Vile Intent - Shadow of the Skull Ep

Daniel Pelissier from Society Suckers sent over this Vile Intent 7" he designed for review... this is some top-shelf DIY punk record packaging. the front cover is actually made up of two separate panels, one being the folded and hand dye-cut outer page, and then a single sheet insert placed behind it. both sheets are printed on the same black matte linen cover stock paper, so at first glance your eye might not recognize that this cover is comprised of two elements....

silver and black is the definite color theme on this record, and while i am not entirely sure what the front cover image is (some sorta skull / x ray?), i do love the 2-color spot print job of silver and dark grey! these panels were professionally offset printed and then cut down by the band. here is a shot of the pack panel, just the outer is exposed from behind.

this next shot is of the outer panel unfolded so you can see the full spread and the insert that sits behind it. what a great concept for a record cover...

the front facing side of the insert displays all the pertinent information in an orderly centered column, which lends itself well to the symmetrically mirrored design below. all the type on this insert appears to by a typewriter, or at least by a font that does a pretty good job of randomly mimicking type key inconsistencies...

flip it over for the lyric sheet... again, all the type is typewriter set and arranged around the perimeter of the layout - ala - your favorite crust record. love this creepy deformed baby skull image... if they took the VILE INTENT type from the front and slapped it over the top of this they could make some canvas back patches of this image, i'd wear that shit....

the A and B labels were apparently supposed to be the same metallic silver ink used in the rest of the layout but there was a miscommunication with the record pressing plant.... we've all been there! they turned out cool regardless. more x ray imagery for coming your way...

there you have it, this is a pretty rad release! hit up Choking Hazard Records to get your hands on one...

The Mongoloids - Assorted Music Tour Covers

i recently designed and screen printed these limited edition record covers for New Jersey based The Mongoloids for their 2011 european tour....

2 color screen print on 100lb cover stock, if you live in england or western europe go see them play and pick one of these up! limited to 125 copies....

to see more of my band related artwork, check out Screenin4AChange.com

Brain F≠ - So Dim Ep

another great submission that came in last week... Grave Mistake just released the 2nd EP from North Carolina based "Brain F≠" (no, i don't know how you are supposed to say it either). this record is the perfect mergence of my love for both a classic punk aesthetic and sensible modern design. at first glance the front cover almost reads like a traditional crust record with its' use of a high contrast photo of a factory, but mirroring the image and placing it off center brings a nice element of design to the composition. soak it in and then we can talk about the type...

ok, so aside from there being at least 4 different type faces used in this layout (sometimes all at once), there is also some interesting use of japanese characters thrown into selected areas and even some words spelled out in different languages. when i saw the front cover and how the band name and record name were displayed in rather different type styles, i didn't think much of it at first. then i flipped it over and my mind was blown....

this back cover is one seriously awesome panel!... 3 type faces, 2 languages, and a band photo that's seen one too many trips to the photocopier make for one beautiful layout! somebody knows what they are doing with these fonts, and there were no "happy accidents" here. i love those big bold song titles.... fucking brilliant! i mean, this is a very traditional looking punk layout, but it was handled and executed with great restraint.

the cover feels like 80 lb uncoated cover, folded not glued, not sure if it was offset printed or just digital photocopy. the inside panel is a lyric sheet and what appears to be a band photo of some other band? that's weird, but i like it.

the A and B labels are even more over the top with the type play than the back panel! here is where we see type face 4 (FOUR!) in the layout and it is doing some pretty interesting things....

everything on this label seems to intentionally be sized and ordered incorrectly (or maybe counter-intuitively is a better way to describe it), and look at the way "So Dim" was pushed off center from the rest of the type. all of these design decisions could have easily looked contrived or just in bad taste, but they really pulled this look off perfectly. i for one am very excited to see more from this band....

Society Suckers Photo Zine...

Dan from Vile Intent sent over 2 issues of his photo zine "Society Suckers" for the blog, and these things are sweet! each issue contains photo work from a different assortment of photographers who submit a range of work from band photos to the high art and truly bizarre. based on the two issues i have in my possession, i have to say that i love the consistency he displays in his approach to the layout and typographical styles in each issue. check out some selected photos of my favorite spreads from the two issues and then check out his site for more....

Trust In No One - New Art Print....

i just finished screen printing another new art print for the year.... this one is a 5 color 18" x 24" poster titled "Trust In No One".

to see more of my artwork, click here. to purchase this print, click here.

Campo-Formio "Spooky Fools" 10"

i received this record via submission from Puerto Rico's Campo-Formio... it features beautiful illustration work by Javier Roman, but unfortunately i have to say that this is probably the ugliest record i have ever encountered. i mean, waaaaaay too much going on for my taste. between the full color illustration and the big swirly colors around it and then the odd rectangle sitting over top of it all.... what the hell is going on here!?!? cool illustration for sure, but it got killed in the execution.

this is a full color printed and folded jacket, and the quality of the printing is excellent. the back panel is slightly better than the front, but still pretty tough to look at. the typography is what saves this panel for me. i like the the way he chose to order all the information along the half square key line, but the big info box at the bottom is where he loses me.

even the A and B labels on this thing are heavily detailed and just toooooo busy....

so basically, really nice illustration work that could have really benefited from some carefully considered design restraint and about 200 less colors. you can pick up this record from the band directly here.

Reprobates- Stress Ep...

another awesome illustrative cover i found recently, this time it's the Reprobates from Toronto's new ep on No Way Records. the lyric sheet credits a Ryan Trudeau for the cover art, but i was not able to find any information on him. i love his scratchy pen on paper style, and he did an excellent job of creating a visual tension with all these overlapping faces in a way that is perfect for a record called "Stress". cornering the band name instead of running it straight across the top was a good call too...

this is a offset printed and glued sleeve on a coated cover stock. the back cover is a great example of a classic hardcore record layout, keep the song titles organized on the top with a big band photo on the bottom.... pretty straight forward but hey, it's a crowd pleaser.

folded 8.5" x 11" insert, front side is a rather curious composition. it kinda looks like someone got bored in their high school typing class...

flip it over for the lyric sheet, it's nothing too interesting but is clean and easy to read. not entirely sure what the horse image hiding in the background has to do with this record...

A and B labels are looking classy...

Dead Mechanical LP

pretty cool layout on this new Dead Mechanical LP from Toxic Pop Records... really digging the over sized and abstracted bold typography mixed with the controlled and contrasting color palette. very graphic and very striking...

inverted version of the theme from the front gets carried into the back panel with a nice little knock out space for the song titles... the slickness is killing me! this is an offset printed and glued sleeve with a matte finish.

insert lyric sheet is offset printed as well, only one side though. again, very nice and cleanly arranged type based graphic design. i could have done without the background image on this panel, but oh well...

A and B labels are beautiful, soak them in...

New Prints, New Year, New Site....

i just finished screen printing these 2 new art prints before the holidays and i'm finally getting around to posting them up with my new art site... check out the brand spankin new Art of Paul D'Elia website....

these are both 7 color Screen Prints on 18" x 24" 100lb cover paper out of editions of 26 prints each. visit my store today for a special new years sale price....