Sauna Youth Ep...

this one came in as a reader submission, and i was more than thrilled to get this one up on the blog since the they did such a killer job putting this thing together. here is what Rich from Sauna Youth had to say about how he went about constructing this record....

"The sleeve was all put together by hand. All the type was either from letraset or my old typewriter and I used one of my own pencil drawings and one of my brothers for the images. I then laid it all out using a photocopier. The process the sleeves were actually printed with is very similar to that of a Risograph machine (although this is the brand name rather than the process). It's like a photocopier but it creates a master sheet to force ink through for your run of copying... like a combination of screen-printing and photocopying. Each colour was printed individually, like screen-printing but way faster and way cheaper! I did it all at a local community centre which has a couple of these machines & an amazing industrial guillotine!"

i always love a good wrap-around cover... i love that the image reads just as well as a folded back panel as it does when it's unfolded to be the full image.

fucking perfect lyric sheet right here....

....pretty great layout! thanks again Rich!

Silk Flowers...

picked this up at a little art book store this past week in NYC. i haven't even put it on the turn table yet and have absolutely no idea what this band sounds like, but the layout is rad so i grabbed it just to post on here.... the cover art is what called my attention to it, but the back cover is where i really got pulled in.

nice abstract photo imagery with clean and controlled type presented in a minimalist way that really seems to celebrate the white space.

digging the dumb-dumb illustrations for the A and B label art too... looks so good with that black and grey marble vinyl...

yeah, a little afraid to hear what this sounds like... i don't want the music to ruin how nice the visual package is....

WALLS - Tour Ep...

WALLS had these rad self released 7" with them while they were on their way down from Seattle to Chaos In Tejas this past month... just a single sheet of 100lb black cover stock that was screen printed with white ink. the front is this abstract image...

the back of the sheet is a hand written lyric sheet, also screen printed with white ink...

yeah, that's it! throw the record in the plastic bag and call it a day! it's a good reminder that you don't need to over think your record layout, just stick to the essentials and keep it clean.... works every time.

Young Offenders / Giant Haystacks Split 12"

Bay Area's Young Offenders made these limited screen printed covers for their trip down to Austin during Chaos In Tejas. 2 color screen on chipboard folded to make a half back panel.

in case you missed it, here is the actual cover. full color glued sleeve adorned with beautiful saturated color photography on the front and a bit of a photo collage on the back. those mock "Sale" stickers were a nice touch for branding and work really well with tying into the back panels theme.

black and white printed insert with one side for Young Offenders, the other for Giant Haystacks, both sides with the same pulled back and desolate styled photo work ... kinda cool.

pick this up from Deranged Records

Tim Kerr Art Opening...

i just finally pulled all these photos from the Tim Kerr art opening at End Of An Ear Records in Austin off of my digital point and shoot.... this was one of the handful of art openings that was coinciding with Chaos In Tejas this past memorial day weekend. the show consisted of a large group of loosely rendered portrait work painted onto what appeared to be found objects such as cardboard and old maps. these were some of my favorite pieces on display...

here are some wider shots of the show so you can get a feel of layout and size scale...

it was a really nice collection of work from Tim, and i was glad i got to check it out. plus, Rorschach played a secret set at the opening, so that was great for my ears, but unfortunately it also made it impossible to get close to the art since the bands needed to set up right in front of the it....

VEINS demo...

2010 has been the year of the professional demo cassette release it seems..... i mean, cd demos have always been lame and largely viewed as unacceptable in the DIY scene, but with the rise of the digital age it seems more and more people are really embracing the cassette format. i for one think this is a good thing, as it continues to be yet another way for bands and labels to push the envelope of creative DIY package design to some new and exciting places. that said, here we have the VEINS demo cassette....

wow, this thing is very elaborate! bear with me, we have a lot to cover on this one. a full black & white photocopied layout of dark, creepy, and obscure imagery. the cassette itself sits inside a soft plastic over sized clam shell (about the size of a dvd case for reference) made specifically for housing a single cassette. as if that wasn't over the top enough, the clam shell sits inside a hand made paper sleeve that appears to be printed on the inside as well. the first 2 photos are of the front and back of the paper sleeve with the clam shell inside...

the next 2 images are of the front and back panels of the clam shell pulled out from the paper sleeve...

here is a shot of the clam shell open so you can see how the cassette is housed...

and (of course) the clam shell art can be pulled out and unfolded into a huge poster...

all these obscured photographic and illustrative elements blend together so beautifully through the noise and distortion of the photocopy quality of the art. at times my eye will catch some random shape or series of lines that my mind wants to recognize as an object or a fragment of an image... but truthfully, i have no clue what the actual content of this work is, and i think that's a large part of its charm. this was released by Youth Attack, which means you most likely won't be able to buy it anywhere except ebay... seriously though, wow.

Daylight Robbery - Through The Confusion Lp

you know how every once in a while you come across a record that that just knocks you on your ass and makes you think "man, this is going to be one of the best records i hear all year"? yeah, Chicago's Daylight Robbery and their new Lp "through the confusion" is one of those records.... they have done an outstanding job of putting together the full package of both amazing music and incredible art that supports it. the black and white photo collages used as the front and back cover art are nothing shy of absolutely beautiful.... abstract, dark, moody, and perfect for setting the "through the confusion" aesthetic.

i really like the way they handled the type treatment as well. it would have been such a mistake to try and "work it in" to the collage, which would have taken away from the visual impact of the design.

the insert is a full color single sided lyric sheet with lyrics that literally look as though they were scanned right from the notebook they were first scrawled in and then layered over band photos... top notch execution on this as well. the use of color is really setting it apart from just about every other layout i've ever seen that's gone for this style of insert, while also creating a cool juxtaposition with gritty stark cover art.

type font single color A and B labels. so punk....

pick up this record from Residue Records web store, you won't regret it!

NO FRIENDS.

the good dudes over at Black Axe did i fine job of putting this record together for NO FRIENDS, so i wanted to get some photos up even though it's not a new release.

printed and glued sleeve done with a playful use of color to an otherwise traditional approach to black and white cover art.

nice type lock-up on the back cover... bit-maping everything with a large dot pattern was a good choice! i like that the halftones are a consistent theme running thru every piece of this layout.

glued and printed inner sleeve with a band photo on one side (has tony lost weight!?!?), and then a nice organized and easy to read lyric sheet on the back.

and look at that fucking B side label! hope they are making shirts of that logo, cause it's a winner....

WILD THING.

picked up these 2 Ep's from Bay Area Wild Thing this past week when i saw them at Chaos In Tejas... they play sloppy / snotty garage punk, and i think they totally nailed the right vibe for front and back cover art for this first record...

two great original photos of some bizarre shit, and i love the little "wild thing" circular logo branding.

nice label logo too BTW... and then there is a little thrown together hand written insert of credits, no lyrics.

A and B labels are nothing to look at but here it is anyway.

and for the second record, a much bolder approach to the cover art. "hey, i wonder what the name of this band is?"...

back cover is so obvious it's kinda funny i guess.... but who cares? if it wasn't for the A and B labels on this record, i most likely would have just been posting about the first record. fuck, these labels kill... so clean and easy, yet totally original and perfect for a big hole ep. love it.