Desire Records covers

January 3, 2020March 29, 2022

The Desire Records sleeves I mentioned Pete Isaac referencing on the new 45 Live release were a brief series at the end of the 80s when the label switched into the dance music genre, most specifically, acid house. Artists like Adonis, Bam Bam, Corporation of One, Fingers Inc.,Charles B and Dolbie D all got the snake skin and twisted Xerox type treatment. Desire was a subdivision of the indie Fiction label, most known for releasing The Cure. The design for these sleeves is uncredited but I believe them to be the work of Andy Vella, at least he did the ‘In The Key Of E’ LP cover and a lot of work for Fiction.

Posted in Bureau of Lost Culture, Design, Music, Records. | 1 Comment | Tags: Bureau of Lost Culture, Desire Records

Type 303 new 45 Live 7″

January 3, 2020January 5, 2020

Double whammy from 45Live to kick off the new year – Type 303 with a double helping of new acid on 7″. Both sides kick, black and super limited psychedelic & clear vinyl. Seriously good on both sides, a heavy swung skacid A side that will get any party going and a deeper funky acid killer on the flip. Nice nod to the old Desire Records sleeves by label owner/designer Pete Isaac. Order now

PS: in case you missed it, the 45 Live 100th episode radio show special was up on Mixcloud, iTunes and other platforms over Xmas, where the whole crew got 5 minutes to do whatever they liked. My mix comes last but one but the whole show is worth catching as there are some real standouts.

Posted in Design, Mixes / Podcast, Music, Records. | No Comments | Tags: 45 Live, Type 303

2019

December 31, 2019December 31, 2019

What a grim end to the year and the decade, good riddance to the last four years at least. Writing this on the morning of Friday 13th as the results and fallout of the election come in, it’s hard to muster the energy and will to rejoice in anything when the turkeys have voted for Xmas. I used to be largely ignorant of current affairs and politics, back in my youth, I thought it was dull and boring, why would I be interested in any of that? But you grow up, you have a family and these things start to matter because they affect your life whether you like it or not. Back in the first half of December it felt like there was still hope, a chance to pull things back from the brink, but not now when the country has voted overwhelmingly for Johnson’s government in the belief that he will fix things that he helped engineer in the first place.

Sometimes I wish I was ignorant again, as ignorant as those who didn’t vote or voted on personalities, believing the lies and propaganda peddled by the media. But you can’t just turn that tap off, not once you’ve understood how the system works and see the soap opera play out. You CAN however blot it out for a bit by reading, watching, visiting or listening to great art made by your fellow man, or woman or non-identifying person. There was a lot of it this year and here’s some of the favourite ways I blotted parts of this year out.

Music / podcasts – way too much new music to keep up with only so much time and money, I probably listened to Adam Buxton‘s shows from the archive more than anything else this year:
Pye Corner Audio – Hollow Earth LP (Ghost Box)
Various – Corroded Circuits EP 12″ (Downfall Recordings)
Chris Moss Acid – Heavy Machine 12″ (Balkan Vinyl)
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Fishing For Fishes LP (Flightless)
Pictogram – Trace Elements cassette (Miracle Pond)
Vanishing Twin – The Age of Immunology LP (Fire Records)
Big Mouth podcast (various) (Acast)
Beans – Triptych LP (Gamma Proforma)
Roisin Murphy – Incapable single (Skint)
Ebony Steel Band – Pan Machine LP (Om Swagger)
People Like Us – The Mirror LP (Discrepant)
Coastal County – Coastal County LP (Lomas)
Adam Buxton podcast (various) (Acast)
Ghost Funk Orchestra – A Song For Paul LP (Karma Chief)
Jon Brooks – Emotional Freedom Techniques LP (Cafe Kaput)
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Organ Farmer (from Infest the Rat’s Nest LP) (Flightless)
Jane Weaver – Fenella LP (Fire Records)
Polypores – Brainflowers cassette (Miracle Pond)

Seemed to acquire a lot of tapes this year too…

Design / packaging – so much good stuff out there, Nick Taylor goes from strength to strength, Reuben Sutherland‘s work for Sculpture always inspires and Victoria Topping continues to do great art for On The Corner Records:
Pepe Deluxé – The Surrealist Woman lathe cut 7″ (Catskills)
Various – Science & Technology ERR Rec Library Vol.2 (ERR Records)
DJ Pierre presents ACID 88 vol. III LP (Afro Acid)
Mark Ayres plays Wendy Carlos – Kubrick 7″ (Silva Screen)
Tomorrow Syndicate – Citizen Input 10″ (Polytechnic Youth)
The Utopia Strong – S/T LP (Rocket Recordings)
Jarvis – Sunday Service LP (ACE records)
Andy Votel – Histoire D’Horreur cassette (Hypocrite?)
Sculpture – Projected Music 5″ zoetrope picture disc (Psyché Tropes)
Lapalux – Amnioverse LP (Brainfeeder)
Hieroglyphic Being – Synth Expressionism / Rhythmic Cubism LP (On The Corner Records)

Film / TV – I really don’t watch too much TV or get to the cinema as often as I’d like to:
Sculpture – Meeting Our Associates (Plastic Infinite)
This Time with Alan Partridge (BBC)
Avengers: Endgame (Disney/Marvel)
Imaginary Landscapes – Sam Campbell (Vinyl Factory)
What We Do In The Shadows (BBC2)
The Mandalorian (Disney+)

Books / Comics / Magazines – I read constantly, all sorts of stuff, a lot online, I found less interesting new comics this year or there were fewer that made an impression. Also many of my regular reads came to an end so there was less to consume on that front.
Beastie Boys Book – Mike Diamond & Adam Horowitz (Spiegel & Grau)
Cosmic Comics – A Kevin O’Neill Miscellany (Hibernia Books)
Electronic Sound (Pam Comm Ltd)
Eve Stranger – David Barnett / Philip Bond (Black Crown)
Bicycle Day – Brian Blomerth (Anthology Editions)
Moebius – 40 Days In The Desert (expanded edition) (Moebius Productions)
Rock Graphic Originals – Peter Golding w. Barry Miles (Thames & Hudson)
2000AD / Judge Dredd Megazine (Rebellion)
Silver Surfer Black – Donny Cates/Tradd Moore (Marvel)
Help – Simon Amstell (Square Peg)
The Scarfolk Annual – Richard Littler (William Collins)
Wrappers Delight – Jonny Trunk (Fuel)

Gigs / Events – I spent a lot of time in Café Oto, socialising to the sights and sounds of Jonny Trunk & Martin Green or watching groups that featured Cathy Lucas this year:
Vanishing Twin @ Prince of Wales Pub, Brighton
Stereolab @ Concorde 2, Brighton
People’s Vote march 23rd March, London
Wobbly Sounds book launch @ Spiritland, London
Confidence Man @ The Electric, Brixton, London
Mostly Jazz Funk & Soul Festival, Moseley, Birmingham
Bluedot Festival, Jodrell Bank, Manchester
HaHa Sounds Collective play David Axelrod’s Earth Rot @ Tate Exchange, London
School of Hypnosis play In C @ Cafe Oto, London
Palace Electrics, Antenna Studios, London
The Delaware Road, New Zealand Farm, Salisbury
Breaking Convention closing party, Greenwich, London
Jonny Trunk & Martin Green’s Hidden Library @ Spiritland, Southbank, London
Negativland / People Like Us @ Cafe Oto, London
HaHa Sound Collective plays the David Axelrod songbook @ The Church of Sound, London,
Sculpture, Janek Schaefer, Mariam Rezaei + the 26 turntable ensemble @ The Old Baths, Hackney, London Vanishing Twin & Jane Weaver’s Fenella @ Studio 9294, Hackney Wick, London

Exhibitions – there was so much art to see in 2019, I managed most of it but London does spoil you sometimes and you can’t see it all. Just a stroll round the Brick Lane area of east London will delight with the free art painted, stuck or sprayed on the walls for all to see:
Sister Corita Kent @ House of Illustration, London,
Augustinbe Kofie @ Stolen Space, London,
Victor Vasarely @ Pompidou Centre, Paris,
Mary Quant @ V&A Museum, London,
Stanley Kubrick @ The Design Museum, London,
Tim Hunkin’s Novelty Automation Museum, London,
Keith Haring retrospective @Tate, Liverpool,
Nam June Paik, Tate Modern, London,
Takis @ Tate Modern, London,
Shepard Fairy @ Stolen Space, London,
Damien Hirst ‘Mandalas’ at the White Cube, London,
Bridget Riley @ The Hayward, London,
Museum of Neo-liberalism, Lewisham, London.

Another year over and what have I done? quite pleased with this lot this year:
Become by own agent for the first half of the year (not fun)
Designed As One’s ‘Communion’ LP sleeve for De:tuned
Toured my Kraftwerk: Klassics, Kovers & Kurios AV set
Contributed to the Wobbly Sounds book on flexi discs published by Four Corner Books
Performed a 30 minute reimagining of Kraftwerk’s ‘Radio-Activity’ album
Appeared on Big Mouth, Out Of The Wood, Jonny Trunk’s OST, Dusk Dubs, Mix-Ins, 45 Live, Mostly Sounds podcasts / shows
Continued the design for De:tuned’s 10th anniversary with a 10th volume, poster, tote bag and more
Built a modified turntable with three extra floating arms for future performances
Designed a fold out 3″ CD Xmas card for The Real Tuesday Weld – more to come in 2020…

For no other reason – Badges, along with the cassettes it’s like the 80s never stopped

RIP: Daryl Dragon, Ron Smith, Ken Nordine, Peter Tork, Mark Hollis, Keith Flint, Magenta Devine, Hal Blaine, Scott Walker, Quentin Fiore, Dr John, MAD magazine, Vertigo comics, Rutger Hauer, Ras G, Peter Fonda, Richard Williams, Pedro Bell, David Cain, Patsy Colegate, Clive James, David Bellamy, Phase 2, Gershon Kingsley, Emil Richards, Dave Riley (Big Black), Vaughn Oliver, Neil Innes, Syd Mead.

Looking forward to: – not much to look forward to except a year of Brexit, economic downturn and US Presidential campaigns but these might lighten the mood…
Paul Weller and Plone on Ghost Box
A Touched Music special release in conjunction with De:tuned for World Cancer Day – 4th Feb.
The second Revbjelde LP, ‘Hooha Hubbub’, from the Buried Treasure label
More designs for The Real Tuesday Weld…
The next Group Modular album, released on a UK label
The Castles In Space label releasing a remastered vinyl version of Clocolan’s excellent 2019, cassette-only, ‘It’s Not Too Early For Each Other’ album.
The return of Slow Death Comix
45 Live releasing their first acid 7” with Type 303 in Feb
Ian Holloway from The British Space Group’s new label, Wyrd Britain – the first release will be his own ‘The Ley of the Land’.
The Amorphous Androgynous album, ‘Listening Beyond The Head Chakra’ and album-length single, ‘We Persuade Ourselves That We Are Immortal’ around Easter
Ninja Tune’s 30th anniversary in the Autumn
An exhibition about electronic music at the Design Museum featuring Kraftwerk, Jeff Mills, Ellen Allien, Jean-Michel Jarre and BBC Radiophonic Workshop among others
The Masters of British Comic Art book by David Roach in April
The return of Spitting Image (we really need this)

Happy New Year x

Posted in Art, Books, Comics, Design, DJ Food, Event, Film, Flexi Discs, Gigs, Kraftwerk, Music, Radio, Records. | 4 Comments | Tags: 2019

RIP Vaughn Oliver

December 30, 2019

Very sad to hear of the death of Vaughn Oliver yesterday – undoubtedly one of the most brilliant and unique designers to emerge in the 80s. His early 23 Envelope work with Nigel Grierson and V23 studio with Chris Bigg and others produced so much stunning work it’s hard to know where to start. His whole aesthetic and typographic techniques were so influential for me when I started out and I used to buy records purely for his sleeves. He should quite rightly be remembered as one of the great designers of his time.

In the mid 90s I occasionally visited the Beggars Banquet offices and would always come away with posters, promo cards or leaflets and would get a glimpse of the space where some of the designs took place. I never met Vaughn but just to be that close to where the work was created was enough.

I pulled out one of my archive books and took some quick shots of some of the ads, promo invites and the like that I’ve collected over the years, including an original PMT used for a Clan of XYMOX advert, given to me by a friend who worked at the office for a while.

Posted in Design, Music. | No Comments | Tags: Vaughn Oliver

Sculpture – Projected Music ‘Tom Richards – Comma and’ remix video

December 16, 2019

Sculpture: Projected Music (‘Tom Richards – Comma and’ remix) from Sculpture on Vimeo.

From the video write up:
“Tom Richards‘ remix of Sculpture‘s ‘Projected Music’ (plasticinfinite.bandcamp.com/album/projected-music) uses his own invented synthesiser modules to control the motors of three modified turntables with syncopated voltage control.

Projected Music is a 5-inch zoetrope picture disc containing 26 locked grooves. Each loop is 1.33 seconds in duration cut at 45rpm reaching a total playing time of 34.58 seconds although the loops are intended to be played at any speed. In the possession of two or more disks, the listener can interact with a modular album whereby the source material is open to interpretation. Despite its minimalist size and composition, this release is intended as an LP. With the expansive nature of the turntable, there are almost limitless possibilities.

‘Projected Reworks’ is eight commissioned tracks by artists who use the turntable as an instrument. Using only physical copies of Sculpture’s 5-inch locked groove animated picture disc ‘Projected Music’, sonic materials contained within the 26 loops are transfigured into new imaginings by some of the most prominent and inventive artists working in the field.”

Philip Jeck – Projected Mix 1
Janek Schaefer – Languishing Under a Larynx of Lies
Me, Claudius – Sifonn-ed 4
Graham Dunning – Grill
Philip Jeck – Projected Mix 2
Maria Chavez – Berceuse5
Mariam Rezaei – Improvisation I
Tom Richards – Comma and

Posted in Film, Music. | 1 Comment | Tags: Sculpture

45 Live radio show episode 100

December 16, 2019December 22, 2019

What a way to end the decade, the 100th edition of the 45 Live radio show, hosted by DJ Greg Belson on Dublab, features the 20 strong crew of DJs given 5 minutes each to do whatever they want. As long as they use vinyl 7″s of course. I chose to mash parts of 48 different tracks together to form a classic house and acid megamix – hear it and the others on Dec 20th from 8pm-10pm PST via Dublab or the archive on Mixcloud.

Posted in Mixes / Podcast, Music, Radio. | No Comments | Tags: 45 Live, DJ Food, Dublab

Paul Weller on Ghost Box, Jan 2020

December 3, 2019December 3, 2019

In case you hadn’t heard the news yet, Paul Weller is releasing a 7″ on Ghost Box in January, 2020 entitled ‘In Another Room’. Four tracks of music concrete soundscapes and weirdery in the vein of his soundtrack to the film ‘Jawbone’ from a few years back.

Posted in Film, Music. | No Comments | Tags: ghost box, Paul Weller

The Real Tuesday Weld Xmas card + 3″ CD

December 3, 2019February 15, 2020

I had a lot of fun designing this little Xmas card and 3″ CD for Stephen Coates of The Real Tuesday Weld. Inspired by Ameet Hindocha‘s geometric folding experiments, there are only 100 of these available now via Bandcamp.

Posted in Film, Latest Designs, Music, Openmind designs. | No Comments | Tags: Cuckoo, Real Tuesday Weld, Xmas

De:tuned DE.10.10 Bleep exclusive 12″, poster & tote

December 1, 2019December 5, 2019

I’m super-pleased to round out the year with these designs for both De:tuned and Bleep on the first day of their advent calendar countdown to Xmas. For those unfamiliar with my work for Belgian label De:tuned’s tenth year anniversary, there have been nine 12″s released monthly in 2019 which can be seen below.

We’ve reached the 10th and final release and saved the best for last; Lone, Plaid, Steven Rutter, Erik Van Den Broek and Humanoid feature musically, which should be enough to have you hitting the ‘buy’ button alone. But we’ve pushed the boat out on the sleeve for this one with extra silver ink and foil on top of the full colour process.

This one nearly broke me as version after version was sent to the printer only to be returned with changes to the artwork files before they were happy to run it on the press due to the nature of the inks and foil. The Bleep website have the absolute exclusive on it, De:tuned have pressed it on silver vinyl in an edition of 300 and there’s a tote bag and print to go with it, only from Bleep.

The print is something I’m immensely proud of, an A2 five colour images featuring the full modular from the covers, designed to showcase all the artists in the series, screen printed by the exceptionally talented Jonas Ranson at Blacklist Editions London in an edition of 100. This also took a lot of trial and error to achieve with Jonas running many tests with inks, paper samples and screen densities to achieve the print quality we desired. See the detailed photos below for the quality, this is not your regular promo poster, this is suitable for framing, the silver is hard to show in these photos. Everyone has worked so hard to pull all this together with the posters being hand-delivered to Bleep on Friday, thanks to Jonas for the fantastic job and for De:tuned for being patient and trusting me to do things a bit differently.

The items here are available individually or as a bundle with a free Bleep X tote bag – BUY HERE (Bundle)
(Also the posters are an absolute steal at £12.99 each, other prints of this kind would be more).
Poster link
Tote link
12″ link

Posted in Latest Designs, Music, Openmind designs, Poster / flyer, Records. | No Comments | Tags: Bleep, DE:10, De:tuned, Jonas Ranson

Eno’s web

November 25, 2019

I’ve been on a bit of an Eno kick of late and was pleasantly surprised to find mention of our Telepathic Fish ambient parties in David Toop‘s essay for the Eno Box I booklet. Lamenting the fact that the definition of ambient seems to have got a bit confused with the new generation of artists practising and playing music under this banner, David highlights some of the people and parties of the early 90s who had caused such a resurgence of interest in the music.
In our defence, we were just kids in our early twenties, still learning about this music along with all the other exciting things that were happening at the time too (techno, rave, grunge, dub, hip hop and it’s offshoots into white rock in the US and the aftermath of the baggy/madchester filtering into the UK indie scene). The early 90s were one of the most musically-fertile times I can remember with new styles and cross breeds emerging constantly. It was the dawn of the internet but still a few years away from email and a decade from Napster’s free-for-all tidal wave, arriving in London we had soaked up information as fast as possible from every available source. The weekly music papers provided a running soap opera of indie comings and goings with a smattering of dance music thrown in, record shops held an unaffordable stock to be cherry-picked with our student grants and older DJs like Mixmaster Morris, Matt Black and Rockit Ron were treasure troves of information, which they thankfully shared with us new jacks.

Every generation will reinterpret what’s gone before in its own way, influenced by the goings on around them which weren’t present in the previous incarnation, location or time frame. Hip hop and rock today sound nothing like they did even a decade ago, being twisted to suit the current age by people fresh to the scene who want it to reflect their times. It’s testament to a genre’s longevity that it still has something to say and give after several decades and ambient music’s third resurgence in recent years proves that there’s still plenty of life in the genre. Eno continues to intrigue and produce interesting music, music, apps and thoughts, even if he is producing some questionable acts now and then, something he’s always done in hindsight.

Posted in Music. | No Comments | Tags: ambient, Brian Eno, David Toop, Telepathic Fish

Sculpture, Projected Music release party

November 20, 2019

A huge night coming up on November the 29th in East London, Psyché Tropes celebrate the release of the 5″ picture disc of locked grooves Sculpture have done with them by putting on a gig of avant garde turntablism. Janek Schaefer, Mariam Rezaei and Sculpture themselves will be headlining and interspersed will be a 26 turntable ensemble made up of: A’Bear, Arran Bolders, Ben Rodgers, Billy Pleasant, Bjorn Hatleskog, Blanca Regina, Chloe Frieda, Chris Thomas Allen (The Light Surgeons), Dan Hayhurst (Sculpture), Daniel WJ MacKenzie, DJ Food, Graham Dunning, Hems, Horton Jupiter, Janek Schaefer, Lia Mice, Mariam Rezaei, Merkaba Macabre, Odd Lust, Pierre Bouvier Patron, Rado Bogasch, Reuben Sutherland (Sculpture), Robin The Fog (Howlround), Spatial, Tida Bradshaw, Tom Richards.

I doubt the same people will ever be in the same place on 26 turntables ever again – should be a riot!
The record is great and available here and tickets for the event are available here for the absolute steal of £5.

Posted in DJ Food, Event, Gigs, Music, Poster / flyer, Records. | No Comments | Tags: Janek Schaefer, Mariam Rezaei, psyche tropes, Sculpture

The making of the new Lapalux album cover

November 13, 2019

Lapalux released his new album, ‘Amnioverse’, last week on Brainfeeder and the cover and packaging is superb. As soon as I saw it I was trying to work out how photographer Dan Medhurst and set builder Owen Gildersleeve did it and now you can find out. Over on the Eye On Design website they have a feature on how it was done with process shots – go here to check it out

There’s some lovely, sympathetic packaging to go with it (inc. a 28 page booklet not shown) and you can buy the record here.

Posted in Design, Music, Ninja Tune, Packaging, Photography, Records. | No Comments | Tags: Brainfeeder, Dan Medhurst, Eye On Design, Lapalux, Owen Gildersleeve

Detuned – DE:10.09 released today

November 1, 2019October 28, 2019

We’re almost there… Out today: #9 of 10 projected releases I’ve designed for the De:tuned label as they celebrate their first 10 years. One release a month, multiple combinations of great artists across nine 12″s whose covers fit together to form a larger image, with a tenth remix 12″ to finish things off although there are going to be some special things to go with that release.

Listen:

Order:
Phonica: http://bit.ly/2Jis5Af
Bleep: http://bit.ly/2pNoEus
Juno: http://bit.ly/2N7J6Ow
Clone: http://bit.ly/2PcxCfo
Rush Hour: http://bit.ly/2pUKv2T
Deejay: http://bit.ly/32Kpnet
Decks: http://bit.ly/2Pnh2tr
HHV: http://bit.ly/2JjHhwS

Posted in Design, Latest Designs, Music, Openmind designs, Records. | No Comments | Tags: Atypic, De:tuned

New mix for Mostly Sounds

October 23, 2019October 23, 2019

I was asked to do a mix of soul, funk and jazz for Mostly Sounds who run the Mostly Jazz Funk & Soul festival in Birmingham which was one of the most fun gigs party-wise for me this summer. There’s an amazing amount of great music around at the moment that roughly falls into this category so this was the perfect place to get all that down in one mix.

Silke Schwinger & Fatty George – WeiBer Sand (Digatone)
The Relations – She Only Wanted To Be With You (Spun Out Of Control)
Ghost Funk Orchestra – Seven Eight (Karma Chief)
Coastal County – The Drop (Lomas)
The Karminsky Experience Inc. – Summer Storm (Patterns of Behaviour)
Vanishing Twin – Cryonic Suspension May Save Your Life (Fire Records)
Coastal County – The Landing (Lomas)
Serge Gainsbourg & Jean Claude Vannier – Les Chemins De Katmandou (opening titles) (Finders Keepers)
Jane Weaver – Mission Desire (Fire Records)
Jorge Navarro – Repartamos El Funky (Mukatsuku)
Popera Cosmic – Batman (Finders Keepers)
Ghost Funk Orchestra – Skin I’m In (Karma Chief)
The Karminsky Experience Inc. – Gemini Calling (Patterns of Behaviour)
Serge Gainsbourg & Jean Claude Vannier – Le Roi Des Phlébotomes (Finders Keepers)
Planet Battagon – Moon Of Dysnomia (On The Corner Records)
Silke Schwinger & Fatty George – StraBenfahrt durch Wien (Digatone)
Vanishing Twin – Backstroke (Fire Records)
Ebony Steel Band – Spacelab (Om Swagger)
Ghost Funk Orchestra – A Conversation (Karma Chief)

Posted in DJ Food, Mixes / Podcast, Music, Radio. | No Comments | Tags: DJ Food, mix, Mostly Sounds

Datasette – Shooz Who video

October 17, 2019

Love this video from the new Datassette release, ‘Existenzmaximum EP’, by Geometric Love (who did the Humanoid LP sleeve earlier this year). Available on ltd. edition vinyl here

Posted in Film, Music. | No Comments | Tags: Datasette, Geometric Love

Sculpture 5″ zoetrope picture disc of locked grooves

October 16, 2019October 17, 2019

Sculpture: Projected Music from psyché tropes on Vimeo.

“Sculpture meets Psyché Tropes for a post-transitory broadcast in reductionist methodology, exploring the non-standard definitions in a petri dish from the other side”. (it says on the press release)

Projected Music is a 5-inch zoetrope picture disc containing 26 locked grooves. Each loop is 1.33 seconds in duration cut at 45rpm reaching a total playing time of 34.58 seconds although the loops are intended to be played at any speed. In the possession of two or more disks, the listener can interact with a modular album whereby the source material is open to interpretation. Despite its minimalist size and composition, this release is intended as an LP. With the expansive nature of the turntable, there are almost limitless possibilities.

Remixes by Maria Chavez, Philip Jeck, Janek Schaefer, Mariam Rezaei, Me, Claudius, Graham Dunning and Tom Richards will accompany the 5-inch as a free download. The official release will be on 29th November at The Old Baths in Hackney Wick with live performances by Sculpture, Janek Schaefer and Mariam Rezaei. An ensemble of 26 turntables for 26 locked grooves (including myself) will improvise throughout the intervals.
Event info: https://www.residentadvisor.net/events/1327194

5” Vinyl Pre-order. Releases 29 November 2019 via Bandcamp
https://plasticinfinite.bandcamp.com/album/projected-music

Posted in Design, Gigs, Music, Records. | No Comments | Tags: psyche tropes, Sculpture

Who are this generation’s psychedelic poster artists?

October 16, 2019January 24, 2021

(above poster by Rob Fitzpatrick / @_rf82)

When discussing psychedelic poster art from the 60s and 70s you often read about ‘The Big Five’, namely Rick Griffin, Victor Moscoso, Wes Wilson, Stanley Mouse and Alton Kelley. Of course there were many more; Martin Sharp, Nigel Weymouth, Hapshash & The Coloured Coat, Bonnie MacLean, Peter Max… all and many more can lay claim to have contributed to a new movement in poster art that took from Art Nouveau, Op Art and Surrealism.

With a new wave of psychedelia in music prevalent for a good decade now, who working today is pushing the envelope in the same way as these graphic giants? There are plenty of illustrators and designers creating very passable versions of the 60s style across record sleeves, posters, T-shirts and videos but, rather than rehashing the past glories of the 60’s greats, who is approaching the psych era in the 10’s with a fresh eye? Here’s my stab at calling who will be remembered for their work in this arena in decades to come.

It’s fairly evenly divided between Brits and Americans (with the exception of Sweden’s Robert Gnista and South Africa’s Simon Berndt) and the UK brings more photo collage and attempts to convey the analogue process’ of print to the table whilst elsewhere designers adopt a more illustrative approach, slavish to the original 60s ethos.

Luke Insect (UK) www.lukeinsect.com

Nate Duval (US) www.nateduval.com

Mishka Westell (US) www.mishkawestell.com

Rob Fitzpatrick & Christian Bland (US – Levitation Festival)

Andy Votel (UK – Finders Keepers label owner / designer, formerly Twisted Nerve records)

Robin Gnista (Sweden) www.robgnista.com

Simon Berndt/One Horse Town (South Africa) www.onehorsetownillustration

Weird Beard (US) www.wb72.bigcartel.com

Julian House (UK – Ghost Box label owner, designer at Intro)

Fez Moreno (US – artist for The Electric Church) @fezmoreno

Nick Taylor – www.SpectralStudio.co.uk

Posted in Art, Design, Music, Poster / flyer. | 5 Comments | Tags: poster, psychedelic

Spun Out Of Control tapes for Cassette Store Day

October 11, 2019

It’s Cassette Store (Shop) Day today in the UK and two of the best-looking entries this year are from Spun Out Of Control . Namely the third Stefan Bachmeier release – a clone-obsessed author gets paranoid when he starts to discover other dopplegangers – and Grayson by Jane Borré, a conceptual sci-fi soundtrack in a glitter-speckled shell. These will go quick, they usually sell out in a few hours so be ready if you want one. Also out is The The‘s See Without Being Seeing which also sold out from their site on pre-order last week.

Posted in Design, Event, Music. | No Comments | Tags: Cassette Store Day, Cassettes, Spun Out Of Control, Stefan Bachmeier, The The

To Pikap – Take Five with DJ Food

October 8, 2019

The excellent To Pikap record shop and bar in Thessaloniki, Greece asked me to pick five records from their racks while I was there last year and talk a little bit about them. Here’s what I chose…

Posted in DJ Food, Film, Music, Records. | No Comments | Tags: Take Five, To Pikap

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