She One – ‘Wildstyle Pour Homme’ painting, 1995
(124 x 100 cm, Aerosol paint and ink on canvas).
Commissioned canvases
She One – ‘Wildstyle Pour Homme’ painting, 1995
(124 x 100 cm, Aerosol paint and ink on canvas).
Commissioned canvases
She One – ‘Suburban Zulu’, 1997
(152 x 91 cm, Aerosol paint and ink on canvas).
Commissioned canvas
Andy ‘Dog’ Johnson – ‘Soul Mining’, 1983
(330 x 230 mm, ink and gouache on art board)
The The album press ad artwork, Some Bizarre.
Lawrence ‘Lo’ Cole – ‘Welcome To The Pleasuredome’ front, inner gatefold and back cover paintings, 1984
(335 x 220 mm, 683 x 193 mm, 335 x 220 mm, wax crayon, watercolour and ink on paper).
Frankie Goes To Hollywood album artwork, Zang Tuum Tumb.
Brett Ewins & Brendan McCarthy – ‘Day of the Phoenix’ illustration, 1978
(485 x 390 mm, ink and letratone on paper).
Encounters one page story, 2000ad.
Shaky Kane – ‘Slim Jim, Hateful Dead’ illustration, 2011
(297 x 210 mm, pencil and pen on paper).
Unpublished drawing.
Kevin O’Neill – ‘Raging Armageddon’ illustration, 1986
(440 x 330 mm, black ink on art board).
Metalzoic Page 20, DC comics, later reprinted in 2000ad.
Kevin O’Neill – ‘Tube Warrior’ illustration, 1980
(430 x 360 mm, black ink on art board).
2000ad Prog 174 cover.
Kevin O’Neill – ‘Clash of the War Droids’ illustration, 1983
(430 x 360 mm, black ink on art board).
2000ad Prog 343 cover.
She 1 – ‘Kev’ illustration, 1997
(240 x 420 mm, marker pen on cardboard).
Doodle on a box full of spray paint.
Mike Hinge – ‘Word Jazz’ illustration, date unknown
(25.3 x 25.3 mm, assorted paper and print on board).
Unpublished design for Ken Nordine’s ‘Word Jazz’ album, possibly a portfolio piece.
Blurb from the sale at the time of sale (2004): “From the estate of artist Mike Hinge, we are offering this unusual example of concept art for an intended album cover for the music of Ken Nordine – Ken Nordine Word Jazz. Hinge was a follower and fan of underground and ‘fringe’ music groups, so it is unknown whether he produced this cover art graphic as part of a commercial assignment, or for a proposed cover that he might have created to solicit work. we are not familiar with Nordine’s early album cover art, so we don’t know if this design was actually used (published) or not. But from the design, we would guess this was created in the late 50s to 60s. The artwork is 10″ x 10″ , paste up design and is in fine shape, kept under plastic since it was created. the piece is part of a large group of original advertising and illustrative artworks to be auctioned from the Hinge estate, all at no reserve. No rights of reproduction come with this sale.”
We represented Mike in the sales of his original sf art until his death in August of 2003, and now are agent for all that remains in his estate, which includes artwork spanning his 45 years as a professional artist and graphic designer. Early in his illustration career he worked for the largest ad agency in New Zealand (where he grew up) before moving to Los Angeles, where he attended the Art Center of the College of Design. In 1966 he moved to Manhattan, where he worked as an art director for several ad agencies. His graphic designs were notable, and his always colorful and psychedelic illustrations appeared on numerous science fiction magazines during the 1970s, including Analog, Fantastic, and Amazing, and on paperback books. Hinge also did design work for 2001: A Space Odyssey and produced illustrations for mainstream publications like Time magazine, including covers featuring Richard Nixon and Emperor Hirohito. He was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist in 1973, plus nominated for 6 Locus awards in the ’70
Mike Hinge – ‘Six Million Dollar Man’ illustration, 1974
(58.2 x 42.2 mm, pen, photocopy, PMT and Letraset on paper).
Centre spread poster for Mediascene magazine #10.
From the blurb when I bought the art: “You are bidding on a huge double page spread drawn by Mike Hinge and published in Jim Steranko’s Mediascene magazine back in 1974. Sternako did a layout for the figure of Steve Austin which Hinge redrew and incorporated into his final design. There are numerous changes which were pasted onto the board as the drawing was extremely detailed and complicated. I have a paste on that goes over the face shown and looks like Lee Majors (the old paste gave way and the past over came loose) Nicest line drawn Six Million Dollar Man “cover ” you will find Original art page is in good condition.”
Brendan McCarthy – ‘Dream Tree’ illustration, 2008
(41.5 x 29.5 mm, pen and whiteout on paper).
Unpublished illustration for a story concept by Brendan McCarthy – ‘The Fabulous Dreamtrees’.
“The Dreamtree (is) a phantasmagorical tree whose fruit is the source of all dreams. Eat the fruit and experience the dream of yourself. It is the precious thing you will carry back to the waking world.”
– Swimini Purpose, 2005.
Roger Mainwood – ‘Autobahn’ animation cels, Halas & Batchelor, 1979
(330 x 270 mm, pen and paint on acetate).
In 1979 animation studio Halas & Batchelor were commisioned by EMI to make a video to accompany Kraftwerk’s song ‘Autobahn’ for a possible laser disc compilation of the label’s back catalogue. These are two original cels from the film, the background and goggle reflections are lost, the laser disc was never released.
You can watch the film in two parts on YouTube, this frame appears at approx 4.22 in Part 2.
Kid Acne – ‘TTC – C’eci N’Est Pas Un Disque’ LP inside cover illustration (full piece), 2001-2
(640 x 380 mm, pen and pencil on paper).
The full piece was created using photocopies of two A3 illustrations depicting the crowd characters. These were then joined and the club background added in thinner pen. The DJs were also added at this stage to complete the scene.
Kid Acne – ‘TTC – C’eci N’Est Pas Un Disque’ LP inside cover illustration (right hand side), 2001-2 (420 x 297mm, pen and pencil on paper).
Originally one half of a crowd scene to go on the inside of a gatefold cover for TTC’s first LP. The label couldn’t afford a gatefold sleeve so it was printed on the inside of a single sleeve, the left half is thought to be lost.
Obscure Records – Brian Eno and Gavin Bryars‘ short-lived record label from the mid 70s – is getting a lavish reissue this month via the Italian label, dialogo. The ten albums released in three batches between 1976 and 1978 are getting the box set treatment on vinyl and CD with accompanying books detailing their checkered histories with new sleevenotes and essays by key contributors. The label very kindly sent me the full digital release and I’ve been revisiting – and in some cases hearing for the first time – all the volumes in pristine, digitally-remastered quality seeing as the handful of originals I have on vinyl have been around the block a bit now.
Co-curated at the time by Eno, Bryars and Micheal Nyman and resurrected by Bryars with full co-operation of all featured artists for this release, the ten albums form a snapshot of a young, experimental set of avant garde composers, mainly from the UK, setting out in careers that would take them in different directions with varying levels of succes, fame and notoriety. The most famous of the set are by the key curators – Bryars’ ‘The Sinking of the Titanic / Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet’, Eno’s ‘Discreet Music’ and Micheal Nyman’s debut,’Decay Music’, but you’ll recognise others among them too; The Penguin Cafe Orchestra’s first LP is here alongside works by John Cage, David Toop and Harold Budd’s introductory outing.
Several things strike me about these albums; the amount of samples – or ‘found sound’ as they’re called in the sleeve notes – some of them use. At least half the catalogue use or manipulate voice or field recordings, in Discreet Music’s case, affecting or looping sections of another composer’s work as just another instrument. It’s also interesting to note how many of the participants were also working part time in the education system, no doubt influencing future generations in other ways beyond these albums. There’s probably a book to be written about the hidden history of art and music taught through the universities of the UK by some of its most unique practitioners.
The label have done a beautiful job representing these albums as one body of work with the CD version looking like a perfect companion to the Oblique Strategies box on the shelf. The sleeves are facsimiles of the originals, reproducing sleeve notes inside the book along with reflections from Bryars, Toop and more as well as insights into their legacy, the cover reconstructions and even the myriad of different pressings of the originals out there. According to the sleeve notes there was to be an Obscure 11, Eno’s Music For Airports, but at the last minute he changed his mind and started the Ambient Series; four albums that bear similarities to the Obscure releases, not least in their cover designs as well as his hand in their production. Times and the composer had moved on and a new movement was afoot, leaving the Obscure catalogue at a perfect ten, a time capsule of a collective that would splinter in different directions and prove influential in ways none could predict.
An aside concerning the cost of these box sets, they’re not cheap but look worth every penny. Downloads of six of the albums are also available on the label’s Bandcamp for €12 per LP – minus the classics by Eno, Penguin Cafe, Michael Nyman, Harold Budd (which you can find easily elsewhere).
Rock Posters.com has opened up their archives and is selling some of the original art to some classic posters by Wes Wilson and Lee Conklin.
I love seeing original art of any kind, it gives a further look behind the curtain at the process and prowess of the creators. None of this is cheap, mind, but given these are one of a kinds it’s no surprise. I’ve included the originals alongside the posters here.
The printing plate (or one of them) was sold some years ago at auction for this too, seen here in red on metal, the poster was in purple and green inks.
Not too much to say about this set, it does what it says on the tin, a live DJ mix from a couple of dates in the lesser-known reaches of Canada, Nelson and Tofino. I think it was for Nelson that I had to fly in a tiny plane to get to the town as it was in the mountains. Sometimes the smaller gigs are the best ones though, towns that don’t always get people coming through party harder than most when they do and I have good memories of these two.
Drum n Bass, hip hop, RnB, 2 Step and a dash of funk at the end best describes this party set. I’m not sure at which point the Nelson set becomes the Tofino one but there’s a part 2 up next week…
Many tracks don’t need an intro here, Zinc’s ‘Reach Out’ Remix is a classic, PC’s ‘Mirror In The Bathroom / Square Off’ mix had been heard the year before on our Now, Listen Solid Steel mix and he’d been doing it for years before that. I’m replicating it here as best I can, still learning the intricacies of when The Beat speed up and slow down to keep the tracks in time. The Bubba Sparxxx ‘Ugly’ remix was one of many at the time pairing RnB pop tracks with slamming Drum N Bass, I’ve got a ton of them, Britney, Beyonce, Christina, all way better than the originals too.
Tali’s ‘Lyric On My Lip’ was her first release on Full Cycle and DJ Suv went for the shuffle beat so popular with the Brazilian style of DnB doing the rounds and this time. Popularized my DJ Marky and the next track, Shy FX & T Power’s excellent ’Shake Your Body’, this bought the much needed swing and funk back into the genre after years of dark tech step. Cujo – aka Amon Tobin – fits in with the cheekiness of ‘The Sequel’ before another classic, ‘Body Rock’ does that swing thing ever harder.
The acappella of Rodney P’s ‘Riddim Killer’ precedes the actual full track, not sure what I was thinking there, might have been stuck for a next track and had to improvise quick. A switch down in tempo to half time and a mix I used to do a lot around this time – Ritchie Hawtin as Plaskitman’s ‘Panikattak’ rolling under Eve’s ‘Let Me Blow Your Mind’. I was loving the RnB hip hop pop a lot around this time as the Neptunes and Timbaland seemed to have an endless supply of amazing collaborations every month as you can hear later on.
Another section from the Now, Listen mix is recreated in the Blackalicious / Four Tet sequence and into Natural Self – another Tru Thoughts artist, who I’d collaborate with years later – with the Ramsey Lewis-sampling ‘Raise The Game’. Running Jammin’s ‘Unstable’ into this for quite so long probably wasn’t such a good idea but I couldn’t get enough of this DJ Zinc track and – after a rap track I can’t identify – it winds down nicely into the end section with two of the aforementioned Neptunes productions. What were those guys on at the start of the decade? No one could touch them, they seemed to throw this stuff out with the barest of elements in the immaculate mix, bringing the funk without the samples. We end with the ‘Funky Robot’, one of Rufus Thomas’ many records about dances, although he doesn’t exactly tell us how to do it, just that it’s the latest thing and better than all the other dances.
* Shout out to John Power and the Spectrum/Kinky Voodoo crew who held nights at the underground ‘club’ on Rathbone Place that housed the Bastard club.
Track list:
DJ ZINC – REACH OUT (REMIX)
THE BEAT – MIRROR IN THE BATHROOM
MASK – SQUARE OFF
BUBBA SPARXXX – UGLY (REMIX)
TALI – LYRIC ON MY LIP
DJ SUV – DO YOU REMEMBER ME?
SHY FX / T POWER feat DI – SHAKE YOUR BODY
CUJO – THE SEQUEL
SHIMON & ANDY C – BODY ROCK
RODNEY P – RIDDIM KILLER
PLASTIKMAN – PANIKATTAK
EVE feat. GWEN STEFANI – LET ME BLOW YOUR MIND
BLACKILICIOUS – ALPHABET AEROBICS
FOUR TET – GLASSHEAD
NATURAL SELF – RAISE THE GAME
JAMMIN’ – UNSTABLE
OL DIRTY BASTARD feat KELIS – GOT YOUR MONEY
BUSTA RHYMES – PASS THE COURVOISIER Pt 2
RUFUS THOMAS – FUNKY ROBOT