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.