Records

Mo Wax 21 / Urban Archaeology exhibition, London

I visited the MoWax 21 / Urban Archaeology exhibition that opened at the Southbank Centre in London, currently home to the James Lavelle-curated Meltdown season.it was stuffed with everything you could want from a visual label retrospective with memorabilia and artwork from across the label’s history and beyond into post MW UNKLE releases.

For those familiar with the label there us much here to wallow in but plenty of behind the scenes stuff too. A letter from Mike D about a planned MoWax / Grand Royal ‘Battle of the Beats’ record, working drawings and model for Futura Pointmen toys and plenty of original art that graced many a sleeve. There are toys in every kind of colourway, some still at prototype stage, flyers reaching back to the early 90’s to when MoWax was more of a Talking Loud wannabe than the trip hop and electronica powerhouse of its heyday.

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It’s free but only open until June 22nd so you only have this week to catch it before it’s gone. But if you don’t manage to make it down then there is an extensive book now available with even more info and photos. Initially funded via Kickstarter, I received a copy last week and it’s beautiful to behold, a perfect visual encapsulation of the label.

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Posted in Art, Design, Music, Records, Toys. | No Comments | Tags: , , ,

DJ Shadow’s D.N.A.P. site

DJ Shadow has started a tumblr to showcase pieces from his collection called D.N.A.P., short for ‘Does Not Affect Play’ – a term record buyers will recognise as a description on some used discs when marks are visible on the wax. It’s a collector’s wet dream with not only records but also promo photos, badges, 8-Track tapes, flyers, customised covers and even James Brown cookies. Check it out here.

Posted in Artifacts, Records. | No Comments | Tags: , ,

R.I.P. Rik Mayall

So sad to hear that Rik Mayall passed away today, so many of his characters kept me and my mates laughing through school in the 80’s. Mayall and the Comic Strip were our equivalent of the Pythons with episodes replayed on video and recounted word for word in the playground the next day.

Many of his lines are still used around our house to this day (‘hands up who likes me?’ ‘answer that and stay fashionable’, ‘get down and groove, we dance all day in this house’) and characters like Rick – the People’s Poet, Colin Grigson (in Bad News) and Lord Flashheart (in Blackadder) are timeless.

Bad News Tour and More Bad News are two of my all time favourite musical comedies so I’ve dug out their records in his honour, scanned some sleeves and will be listening and watching tonight.

Posted in Event, Records. | 1 Comment |

‘Giant’ 12″ plug and ‘Soul Mining’ Q&A

Nice to run across a little plug for The The’s ‘GIANT’ 12″ I share billing with in the latest issue of Classic Pop magazine (issue 11, Kate Bush cover). For all those who remember Smash Hits from back in the day and yearn to break free of the endless rehashing of the Beatles/Stones/Who/Dylan/Zeppelin pop/rock mafia in the other music monthlies – this is the mag for you. Not as lightweight as Smash Hits but not as nerdy as Record Collector, it finds a fine balance between in-depth interviews, retrospective pieces, current reviews and where are they now and what have they been up to news.

In other The The news (try saying that when pissed) it’s only 3 weeks until I get to quiz Matt Johnson about the making of ‘Soul Mining’ over at Rough Trade East on June 30th. The same day sees the release of the 30th anniversary edition of the album of the same name. You can find out more info here.

Posted in Event, Magazines, Music, Records. | No Comments | Tags: , , , , , ,

Custom 12″ picture disc 3-Way mix Serato controllers

These Serato controller discs just arrived from 12inchSkinz in the US. They are clear 12″ discs with custom-made graphic pictures on the underside and a label over the top.

They are sanctioned by Serato but only playable on one side because of the image underneath. Expensive but well worth it as they are objects of beauty.

12inchSkinz also do stickers for your laptop and mixer and I highly recommend them as I’ve got stickers for both of those as well and they’re very high quality.

Posted in DJ Food, Openmind designs, Records. | 1 Comment | Tags: , , , ,

FGTH ‘Inside The Pleasuredome’ deluxe box set

This is what the last post was all about, a project I’ve been working on for the last few months but feels like I’ve been working towards for over a decade. 10 years ago I actively started contacting and interviewing the people involved in the creation of the ZTT label’s artwork, starting with Paul Morley who I collaborated with on ‘Raiding the 20th Century’. Through the years after I met designers, illustrators and photographers who had all had hands in the late 80’s output of the label whilst collecting promo posters, magazine ads and in some cases original artwork and photos.

After starting my ArtofZTT site early last year and having been in contact with Ian Peel, responsible for the ongoing reissue series at the label, I was asked to collaborate with resident designer Philip Marshall on what would become the 30th anniversary of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s ‘Welcome To The Pleasuredome’.

Now re-titled ‘Inside The Pleasuredome’ this deluxe box set is available to pre-order via Pledge Music and will be released on the anniversary later this year at the end of October. The set will contain:
Re-mastered and redesigned original LP,
3 x 10″s of remixes, demos and alt. takes
a hardback Art of FGTH book with sleeve art, adverts, ultra rare promo posters, LP prelims and making of interviews
a cassette of multiple ‘Relax’ remixes with new artwork inside a card slipcase
a DVD with videos plus 5.1 audio from various singles and album tracks
3 x Prints of the original Lo Cole album artwork (with uncensored back cover image)
a digital only EP of instrumentals
a Pleasuredome TV ad flick book
a Tumbometer (fans will know what this is)
6 x cards with download codes for the remastered LP, the 3 10″s, the cassette and the digital EP

I’ll be sharing photos here during the pledge period of 65 days, I’d love to post it all now but there will be a slow roll out as items are unveiled to people who pre-order . Once the order / pledge period is up no more orders will be taken and once /if the target it reached that will be the extent of the number of sets made. Of the 10 ‘elements’ contained inside the box, half of them will be exclusive including the art book and 10″ featuring ‘Slave…’ It has already made a quarter of the target less than a day after going online but there’s still a way to go. You can pre-order here but once that window is closed that will be your only chance, the box set won’t be sold in shops.

Posted in Music, Openmind designs, Packaging, Records. | 5 Comments | Tags: , , , ,

Another round of record sleeves by comic artists

As with last year’s Free Comic Book Day I’ve put together another collection of record sleeves that use artists from or reference comics in some way.  Above is a Boo-Yaa Tribe 12″ which I THINK is drawn by Bob Camp who also did the Bambaataa ‘Renegades of Funk’ and Newcleus sleeves from the previous post. The only credit is ‘designed by Island Art’ on the back and the German 12″ says ‘illustration: Marvel Comics’ (!) This version features two remixes by Coldcut incidentally.

A classic back and front sleeve by (*update!) Dave Little for Bomb The Bass‘ first LP – the connection started when BTB adapted Dave Gibbons‘ Watchman smiley face with blood splat on their first 12″ cover for ‘Beat Dis’ – thus helping bring the smiley into the then current Acid House craze as its motif. Dave Little – as Steve Cook helpfully pointed out below in the comments – was Rhythm King‘s in-house designer, responsible for S’Express, Renegade Soundwave and more.

Next up – the master – Moebius, drawing Hendrix, as he would do several times in his career but this is the only album cover I know of. This is a ‘twofer’, two albums in one package for the French market on the Barclay label with a gorgeous gatefold. I love the way Hendrix is on the back instead of the front.


More Moebius, I’ve posted this before but it’s so good I’m going to do it again.


Staying with the French artists here’s Philippe Druillet with another Hendrix gatefold and another similar record that I can’t identify the artist on – both released on Barclay. Anyone know the second artist? Update: several people have pointed the finger at Richard Corben on this one and I can see the similarity for sure plus it would fit in with the series of artists featured in Metal Hurlant at the time.



This is the back cover of an Impulse Jazz compilation with a weird contraption by lesser-known Underground Comix artist Dave Sheridan (RIP) – odd to see this on a jazz record but then again Robert Crumb was no stranger to the genre.

Last but not least we have Jim Fitzpatrick who did many sleeves for Thin Lizzy in the 70’s through to the early 80’s. Not really a comic artist as such, more in the Celtic Fantasy range as an illustrator but you can see the comic book influence in his style with the psychedelic lettering on the early releases looking like Robert Williams‘ work or even Hawkwind-era Barney Bubbles.
Love this die-cut cover showing through the inside sleeve.

This Greatest Hits release was advertised with a comic strip-like page in an issue of Sounds, riffing off a cowboy theme. Not quite sure if this is Jim Fitzpatrick as the line work is a bit spikier and Steve Cook again pointed out that it could be Martin Asbury – probably best known for drawing Garth and the style certainly looks similar.

Posted in Art, Comics, Found in Sounds, Records. | 14 Comments |

Dust & Grooves UK Book Launch, London May 23rd

It’s London’s turn to host Eilon Paz for the launch of the Dust & Grooves book in the UK with an exhibition, signing and guest DJs playing all vinyl sets on May 23rd. After the successful US launch on Record Store Day, April 19th we get the release in Europe a month later on May 20th.

Check out Ollie Teeba, Jonny Trunk, Dom Servini, Coleen Murphy, Kid Dyno and Sheila B spinning for free and enter a raffle to win a copy of the book at The Proud Archivist gallery in Hackney from 6pm. Unfortunately, due to a prior booking of the ‘3-Way Mix’ down in Southampton, I can’t be there otherwise I’d be joining that line up in a second.

There’s more info here and I’m currently working on editing an interview I did with cover star Mr Scruff that didn’t make the book deadline to appear on the D&G website for the launch. See a film of the launch party in Brooklyn below to get a taste of what will be happening and don’t forget to put aside a few hours to visit the Dust & Grooves website.


Posted in Books, Event, Records. | 3 Comments |

The Soundcarriers LP on Ghost Box pre-order


Absolutely love this, both sound and vision. The Soundcarriers are a new signing to Ghost Box although they’ve released several albums before, some featuring the songs here but in different forms.
You can order the LP here and marvel at yet another Julian House created video for the track ‘Boiling Point’ above. More info here and more soundclips here too, sounds like they’re moving towards a pure 60’s/70’s West Coast Sunshine Pop mood, reminds me of The Free Design or The Hellers‘ records on Command with a bit more edge. Previous LPs ‘Harmonium’, ‘Celeste’ and ‘The Other World Of…’ are highly recommended. Check ‘This is Normal’ from their last LP, featuring the dulcet tones on none other than Elijah Wood!

Posted in Film, Music, Records. | No Comments |

Cover art process for the RSD ‘Giant’ 12″

I was pretty excited when Matt Johnson got in touch to ask about the possibility of licensing my version of ‘GIANT’ for a The The vs DJ Food double A side 12″ on Record Store Day. Not only because my version would be paired with his original on vinyl (the only track from the album not to make it to vinyl in last years repress of the original EPs as his vocal didn’t make the deadline when those were pressed) but because he wanted me to design one side of the sleeve too.

The brief was simple, the front was his brother, Andy ‘Dog’ Johnson‘s shouting face image from the cover of the American issue of the ‘Soul Mining’ LP and I was to do my interpretation for the reverse. OK, so a shouting face, fairly obviously Matt’s, to compliment Andy’s vision, how best to go about this? I didn’t want to ape his style as that would be pointless but there had to be some visual connection so I decide to use the same colour palette.

I’d remembered an image of Matt shouting/singing from the Infected video that was featured in the The The songbook as a still, taken straight from the TV by the looks of it and so scanned that as the basis of my version. The head was facing the opposite direction from Andy’s so this was a good start and I took the idea of the arrows he would add to some of his images and redrew the face, now made from a warren of intertwined arrows. This was supposed to represent the confusion in the character but also served to create a dynamic image with movement without copying the blizzard of detail that gives Andy’s art such a visual buzz.

After inking the pencil tracing I scanned it and cleaned up edges to get a clear B&W version before adding a limited colour palette that would mimic the lighting of the original photo. The background I’d decided would be black rather than white to counterbalance the other side and I added some distorted TV feedback I’d taken years before to reference the texture of the original photo. It was looking a little clean for my taste so a layer of grain was added across the face just to give it some ‘glue’ to pull the flat face together with the background and a tiny amount of spin blurring to the black outlines to blend it further.

I then experimented with adding a section of the Robosunburst from the background of the ‘Search Engine’ LP cover to reference that release but, while it added an extra level of dynamism to the image. I felt it was too busy although I did submit a couple of versions to Matt for a second opinion and my feeling was Matt’s too and he went with the simpler image.

I also felt that my colour choice was a bit on the dark side so a re-balancing of the browns for redder tones evened things out and bought it a little closer to Andy’s colourful original.

 

All that remained then was to add the titles and I wanted my clean DJ Food logo to reflect Fiona Skinner‘s original choppy The The logo design. For this I imported the Food one into Illustrator and used the tracing tool too create a rougher outline as it can never trace exactly, especially at small sizes.

This was then further roughed up on the edges in Photoshop and the words ‘featuring Matt Johnson’ and ‘GIANT’ were taken from the back of the ‘Soul Mining’ LP cover. Actually I think I had to cobble the ‘featuring’ together from several different words…

After this I wanted a copy of the arrow Andy had pointing toward the nose of the face to tie our designs together and form an anchor point to align the titles with.

Luckily Matt and the people at Sony loved what I had done and it was all sent off to have barcodes and other text added by Matt’s manager Cally at Antar (a fascinating character with many tales to tell if you ever run into him). The hardest thing then was the wait as this was finished back in January and I wasn’t allowed to announce anything about it until the end of March when all I wanted to do was scream about it from the rooftops. The finished copies arrived a couple of weeks before RSD and that was a day to remember I can tell you.

It’s impossible to convey how much Matt’s music has meant to me since I first heard it in college in the 80’s when a classmate taped ‘Soul Mining’ and ‘Infected’ back to back on a C90 cassette for me, instantly turning me into a fan who hunted down everything else he had recorded. To meet him for the first time, over ten years ago now, was a big enough deal but to then record and be a part of an official The The release is something I never thought would happen in a million years. As another friend of mine named Matt would say, “living the dream”…

Posted in Art, DJ Food, Openmind designs, Records. | 2 Comments |

Dust & Grooves limited edition book – a look inside

The Dust and Grooves Limited Edition Book from Dust & Grooves on Vimeo.

LIMITED EDITION. Signed and numbered edition of 400. Includes:
* Signed and numbered copy. Edition of 400.
* Slipcase cover with blind de-boss and red foil stamping.
* Original 8.5×11 inch print, printed on matt archival photo paper.
* The Dust & Grooves photo mosaic poster.
Hard Cover, 416 pages, matt art paper.
Only available on the Dust & Grooves online store.

Posted in Books, Event, Records. | No Comments |

The The ‘Soul Mining’ deluxe box set + ‘GIANT’ 12″

I’m finally allowed to shout about this. A remastered, deluxe box set of The The‘s seminal debut LP, ‘Soul Mining’. A classic to many and one of my all time top 5 albums as well as the source of the track ‘GIANT’ that I covered with Matt Johnson on my LP, ‘The Search Engine’.

I posted a photo of myself with Matt back in January when we met up at Abbey Road studios to re-cut ‘GIANT’ for a double A sided 12″ due out on April 19th for Record Store Day. At the same time he was making the final tweaks to the bonus disc of remixes and B sides that accompanies the original album in this set.

Re-mastered by Matt from the original master tapes and packaged in a lavish 12” box, this vinyl only release includes an authentic reproduction of the 1983 release on 180g vinyl, plus an extra 12” gatefold vinyl of alternative versions and remixes.

The tracklist for the second disc is :
LP 2 – SOUL MINING RECOLLECTED

1. Uncertain Smile (New York 12” version)
2. Perfect (New York 12” version)
3. This Is The Day (12” version)
4. Fruit Of The Heart
5. Perfect (London 12” version)
6. I’ve Been Waitin’ For Tomorrow (All My Life) (12” mix)

For those who like their mp3’s the re-mastered audio has also then been dubbed from the new vinyl test pressings played on Matt’s original 1982 Thorens TD-147 gramophone for a new analogue to digital experience, obtainable via a download code contained within the box set. The set also includes a unique ‘news-poster’ containing extensive notes written by Matt detailing the making of the album including his decision not to include the cassette only tracks that were on the original release.

I’m very honored to have played a tiny part in this release by providing artwork from my archive of adverts from this period for the poster. But I’m even more honored to be part of the ‘GIANT2FACED12 INCH’ for Record Store Day next week, including providing the back cover art for my side of the single. This 12″ has been designed to fit inside the ‘Soul Mining’ box to add to the collection. Of course this won’t be available until April 19th (I haven’t even got a copy myself yet aside from a test pressing) but the box set is available to pre-order now and due on June 30th..

Posted in DJ Food, Music, Records. | 2 Comments |

Epic Beard Men 7″ on Blunt Force Trauma

Those lovely people at Factory Road (purveyors of Solid Eggs, 45 adaptors, gallery spaces, Inkymole illustration etc) also run an occasional record label called Blunt Force Trauma.

Their latest release is in conjunction with Sage Francis, an artist they’ve enjoyed a long association with, providing artwork for several of his releases over the years. Co-released with his Strange Famous label this one consists of a mini Hip Hop supergroup, the Epic Beard Men aka Sage, B. Dolan and the UK’s very own Buddy Peace.

It’s a double A-sided 45 with an ode to black plastic on the A (“Viva La Vinyl‘) and a stomping funk party rap on the flip (‘You Can’t Win‘). As usual they’ve gone the extra mile on the packaging and artwork on this one and the 7″ comes in a 12″ fold out ‘sleeve’ with tear off double-sided art print and custom Factory Road 45 dink in the center.

You can also listen to it and buy direct from them right now, ahead of its April 14th release date HERE. Also, check Sarah (Inkymole) Coleman illustrating some of the work in these two shorts.

Posted in Art, Design, Packaging, Records. | 1 Comment |