Mrs Magician - Strange Heaven Lp

i love this band.  seriously, they are great.  a friend of mine from san diego once gave me a copy of their 1st ep and i thought it was pretty great, but now this lp is finally out and it's epically great.  "Dusty Dirtweed" put the art and layout together for this release, and he hit the nail on the head as far as matching the artwork with their sound goes.  Mrs. Magician are a southern california band that play a modernised version of the throwback 60's garage sound, and this psychedelic desert-scape artwork is just perfect for this lp.  if this cover art had been in color it would most likely feel all wrong, but the darkness of the mostly black with white pallet helps set the tone of the record as modern instead of cliche.  his use of hand set and photocopy-obscured typography helps sell this record as interesting and approachable while still remaining beautiful...

the back cover of the jacket has the front cover artwork wrapping around the spine, creating a nice flow.  the song title typography clearly took some time to set, but it was worth it!  i like the way the B-side titles have to warp around the wavy lines in order to remain in balance of the A-side set of type. these jackets are professionally printed and glued on a matte cover stock...

there is also a fold out poster insert included which features the cover art on a smaller scale for you to hang on your bedroom wall.  it's a nice gesture, but i would have loved to have seen the lyrics printed on the other side since they were shelling out already for a printed insert....

the A and B labels are just the re-appropreated art and typography from the back cover.  it works cause the art is strong, but it would have been awesome to see some more of Dusty's art on their instead....

so yeah, this came out on Swami Records, but i believe you have to order it thru Midheaven...  either way, it's worth your time to track it down.