the space and leaving the type as an accent. song titles and liner notes are typed out with an actual typewriter and kept to their confined spaces...

the A and B label art is the same bizarre image on both sides, and i am guessing there is a really great inside joke about it ...

anyway, really cool release!  be sure to check it out...

Catholic Spit - 12" Test Press Covers...

local dark-punks Catholic Spit hit me up to design and screen print these limited edition covers for the test press version of their debut Lp.  these are 3 color screen print covers on 120lb charcoal duplex linen paper...

there is a half back panel with the essential information as well.  hit up Bad Touch Records for buying info...

to see more of my screen printed work for bands, click here...

Neon Piss Lp...

man, i'm on a roll right now with hammering out all these records that have been sitting next to my computer waiting to be posted!  i just picked up a bunch of new records this past month as well but need to get rid of the existing que first...

i was really stoked on the artwork for this debut Neon Piss Lp that Deranged put out last year.  it's always refreshing to see hand made art make its way to a layout when everything around us looks increasingly digital.  the front and back panels on this layout look as though they were created using real flowers collaged together with paper elements and photographed instead of being digitally manipulated.  the combination of vivid colors and textures is striking... 

both the front and back compositions have a strong geographic element that drive the design while playing with positive and negative space within the main triangular aspect of the art.  i like everything happening on this panel except for the way they chose to handle the song titles. while i'm not crazy about the font itself, the song titles feel a bit large and crowded in their designated space...

there is also a 2 sided black and white printed 11"x11" insert included with this record.  on the one side there is a great use of photo collage and hand written typography to create a more conventional punk design.  i am always a fan of having type run around the image in the center of the composition, and they were also able to tie in some triangular floral elements from the cover art as well.  this looks great...

on the back side of this insert you have a lyric sheet that looks like something you would see on an X record, and i mean that in the best possible way!  4 triangular elements each containing a portion of the lyrics all handwritten out in varying penmanship and detailed with the imperfections of a brush pen.  very cool...

the A and B labels are more floral elements from the cover... their simplicity is definitely working in their favor...

be sure to pick this record up if you haven't already, it's a solid release both musically and visually...

Cops 7"

got this COPS 7" ep a while ago through a distro somewhere and was pumped on posting it.  much like the VIDEO lp i just posted the other day, the cover art on this release is pretty simple but makes a huge statement with its' execution.  these are beautifully printed full color covers on a nice 100lb matte paper stock with the black part of the crudely cut COPS type embossed to create texture.  the embossing plate has some pot marks in in as well to mimic the flesh texture of the image behind.  pop the logo with some fleshy magenta and call it a day....

these covers are cut and folded, not glued.  on the back panel, you have a pretty classic looking punk lock up...  blow out the details of the photograph on the xerox and run the type along the sides, very reminiscent of a Discharge or Crucifix layout.  this aesthetic will always have a soft spot with me,  especially when it's done with a strong sense of confidence and style.  in this case, that old punk formula was layered on that same flesh background and accented with just enough pink to make it interesting...

no print on the inside of the cover since it was embossed, and no lyric sheet.  the A and B labels are a snooze, but here they are anyway....

there you have it, pretty cool looking record!  hit up Rob's House Records to see if they still have any copies left, cause this thing is great....

Video - Leather Leather Lp

here's a great looking record that has been sitting at my desk waiting to be posted for literally the past year.  Austin Tx's VIDEO put together a pretty interesting looking record complete with a die-cut cover.  it's a simple art piece that really comes to life as an interesting design thru execution... 

here is a shot of the inner sleeve pulled out from the cover to better illustrate the die-cut...

the back of the cover has the song titles listed out and the title of the record.  everything on this panel feels a bit over sized to me.  there's nothing wrong with straightforward typography, i just usually prefer it to be understated instead of front and center...

on the front side of the printed inner sleeve, the majority of the space was left to be solid black to form the background of the die-cut, but i really like how they added the white spaces to the top and bottom of the panel.  it would have been really easy to just leave it all black, but the careful consideration of space shows that they were thinking about composition...

on the flipside of the inner sleeve is a mocking illustration of the old maxell advertisement.  pretty great idea, as it plays well with both their name and the era of the sound they're going for....

A and B labels are tightly organized fairly basic, although the over sized and graphic use of the "1" and "2" make them more interesting....

this record was released by Pinball Records, not sure if it's still in print but it's definitely worth seeking out...

Tokyo Vintage....

i just got back from a week of research shopping in Tokyo for work and wanted to get a quick post up on some of the amazing vintage shirts i came across in my travels...  there are tons of vintage clothing shops all around Tokyo, many with your average assortment of vintage T's that were better off being left in the salvation army collection bin.  that said, i did come up on a few shops in the Harajuku area that did an amazing job curating their stores with jaw-dropping vintage music and skateboard related items.  here is a collection of some of my favorite items that i saw, enjoy the pics!...