Mega Mecha trailers for the new Titanfall game.
and this went slightly viral earlier this week
“Well this is Phil talking…” first Human League cover after the split with Ware and Craig-Marsh and the recruitment of the girls, March ’81. (Below) Good Vibrations: JG Thirlwell aka Foetus getting creative with his press releases again from Sounds Dec ’81.
An original full page ad from the Melody Maker for the Beastie Boys‘ ‘Love American Style’ EP 15/07/89 and another Futurist chart with what looks like Matt Johnson being kicked in the balls.
I saw this is coming out for Record Store Day, the soundtrack to ‘A Field In England’ re-imagined by a band called Teeth of the Sea. No idea what it sounds like but I like the cover.
The Electric Hoax Pt.12 by Pete Milligan and Brendan McCarthy. This strip appeared in the weekly UK music paper, Sounds, in 24 parts sometime between mid ’78 and ’79. Click image for larger version.
Dark Horse Presents is currently running Brendan’s new creation, ‘The Deleted’ which is up to chapter 3. The latest Judge Dredd Megazine issue 346 has a huge interview with Pete Milligan about his writing career.
Trevor Jackson has a new exhibition opening today in Paris called ‘yesterday, today, tomorrow, forever’. It focuses on microscopic photography of some of his favourite records, zooming into the grooves and then blowing the images up to a huge scale.
This project has been gestating for years now, I remember it being featured in the Japanese +81 magazine over 5 years back. He’s finally found a home for it though at 12 Mail in Paris and has produced a soundtrack made from the records he’s photographed. There is a 500 copy 12″ and poster available at the show and it runs until the middle of May.
As readers of this blog will know, I’ve been lucky enough to have records release on Record Store Day for the last two years and 2014 will be no exception. The difference will be that I’ll be involved in three different releases this year with only two of them being on vinyl.
Firstly there will some new music from me in the form of a remix I’ve done for The Amorphous Androgynous called ‘Tunnel Sequence’ from their spy-funk psychesploitation albums, ‘The Cartel’.
The two CDs are getting the remix treatment in vinyl form on April 19th in a nice reciprocal gesture as it was they who remixed me for my first RSD release back in 2012.
Secondly, more music but you might know this one. My version of The The‘s ‘GIANT’ with vocals by Matt Johnson himself is the only track from 2012’s ‘The Search Engine’ not to be released on vinyl (last year’s quadruple LP version only had the instrumental).
Now my version has been paired with the original on what’s being billed as the ‘GIANT2FACED12INCH’ – a double A-sided release via Sony. Not only do I provide music but I’ve also designed one side of the sleeve which is paired up with an original Andy Dog painting for the cover, see a preview above for the origin of the ‘2-faced’ title.
Thirdly, the non-musical release will be the Dust & Grooves book by Eilon Paz which I’m both featured in photographically and in the guise of writer/interviewer for a huge article about Four Tet‘s collecting habits. ‘Adventures In Record Collecting’ has been on-going for some years now and I got involved about 11 months ago when Eilon visited my studio for a mammoth photo session and Q&A which will see the light of day on his site at some stage.
There’s a strong Ninja Tune presence in the book with an interview with The Gaslamp Killer, photos of Ollie Teeba from The Herbaliser/Soundsci and Mr Scruff who actually makes the cover photo, (I also did an extensive interview with Scruff which didn’t make the deadline, maybe next time).
By a weird coincidence one of the photos shows me doing a sleeve face pose with the very same The The sleeve that features on the ‘GIANT’ 12″ cover, and by the same I mean, the very same. When Matt was putting together the sleeve for ‘GIANT’ he wanted to use the US version of the ‘Soul Mining’ LP sleeve but didn’t have a copy himself so I scanned my copy, the same one in the photo in Eilon’s book.
All three of these releases are a very big deal for me, being asked to contribute to releases by FSOL and The The, two of my all time favourite groups, is pretty special. Being involved in just a small part of Eilon’s book plus the on-going work we’ll be doing after it’s published is new and exciting too, I’ve seen the layouts of the book and it’s stunning.
Whilst in Utrecht the other week for a gig I noticed that there’s now a second Mega Record fair in April as well as the Autumn. Finders Keepers just posted this great poster as they will have a stall there too. I’ve been before and it’s the largest fair in Europe, absolutely huge, you need days to go round it.
Unlike the photo-shopped LP covers I posted a couple of months back, this one is actually made out of Lego. Taken from the Brickwares blog, check it out for more info.
Another week of clippings from Sounds magazine 1981, I’m getting through them slowly but keep getting sidetracked and have to go off to listen to or find some obscure record I’ve never heard of. A very young Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode gets his first (?) magazine cover above and two of Landscape advertise Roland products in their best Futurist garb below.
(above and below) Bow Wow Wow ad for the ‘See Jungle…’ LP with free ‘Mile High Club’ magazine at Virgin stores (strangely the same name as an Adam & The Ants song of around the same time). Anyone ever get this? Was it the dodgy one McLaren tried to push as ‘Chicken’ with the band members in various states of undress?
‘Lieutenant Lush’ was actually an early incarnation of Boy George who was briefly in the running as co-vocalist with Annabella in the group but didn’t make the grade. Probably had a lucky escape.
Next we have a couple of charts – Hippy and Obscurist – I think they were just filling space with this stuff.
Lastly, a Futura 2000 – designed advert for a Clash residency at The Lyceum.
Here are two new Jamie Hewlett images made especially for the British Library which will be running a comics history exhibit from May 2nd.
“Comics Unmasked: Art and Anarchy in the UK, runs from May 2nd to August 19th 2014. Comics Unmasked traces the history of the British comic book and explores how comics and graphic novels have uncompromisingly addressed such subjects as violence, sexuality and drugs, breaking social boundaries with the innovative form that marries literature and visual art.
The exhibition highlights the trend set internationally by British comic creators, whereby comics are used to subvert and challenge stereotypes. It features original artwork and video montage of Jamie Hewlett’s most celebrated creations, Tank Girl and Gorillaz, alongside other exciting examples of original British comic art.”
More info from Paul Gravett who helped curate the exhibition.
Exactly what is says in the header – staggering work of course and including some of Kirby’s collage work too – view them all here.
I’m featuring this again because I just got the special (Record Store Day 2013) edition and it’s one of the nicest packages I’ve seen in a while. A heavyweight slipcase to house the sumptuous book of drum machine photos which really aren’t done justice on a blog here as they are gorgeous up close in richly printed colour – see more of the inside in my previous post.
But this is all about what’s with the book – namely a cassette and 7″ record housed in the front of the slipcase. The 7″ features a version of the Beasties Boys‘ ‘Paul Revere’ remade on the 808 drum machine on side A and the same beat played the original way (ie not reversed) on the flip. In a nice touch, the B side plays from the label outwards towards the edge, backwards rather than forwards. The cassette has samples on it but I can’t listen to then right now as my tape deck broke about a year back. All are done out in the black and white schematic that adorns some of the book, adding to the fitting design aesthetic of the package.
Another nice touch is the inner sleeve for the 45 which opens to reveal a painting of an 808 on one side, and in a nod to the Beasties’ ‘Licensed To Ill’ LP, shows it crunching into a mountainside on the reverse. I’ve placed the two sides together here so you can see how the full image should look as the artist has nicely matched the original style.
You can still pick this version up from Rap & Soul Mail Order in the UK for £50 and it’s worth every penny.
The Electric Hoax Pt.11 by Pete Milligan and Brendan McCarthy. This strip appeared in the weekly UK music paper, Sounds, in 24 parts sometime between mid ’78 and ’79. Click image for larger version
Well this is extremely cool – Jonny Trunk has dipped his toe into the app world and come up with an official EMS VCS3 emulator for the iPad! And it looks fantastic, well it would because it has the interface of a VSC3 (or a bastardised multi-screen version). More info here or you can buy it here.
In Jonny’s own words: “A few years ago I thought the idea of a VCS3 app was a good one. So I got permission to get one made. It’s taken ages. Here it is. It’s awesome, extraordinarily deep too, and with features form the suitcase Synthi too. And hopefully updates will be available with Radiophonic patches etc created by original Radiophonic superstars. Dead exciting.”
Longer tour and review here
This is my good friend Jules aka Dobshizzle who is one of the biggest sellers of dance music on Discogs. If I have stuff to offload from my collection, he always gets first dibs.
I’m pretty thrilled to see this book, by photographer Eilon Paz, make its way out into the world. If you’re not familiar with his Dust & Grooves site and you’re a vinyl collector then it’s a must. Not only am I featured in it as a collector (a full photo feature, interview and mix will be online some day after the book is done) but I also contributed to the text by interviewing Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet for a chapter of it. Here’s the blurb for the book:
“Eilon Paz’s 416-page coffee-table book illuminates over 130 vinyl collectors and their collections in the most intimate of environments—their record rooms. With a foreword by the RZA, compelling photographic essays are paired with in-depth interviews to illustrate what motivates record collectors to keep digging for more records.
Readers get an up close and personal look at a variety of well-known vinyl champions as well as a glimpse into the collections of known and unknown DJs, producers, record dealers, and everyday enthusiasts. The book is divided into two main parts: the first features 250 full-page photos framed by captions and select quotes, while the second consists of 12 full-length interviews that delve deeper into collectors’ personal histories and vinyl troves.”
US Street Date: Record Store Day, April 19, 2014
Worldwide Street Date: Saturday, May 10, 2014
Arts London Music Magazine asked me to name 10 influential tracks to kick off their Rewind series. These are specifically songs that took me through my three year BA degree course at Camberwell College of Art in London during the years 1990-93. I wrote a little piece about each including design inspirations as well as a couple of old pieces of college work that I did in response to music-related briefs whilst on the course, unseen for 21 years pieces. To cap it all off I gave them a mix I made for a college reunion in 2012 that features many of the songs plus plenty more and runs for nearly 2 hours. Full track list and info in the link above.
ALM Mix 01: DJ FOOD – Citrus ’12 by Arts_London_Music_Magazine on Mixcloud
Below are some more detailed shots of the ‘Little Fluffy Clouds’ piece I made. It takes the Ricki Lee Jones interview that’s heavily sampled on the track and twists it typographically using hot metal and wood block printing on tissue paper (in itself a very difficult thing to achieve without ripping the paper). That was then mounted on clear acetate and meant to be hung away from the wall so that light could pass through it to reflect the cloud-like nature of the piece (student thinking huh?).
I’d been a bit slack with posting Sounds stuff the previous week due to spending half of it either on a plane or asleep from jetlag it seems. Above is Mick Geggus (I think) from the Cockney Rejects, a classic Punk (or should that be Oi?) image.
Above is an ad for the TSB bank that could happily serve as a cover for a Vaporwave compilation and below, Soft Cell prepare to release a single called ‘Tainted Love’…
I’ve been posting charts this week as well, the sort you don’t really see very often – Eurorock, Japanese Techno Pop, Futurist and Video.
and finally, the end is nigh for Throbbing Gristle.
The Electric Hoax Pt.10 by Pete Milligan and Brendan McCarthy. This strip appeared in the weekly UK music paper, Sounds, in 24 parts sometime between mid ’78 and ’79. Click image for larger version
Great sleeves and great music from the Antinote label out of Paris, France. Run by Gwen Jamois – ex of The Sycophants and now excavating old techno tapes he recorded in the 90’s as Iueke. The label is only just 2 years old and their latest release is a total beauty by Nico Motte, a synth-led future music soundtrack with a gorgeous sleeve.
